RE: NMSU & GCU in Big West?
I agree with on the MVC. But that means NMSU choices on a WAC meltdown are the Horizon and Big Sky. It' not a great set of choices. Ask NMSU fans and they say SBC for everything "please please please take us back," or when not pleading with the SBC then pleading with the MWC or CUSA.
The reality is the MWC, SBC and CUSA are not expanding anytime soon, and there is almost zero likelihood they have a membership change before 2025 shakeup (if OU actually even leaves the B12 triggering a realignment). The MWC requires football membership and UNM blocks NMSU, as if anyone is interested in any schools not in Texas for MWC expansion (and the money is not there for even that, so it's shelved). CUSA is already bloated, and the SBC has said no very loudly. So it's stay in the WAC and watch their stature erode (ongoing), join the Big Sky and effectively throw in the towel for FBS Football, or look for another conference in the Midwest. A public school on a tight budget like NMSU is not going to pay travel fee subsidy the Big West demands. A rock and a hard place. Who will take them?
CBU, UVU, SU, UTRGV, and if they are still around Chicago State, are not schools NMSU feels much affinity for or who do anything positive for their athletics (e.g., recruiting, profile). The longer they are with this group, the more they resemble them in the minds of recruits.
GCU wants to move up but where? The WCC wont take them -regardless of the opinion of a basketball coach or even AD - as this is not a school those Jesuit and other "old school" high prestige institutions want to be associated with (at least 6 hard "no" votes). And you are well aware of this. GCU is in a tough spot. But they are the most likely to take a Horizon invite, which some have reported they were actually given but passed for the moment, unready to make the jump last year. It would not be a step up, but it would change the brand location and put them on the path for something in the future. When Coangelo talked about a new conference he did not mean working with the scraps of the WAC, and you know that too.
I don't buy any of the CBU stuff you just spouted. Company propaganda. They will be fine, and likely about the same level as CSUB. They are not as deep pockets as GCU, but they have sufficient to be decent. What they do is fit the profile for WAC expansion, private "low church" Christian leaning schools that lack the pedigree a WCC type league would accept, but which represent the only growth segment in less than uber-elite liberal arts colleges (e.g., lower middle class targeted schools). It's not a growing constituency (it's not, it's shrinking -- low church affiliation peaked in the late 1980s, high church in the 1950s) but it is one that is becoming highly focused on cultural choices, which means more are picking Christian liberal arts schools. For this generation or so it's where growth is. UIW, HBU, GCU and CBU are examples of D-II move ups from this category. Liberty is the big name of the bunch. In MBB only GCU has made any real splash, and so far no NCAA bids (could change this year, which is also a reflection how far NMSU has fallen).
But is CBU what would keep GCU in the WAC? Hardly.
Socal, overall I think you are arguing against me mostly to argue. You really don't disagree that NMSU is between a rock and a hard place and their options are limited. And you are not of the opinion GCU will sit tight and just ride the WAC like NMSU -- they have Coangelo and friends pushing them.
Whatever. You argue. We will see what happens. UMKC bolting is the first thing to watch for, then GCU. NMSU is aways more passive and thus more likely to be left in the lurch.
(This post was last modified: 12-07-2017 05:28 PM by Stugray2.)
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