Hello There, Guest! (LoginRegister)

Post Reply 
Look Back: The 16 Team WAC
Author Message
Porcine Online
1st String
*

Posts: 1,635
Joined: Oct 2021
Reputation: 229
I Root For: Arkansas, SBC
Location: Northern Arkansas
Post: #21
RE: Look Back: The 16 Team WAC
(01-21-2022 08:45 PM)inutech Wrote:  
(01-21-2022 08:38 PM)Porcine Wrote:  
(01-21-2022 08:32 PM)inutech Wrote:  I don't like 9 conference games because I enjoy OOC games. But I also don't like conferences being bigger than 12 teams (or 9 to be honest).

Probably why I'm not an AD.

But if you're going to be that big (and travel costs aren't a factor, as they won't be for the SEC) pods are fun.

Go to 18 teams and each division can be it's own conference.

Sure.

2 conferences negotiating media deals together. Be fine.
I thought it was implied that they would be the same administration.
Imagine if the post Arkansas SWC and and Big 8 had a full merger. The divisions would have been exactly the same as they were before the merger.
01-21-2022 08:54 PM
Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
All4One Offline
Banned

Posts: 3,332
Joined: Aug 2021
I Root For: Genuine & Unprivileged
Location:
Post: #22
RE: Look Back: The 16 Team WAC
(01-21-2022 08:44 PM)inutech Wrote:  
(01-21-2022 08:33 PM)All4One Wrote:  If the AAC or Sun Belt tried that, it would just be too easy to split eight one way and eight the other way because the budget restraints of those schools coupled with the much less media exposure and money of the SEC wouldn't validate a 16-team model at that level.

Not without a way for both groups to have an automatic bid.

Now, if you could do that (or you aren't going to have one anyway, which seems more likely to happen), you're probably right. But what's the downside? Two 8 team conferences is better than one 16 team conference.

Don't forget that the streamlined constitution now gives D1 schools a lot of leeway. That would be completely minor when they are governing themselves.
01-21-2022 09:00 PM
Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
Fighting Muskie Online
Senior Chief Realignmentologist
*

Posts: 11,791
Joined: Sep 2016
Reputation: 789
I Root For: Ohio St, UC,MAC
Location: Biden Cesspool
Post: #23
RE: Look Back: The 16 Team WAC
The 16 team WAC could have worked out had they made one small change: Nevada instead of Tulsa

Here’s why:

You’ve got the Airport 5 who want to play together

You’ve got the 3 SWC teams who want to play together

You’ve got 3 CA teams that want to play together and a Hawaii school who only makes since with the CA schools

That leaves a pair of NV schools, UNM, and UTEP

By grouping the Airport 5 with the SWC 3 you’ve got an 8 team East Division that makes pretty much everyone happy.

The West Division gets you Hawaii, the legacy Big West schools, and the UTEP-UNM rivalry, and as I recall, in the desperate throws of trying to hold the league together I believe it was UNM who offered to go West.

you’ve got a history with no split and Big West football lives on for a few more years.
01-21-2022 10:11 PM
Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
schmolik Offline
CSNBB's Big 10 Cheerleader
*

Posts: 8,574
Joined: Sep 2019
Reputation: 640
I Root For: UIUC, PSU, Nova
Location: Philadelphia Suburbs
Post: #24
RE: Look Back: The 16 Team WAC
(01-21-2022 10:11 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  The 16 team WAC could have worked out had they made one small change: Nevada instead of Tulsa

Here’s why:

You’ve got the Airport 5 who want to play together

You’ve got the 3 SWC teams who want to play together

You’ve got 3 CA teams that want to play together and a Hawaii school who only makes since with the CA schools

That leaves a pair of NV schools, UNM, and UTEP

By grouping the Airport 5 with the SWC 3 you’ve got an 8 team East Division that makes pretty much everyone happy.

The West Division gets you Hawaii, the legacy Big West schools, and the UTEP-UNM rivalry, and as I recall, in the desperate throws of trying to hold the league together I believe it was UNM who offered to go West.

you’ve got a history with no split and Big West football lives on for a few more years.

It does seem weird separating UTEP from the other Texas schools though. But if you don't, you probably have to separate Utah and BYU from Colorado State, Air Force, and Wyoming.

Tulsa still seems like an oddball add to the conference, maybe just as an "evener". Maybe they thought they were getting Houston before they chose Conference USA? Tulsa really never had top football. They are probably more well known for men's basketball, both former Kentucky coach Tubby Smith and Kansas coach Bill Self coached at Tulsa. I don't know if Nevada would have been a better add, they started 1-A football in 1992. Maybe they should have just made a 14 team conference and done two seven team conferences (East: TCU, SMU, Rice, UTEP, New Mexico, Colorado State, Air Force; West: Wyoming, BYU, Utah, UNLV, Fresno State, San Diego State, Hawaii).

Maybe the WAC-Texas experiment was the big failure after all. Houston had the right idea going East instead of West and eventually TCU, SMU, and Rice all joined Conference USA. Eventually TCU and Houston have/will be in the Big 12 while SMU and Rice have/will be in the AAC (which is essentially the new C-USA). What if instead of the WAC being the superconference Conference USA was with them adding the four Texas schools and a 16th school (Tulsa)? Then the WAC would be a more manageable 12 with Hawaii, San Diego State, Fresno State, San Jose State, New Mexico State, and UTEP in a South Division and Utah, BYU, Colorado State, Air Force, Wyoming, and UNLV in a North Division. Maybe instead of the Metro and Great Midwest merging its the Metro and Southwest Conferences with the Great Midwest separate and then the Great Midwest and Southwest/Metro merge after the Big East raids the Great Midwest (eventually all four original Big 12 teams left out were in Conference USA at some point).

Between the Metro, Great Midwest, and Southwest, we could have had:

Southwest: TCU, SMU, Houston, Rice, Tulane, Southern Miss, UAB, South Florida

Great Midwest: Cincinnati, Dayton, DePaul, Marquette, St. Louis, Louisville, Memphis, Virginia Tech, Virginia Commonwealth, Charlotte

Memphis could have joined the Southwest but that would separate Louisville and Memphis (although they were separated after Memphis left the Metro for the Great Midwest and Louisville stayed). Tulsa is also a possible add. Back then Central Florida was in the Trans America Athletic Conference (now Atlantic Sun).
01-22-2022 07:56 AM
Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
HawaiiMongoose Offline
All American
*

Posts: 4,717
Joined: Nov 2010
Reputation: 446
I Root For: Hawaii
Location: Honolulu
Post: #25
RE: Look Back: The 16 Team WAC
The simple fact is that the 16-member WAC didn’t fail because it was too big but rather because with that particular set of schools there was no way to create a divisional or pod alignment that made sense. No matter how the pieces were lined up on the board, someone would feel like they were getting screwed in terms of travel or broken rivalries or both. It was inherently unstable from the get-go.

By comparison that wouldn’t be a problem for a 16-member MWC today. If four schools were added from Texas (e.g. SMU, Rice, UTSA and UTEP), the two current members that would have to move west to balance the divisions (Boise State and Utah State) would be perfectly happy to do so.
01-22-2022 08:16 AM
Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
esayem Offline
Hark The Sound!
*

Posts: 16,258
Joined: Feb 2007
Reputation: 1202
I Root For: Olde Ironclad
Location: Tobacco Road
Post: #26
RE: Look Back: The 16 Team WAC
Mongoose is right. There was no synergy with the SWC 3/Tulsa and the rest of the league. They could have stopped at 12 (or even 11 w/out SJSU) and the Airport Meeting wouldn’t have happened.

As far as the SEC goes, I imagine they’ll be on board with divisionless scheduling once they hit 16. Pods that don’t have Texas and TAMU together are completely asinine.
01-22-2022 08:35 AM
Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
GoBuckeyes1047 Offline
1st String
*

Posts: 1,189
Joined: Jan 2021
Reputation: 107
I Root For: Ohio State
Location:
Post: #27
RE: Look Back: The 16 Team WAC
(01-21-2022 08:13 PM)Porcine Wrote:  
(01-21-2022 07:57 PM)Gamenole Wrote:  
(01-21-2022 07:45 PM)spenser Wrote:  
(01-21-2022 06:27 PM)Porcine Wrote:  I prefer east-west. My next preference would be divisionless with protected rivalries. I would tolerate pods. I don't see the SEC splitting up.

I prefer pods with 3 protected(1 from each pod)

Play 9 Conference games:
Your 3 podmates, 3 protected non pod, and the 3 other teams from the pod you rotate through.


Itskind of like NFL schedule except instead of last year finishers of the same spot its you 3 rivals.

You play every school in a 3yr cycyle

Using the example pods:

Pod A: Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina

Pod B: Alabama, Auburn, Tennessee, Vanderbilt

Pod C: LSU, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Texas A&M

Pod D: Arkansas, Missouri, Texas, Oklahom

Example Kentucky would play Tennessee, Mississippi State, and Missouri every year.

I like your idea! That would work for preserving rivalries like Georgia-Auburn, Kentucky-Tennessee, etc.

Makes those games permanent. We don't need pods for that.

Now hold on a second. While I agree 100% that we should get rid of divisions and use protected rivalries, Gamenole is onto something. As of right now, the SEC can only use 2 divisions of 8 teams within the NCAA By-Laws, which we can agree would probably suck as you'd only play teams from the other division at best twice every 8 years and would break up rivalries. The WAC was able to get around the rule with rotating Pods to allow teams to play frequently, but didn't last long enough to see it so I would expect the SEC to do something similar.

With Gamenole's proposal above, you're guaranteeing teams play all their significant rivalries annually (whether in or out of "division") and then can try to matchup some of the bigger brands against each other (TV Ratings/Money) with what's remaining using their 3 pod rivals and 3 protected rivals outside their pods so that's 6 games significance for a team. Now you add 3 other teams that shouldn't mean as much and put them in your "division" and those final 3 teams are all fighting for the same thing you're fight for (a trip to Atlanta, an SEC Championship and CFP 1st round bye, CFP home game or CFP at-large bid, a national championship). Meanwhile everyone plays everyone home & home at least once every 6 years (compared to once every 12 years). I think this is an idea worth expanding on and trying to find the sweet spot with Pods alignment that would satisfy all or most of the 16 teams and then giving it it's own thread Gamenole.
01-22-2022 08:45 AM
Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
Crayton Offline
All American
*

Posts: 3,328
Joined: Feb 2019
Reputation: 186
I Root For: Florida
Location:
Post: #28
RE: Look Back: The 16 Team WAC
The main cause of demise was being shut out of the Bowl Alliance. They thought they could earn a spot if they amassed enough talented schools and potentially replace the SWC. BYU finished #5 with 14 wins but got no invite. Only after the MWC split did the BCS add a Top 6 rule for mid-major champs.
01-22-2022 08:55 AM
Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
Crayton Offline
All American
*

Posts: 3,328
Joined: Feb 2019
Reputation: 186
I Root For: Florida
Location:
Post: #29
RE: Look Back: The 16 Team WAC
(01-21-2022 07:57 PM)Gamenole Wrote:  
(01-21-2022 07:45 PM)spenser Wrote:  
(01-21-2022 06:27 PM)Porcine Wrote:  I prefer east-west. My next preference would be divisionless with protected rivalries. I would tolerate pods. I don't see the SEC splitting up.

I prefer pods with 3 protected(1 from each pod)

Play 9 Conference games:
Your 3 podmates, 3 protected non pod, and the 3 other teams from the pod you rotate through.


Itskind of like NFL schedule except instead of last year finishers of the same spot its you 3 rivals.

You play every school in a 3yr cycyle

Using the example pods:

Pod A: Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina

Pod B: Alabama, Auburn, Tennessee, Vanderbilt

Pod C: LSU, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Texas A&M

Pod D: Arkansas, Missouri, Texas, Oklahom

Example Kentucky would play Tennessee, Mississippi State, and Missouri every year.

I like your idea! That would work for preserving rivalries like Georgia-Auburn, Kentucky-Tennessee, etc.

Will note that you can do the SEC as above with only 8 games. Most teams don’t need 1 permanent cross-over, let alone 3. Aub-Geo and A&M-Tex can be permanent, UF-LSU-OU-Ala can rotate playing each other twice every three years, and the lower 8 teams can do any odd thing.
(This post was last modified: 01-22-2022 09:03 AM by Crayton.)
01-22-2022 09:02 AM
Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
loki_the_bubba Offline
Heisman
*

Posts: 5,697
Joined: Jul 2010
Reputation: 701
I Root For: Rice Owls
Location:
Post: #30
RE: Look Back: The 16 Team WAC
(01-22-2022 08:55 AM)Crayton Wrote:  The main cause of demise was being shut out of the Bowl Alliance. They thought they could earn a spot if they amassed enough talented schools and potentially replace the SWC. BYU finished #5 with 14 wins but got no invite. Only after the MWC split did the BCS add a Top 6 rule for mid-major champs.

Not just the top bowls. The WAC had very few bowls at all. Rice went 7-4, 7-4, and 8-4 during the years in the WAC and never sniffed a bowl,
01-22-2022 09:21 AM
Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
Fighting Muskie Online
Senior Chief Realignmentologist
*

Posts: 11,791
Joined: Sep 2016
Reputation: 789
I Root For: Ohio St, UC,MAC
Location: Biden Cesspool
Post: #31
RE: Look Back: The 16 Team WAC
The WAC 16 vote was a weird one. I read an article about it once and I’m hazy on some of the details but most of the Airport 5 were staunchly opposed to expansion. UTEP and UNM wanted the Texas expansion and you has some West Coast schools that only wanted expansion of it meant more Pacific Timezone schools.

Colorado St inexplicably decided to vote yes for expansion and they expanded with a vote of something like 5-4-1.
01-22-2022 09:26 AM
Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
Nerdlinger Offline
Realignment Enthusiast
*

Posts: 4,908
Joined: May 2017
Reputation: 423
I Root For: Realignment!
Location: Schmlocation
Post: #32
RE: Look Back: The 16 Team WAC
It's interesting -- according to these articles, the apparent change of heart was due to the presidents of the Airport 5 schools opposing their ADs in secret.

https://www.coloradoan.com/story/sports/...457199002/

https://www.cbssports.com/college-footba...xperiment/

Also seems like there was a lot turnover in presidents and ADs at the time:

https://www.deseret.com/1996/11/28/19279...n-or-folly
(This post was last modified: 01-22-2022 10:33 AM by Nerdlinger.)
01-22-2022 10:00 AM
Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
Gamenole Offline
All American
*

Posts: 3,715
Joined: Oct 2016
Reputation: 677
I Root For: S Carolina & Fla State
Location:
Post: #33
RE: Look Back: The 16 Team WAC
(01-22-2022 08:45 AM)GoBuckeyes1047 Wrote:  
(01-21-2022 08:13 PM)Porcine Wrote:  
(01-21-2022 07:57 PM)Gamenole Wrote:  
(01-21-2022 07:45 PM)spenser Wrote:  
(01-21-2022 06:27 PM)Porcine Wrote:  I prefer east-west. My next preference would be divisionless with protected rivalries. I would tolerate pods. I don't see the SEC splitting up.

I prefer pods with 3 protected(1 from each pod)

Play 9 Conference games:
Your 3 podmates, 3 protected non pod, and the 3 other teams from the pod you rotate through.


Itskind of like NFL schedule except instead of last year finishers of the same spot its you 3 rivals.

You play every school in a 3yr cycyle

Using the example pods:

Pod A: Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina

Pod B: Alabama, Auburn, Tennessee, Vanderbilt

Pod C: LSU, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Texas A&M

Pod D: Arkansas, Missouri, Texas, Oklahom

Example Kentucky would play Tennessee, Mississippi State, and Missouri every year.

I like your idea! That would work for preserving rivalries like Georgia-Auburn, Kentucky-Tennessee, etc.

Makes those games permanent. We don't need pods for that.

Now hold on a second. While I agree 100% that we should get rid of divisions and use protected rivalries, Gamenole is onto something. As of right now, the SEC can only use 2 divisions of 8 teams within the NCAA By-Laws, which we can agree would probably suck as you'd only play teams from the other division at best twice every 8 years and would break up rivalries. The WAC was able to get around the rule with rotating Pods to allow teams to play frequently, but didn't last long enough to see it so I would expect the SEC to do something similar.

With Gamenole's proposal above, you're guaranteeing teams play all their significant rivalries annually (whether in or out of "division") and then can try to matchup some of the bigger brands against each other (TV Ratings/Money) with what's remaining using their 3 pod rivals and 3 protected rivals outside their pods so that's 6 games significance for a team. Now you add 3 other teams that shouldn't mean as much and put them in your "division" and those final 3 teams are all fighting for the same thing you're fight for (a trip to Atlanta, an SEC Championship and CFP 1st round bye, CFP home game or CFP at-large bid, a national championship). Meanwhile everyone plays everyone home & home at least once every 6 years (compared to once every 12 years). I think this is an idea worth expanding on and trying to find the sweet spot with Pods alignment that would satisfy all or most of the 16 teams and then giving it it's own thread Gamenole.

Thanks! It is actually spenser's idea, I was just chiming in to say I liked it. It's the best solution I've seen that isn't crazy complicated, yet gets each team on the field against each other reasonably often AND allows for balanced pods while preserving important games like Auburn-Georgia.
01-22-2022 11:18 AM
Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
dawgonit Offline
Special Teams
*

Posts: 622
Joined: Nov 2010
Reputation: 156
I Root For: LaTech
Location:
Post: #34
RE: Look Back: The 16 Team WAC
(01-22-2022 08:16 AM)HawaiiMongoose Wrote:  By comparison that wouldn’t be a problem for a 16-member MWC today. If four schools were added from Texas (e.g. SMU, Rice, UTSA and UTEP), the two current members that would have to move west to balance the divisions (Boise State and Utah State) would be perfectly happy to do so.

This is an interesting thought and something the MWC would look into if the AAC becomes unstable after losing Memphis and another member. SMU may not like who they are in conference with by then and the MWC could see itself becoming the 6th best conference with a big gap over the 7th conference. Basically becoming the equivalent of the P6 agenda from the original AAC.

SMU would lead the defection with Rice and probably UTSA also. However the MWC would definitely not want UTEP. They aren't in the fertile recruiting ground of Texas and they have already been passed over numerous times. I would suspect that Texas State (unlikely but UTSA rival and good recruiting area) or Tulsa would be the fourth member. If they got Tulsa, they possibly could also bring in Wichita State as an Olympic sports member to offset Hawaii's football only inclusion. It would be a conference that would be a step below the B12 but a cut above other G5 conferences and would be formidable in basketball.
01-22-2022 02:21 PM
Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
JSchmack Offline
1st String
*

Posts: 1,686
Joined: Jan 2021
Reputation: 252
I Root For: chaos
Location:
Post: #35
RE: Look Back: The 16 Team WAC
(01-22-2022 08:16 AM)HawaiiMongoose Wrote:  The simple fact is that the 16-member WAC didn’t fail because it was too big but rather because with that particular set of schools there was no way to create a divisional or pod alignment that made sense. No matter how the pieces were lined up on the board, someone would feel like they were getting screwed in terms of travel or broken rivalries or both. It was inherently unstable from the get-go.

By comparison that wouldn’t be a problem for a 16-member MWC today. If four schools were added from Texas (e.g. SMU, Rice, UTSA and UTEP), the two current members that would have to move west to balance the divisions (Boise State and Utah State) would be perfectly happy to do so.

Nailed it. I 100% aggree.
01-22-2022 02:57 PM
Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
jrj84105 Offline
All American
*

Posts: 2,689
Joined: Jan 2013
Reputation: 252
I Root For: Utes
Location:
Post: #36
RE: Look Back: The 16 Team WAC
(01-21-2022 08:45 PM)inutech Wrote:  
(01-21-2022 08:38 PM)Porcine Wrote:  
(01-21-2022 08:32 PM)inutech Wrote:  I don't like 9 conference games because I enjoy OOC games. But I also don't like conferences being bigger than 12 teams (or 9 to be honest).

Probably why I'm not an AD.

But if you're going to be that big (and travel costs aren't a factor, as they won't be for the SEC) pods are fun.

Go to 18 teams and each division can be it's own conference.

Sure.

2 conferences negotiating media deals together. Be fine.
Conferences are just media conglomerates. Two independent divisions that play separately, each like an old-school conference with round robin play is IMO just as stable as any 16 team conference trying to placate a whole bunch of competing (and often mutually exclusive) scheduling preferences.
01-22-2022 09:21 PM
Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
Porcine Online
1st String
*

Posts: 1,635
Joined: Oct 2021
Reputation: 229
I Root For: Arkansas, SBC
Location: Northern Arkansas
Post: #37
RE: Look Back: The 16 Team WAC
(01-22-2022 09:21 PM)jrj84105 Wrote:  
(01-21-2022 08:45 PM)inutech Wrote:  
(01-21-2022 08:38 PM)Porcine Wrote:  
(01-21-2022 08:32 PM)inutech Wrote:  I don't like 9 conference games because I enjoy OOC games. But I also don't like conferences being bigger than 12 teams (or 9 to be honest).

Probably why I'm not an AD.

But if you're going to be that big (and travel costs aren't a factor, as they won't be for the SEC) pods are fun.

Go to 18 teams and each division can be it's own conference.

Sure.

2 conferences negotiating media deals together. Be fine.
Conferences are just media conglomerates. Two independent divisions that play separately, each like an old-school conference with round robin play is IMO just as stable as any 16 team conference trying to placate a whole bunch of competing (and often mutually exclusive) scheduling preferences.
Thank you.
01-22-2022 10:03 PM
Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
Kit-Cat Offline
Hall of Famer
*

Posts: 10,000
Joined: Jun 2002
Reputation: 125
I Root For: Championships
Location:

CrappiesCrappiesCrappiesCrappiesCrappies
Post: #38
RE: Look Back: The 16 Team WAC
(01-22-2022 02:21 PM)dawgonit Wrote:  
(01-22-2022 08:16 AM)HawaiiMongoose Wrote:  By comparison that wouldn’t be a problem for a 16-member MWC today. If four schools were added from Texas (e.g. SMU, Rice, UTSA and UTEP), the two current members that would have to move west to balance the divisions (Boise State and Utah State) would be perfectly happy to do so.

This is an interesting thought and something the MWC would look into if the AAC becomes unstable after losing Memphis and another member. SMU may not like who they are in conference with by then and the MWC could see itself becoming the 6th best conference with a big gap over the 7th conference. Basically becoming the equivalent of the P6 agenda from the original AAC.

Going west has its disadvantages. If the AAC is going to lose anyone it might be SMU so they don't have anything to worry about.

AAC has Tulsa, SMU, Rice and Tulane all in one conference, something important for those schools.
01-22-2022 10:56 PM
Visit this user's website Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
GreenFreakUAB Offline
All American
*

Posts: 3,814
Joined: Nov 2010
Reputation: 276
I Root For: UAB
Location: Pleasant Grove, AL.
Post: #39
RE: Look Back: The 16 Team WAC
(01-22-2022 07:56 AM)schmolik Wrote:  
(01-21-2022 10:11 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  The 16 team WAC could have worked out had they made one small change: Nevada instead of Tulsa

Here’s why:

You’ve got the Airport 5 who want to play together

You’ve got the 3 SWC teams who want to play together

You’ve got 3 CA teams that want to play together and a Hawaii school who only makes since with the CA schools

That leaves a pair of NV schools, UNM, and UTEP

By grouping the Airport 5 with the SWC 3 you’ve got an 8 team East Division that makes pretty much everyone happy.

The West Division gets you Hawaii, the legacy Big West schools, and the UTEP-UNM rivalry, and as I recall, in the desperate throws of trying to hold the league together I believe it was UNM who offered to go West.

you’ve got a history with no split and Big West football lives on for a few more years.

It does seem weird separating UTEP from the other Texas schools though. But if you don't, you probably have to separate Utah and BYU from Colorado State, Air Force, and Wyoming.

Tulsa still seems like an oddball add to the conference, maybe just as an "evener". Maybe they thought they were getting Houston before they chose Conference USA? Tulsa really never had top football. They are probably more well known for men's basketball, both former Kentucky coach Tubby Smith and Kansas coach Bill Self coached at Tulsa. I don't know if Nevada would have been a better add, they started 1-A football in 1992. Maybe they should have just made a 14 team conference and done two seven team conferences (East: TCU, SMU, Rice, UTEP, New Mexico, Colorado State, Air Force; West: Wyoming, BYU, Utah, UNLV, Fresno State, San Diego State, Hawaii).

Maybe the WAC-Texas experiment was the big failure after all. Houston had the right idea going East instead of West and eventually TCU, SMU, and Rice all joined Conference USA. Eventually TCU and Houston have/will be in the Big 12 while SMU and Rice have/will be in the AAC (which is essentially the new C-USA). What if instead of the WAC being the superconference Conference USA was with them adding the four Texas schools and a 16th school (Tulsa)? Then the WAC would be a more manageable 12 with Hawaii, San Diego State, Fresno State, San Jose State, New Mexico State, and UTEP in a South Division and Utah, BYU, Colorado State, Air Force, Wyoming, and UNLV in a North Division. Maybe instead of the Metro and Great Midwest merging its the Metro and Southwest Conferences with the Great Midwest separate and then the Great Midwest and Southwest/Metro merge after the Big East raids the Great Midwest (eventually all four original Big 12 teams left out were in Conference USA at some point).

Between the Metro, Great Midwest, and Southwest, we could have had:

Southwest: TCU, SMU, Houston, Rice, Tulane, Southern Miss, UAB, South Florida

Great Midwest: Cincinnati, Dayton, DePaul, Marquette, St. Louis, Louisville, Memphis, Virginia Tech, Virginia Commonwealth, Charlotte

Memphis could have joined the Southwest but that would separate Louisville and Memphis (although they were separated after Memphis left the Metro for the Great Midwest and Louisville stayed). Tulsa is also a possible add. Back then Central Florida was in the Trans America Athletic Conference (now Atlantic Sun).

...you COULD have done the 'hybrid' thing (cue Big East war stories... 03-lmfao) and have had the four football-playing schools (at the time) in the GM conference (UC, UL, UM, and VT) have their 'football only' in the Southwest... a 12-team football conference, and still two decent basketball conferences (although I would have wanted UAB to be in with Memphis for bball... perhaps a 'scheduling alliance' between the two leagues for bball...)...
01-22-2022 11:09 PM
Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
Fighting Muskie Online
Senior Chief Realignmentologist
*

Posts: 11,791
Joined: Sep 2016
Reputation: 789
I Root For: Ohio St, UC,MAC
Location: Biden Cesspool
Post: #40
RE: Look Back: The 16 Team WAC
Memphis and Cincinnati were in the Great Midwest.

Louisville, VT, Southern Memphis, and Tulane we’re all in the Metro.
01-22-2022 11:29 PM
Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
Post Reply 




User(s) browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)


Copyright © 2002-2024 Collegiate Sports Nation Bulletin Board System (CSNbbs), All Rights Reserved.
CSNbbs is an independent fan site and is in no way affiliated to the NCAA or any of the schools and conferences it represents.
This site monetizes links. FTC Disclosure.
We allow third-party companies to serve ads and/or collect certain anonymous information when you visit our web site. These companies may use non-personally identifiable information (e.g., click stream information, browser type, time and date, subject of advertisements clicked or scrolled over) during your visits to this and other Web sites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services likely to be of greater interest to you. These companies typically use a cookie or third party web beacon to collect this information. To learn more about this behavioral advertising practice or to opt-out of this type of advertising, you can visit http://www.networkadvertising.org.
Powered By MyBB, © 2002-2024 MyBB Group.