05-14-2010, 10:34 AM
Not particularly fond of the title of this article
ESPNFootballBlog.
http://espn.go.com/blog/ncfnation
View from the bottom: Q&A with Wright Waters
May, 14, 2010 May 1411:00AM
By Graham Watson
Expansion has been a hot topic for the last several months and everyone is focused on power players such as the Big Ten and Big 12. But what about the teams at the bottom? Sun Belt commissioner Wright Waters is keeping a close watch on expansion, but has little fear of losing any of his 12 teams, which gives him a unique opportunity to sit back and watch everything unfold.
Waters took some time to visit with me this week and give me his candid thoughts on expansion and what it could mean to college football. The interview is broken up into two parts and the second will be posted later this afternoon.
Sun Belt commissioner Wright Waters isn't worried about losing teams to expansion.When the conference commissioners all met a couple weeks ago, did Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany say anything about a timetable for expansion?
Wright Waters: No. The only thing Jim said is, ‘This is not a one-year decision. This is a 100-year decision. We’re not bringing somebody into the league for one year or five years or 10 years. We’re bringing them in for 100 years.’ So, I think he’ll be slow and deliberate. I think that he will say to whoever those teams are to take as much time as they need to say goodbye before they come here.
Well, what are your thoughts about expansion?
WW: You can take five people off the street and they’ll have different opinions and one of them might be right. At the end of the day there are really only two or two-and-a-half conferences that are in charge of their own fate and that’s the SEC and the Big Ten. The SEC’s not going to raid the Big Ten and the Big Ten’s not going to raid the SEC. And maybe the Pac-10. Nobody’s going to raid the Pac-10. But the Pac-10 has so few options just because of the number of schools that are out there. But beyond that, we’re all just dominoes waiting our turn. And the only thing you can do is think of all the different scenarios and how you would react. Kind of do it in your mind and try to stay in enhancement mode and not get into survival mode because once you get into survival mode you start making bad decisions.
What’s an example of a bad decision?
WW: Like taking institutions that don’t help you athletically or don’t fit geographically, but you keep the doors open and then you’ve got to live with those people forever and ever.
When you look at non-AQ conferences, everyone’s talking about the Mountain West being a player in this, maybe the WAC because they have some more prominent teams, but as you keep going down the line, it seems like some of your teams, at least from what I’ve been reading, could have Conference USA knocking on their door or one of the other conferences to fill in the gaps. What do you think of that?
WW: You don’t know because first of all what happens to Conference USA? If you fall below the continuity of membership requirements (eight teams) you have no league because you have no automatic qualifiers. So, the thing institutions have to be prepared to do is not look at what conference’s were last year, but what conference’s are going to be five years from now. Could the Big 12 lose their AQ? Maybe. Could the Big East lose their AQ? Maybe. You’ve got to look at the makeup of what new conferences will be not what the makeup of old conferences were.
I assume every conference has a backup plan or a list of backup schools that you profile to fit into your membership. Does the Sun Belt have something like that?
WW: Yes and no. Again, it depends on whether you’re in enhancement mode or survival mode. We’re a 12-team league right now. We are absolutely in enhancement mode. We are in a mode where we’re thinking, ‘How do we improve the quality of the 12 schools we have?’ There’s no advantage to us right now to expand. If we expand all we do is increase the division of resources. So, right now we’re not engaged in that. Do I know what’s around me? Yeah. I keep up with those things. But if 16 becomes the new norm and that becomes a qualification to compete then yeah, we’ve got to get out of enhancement mode and get into survival mode.
ESPNFootballBlog.
http://espn.go.com/blog/ncfnation
View from the bottom: Q&A with Wright Waters
May, 14, 2010 May 1411:00AM
By Graham Watson
Expansion has been a hot topic for the last several months and everyone is focused on power players such as the Big Ten and Big 12. But what about the teams at the bottom? Sun Belt commissioner Wright Waters is keeping a close watch on expansion, but has little fear of losing any of his 12 teams, which gives him a unique opportunity to sit back and watch everything unfold.
Waters took some time to visit with me this week and give me his candid thoughts on expansion and what it could mean to college football. The interview is broken up into two parts and the second will be posted later this afternoon.
Sun Belt commissioner Wright Waters isn't worried about losing teams to expansion.When the conference commissioners all met a couple weeks ago, did Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany say anything about a timetable for expansion?
Wright Waters: No. The only thing Jim said is, ‘This is not a one-year decision. This is a 100-year decision. We’re not bringing somebody into the league for one year or five years or 10 years. We’re bringing them in for 100 years.’ So, I think he’ll be slow and deliberate. I think that he will say to whoever those teams are to take as much time as they need to say goodbye before they come here.
Well, what are your thoughts about expansion?
WW: You can take five people off the street and they’ll have different opinions and one of them might be right. At the end of the day there are really only two or two-and-a-half conferences that are in charge of their own fate and that’s the SEC and the Big Ten. The SEC’s not going to raid the Big Ten and the Big Ten’s not going to raid the SEC. And maybe the Pac-10. Nobody’s going to raid the Pac-10. But the Pac-10 has so few options just because of the number of schools that are out there. But beyond that, we’re all just dominoes waiting our turn. And the only thing you can do is think of all the different scenarios and how you would react. Kind of do it in your mind and try to stay in enhancement mode and not get into survival mode because once you get into survival mode you start making bad decisions.
What’s an example of a bad decision?
WW: Like taking institutions that don’t help you athletically or don’t fit geographically, but you keep the doors open and then you’ve got to live with those people forever and ever.
When you look at non-AQ conferences, everyone’s talking about the Mountain West being a player in this, maybe the WAC because they have some more prominent teams, but as you keep going down the line, it seems like some of your teams, at least from what I’ve been reading, could have Conference USA knocking on their door or one of the other conferences to fill in the gaps. What do you think of that?
WW: You don’t know because first of all what happens to Conference USA? If you fall below the continuity of membership requirements (eight teams) you have no league because you have no automatic qualifiers. So, the thing institutions have to be prepared to do is not look at what conference’s were last year, but what conference’s are going to be five years from now. Could the Big 12 lose their AQ? Maybe. Could the Big East lose their AQ? Maybe. You’ve got to look at the makeup of what new conferences will be not what the makeup of old conferences were.
I assume every conference has a backup plan or a list of backup schools that you profile to fit into your membership. Does the Sun Belt have something like that?
WW: Yes and no. Again, it depends on whether you’re in enhancement mode or survival mode. We’re a 12-team league right now. We are absolutely in enhancement mode. We are in a mode where we’re thinking, ‘How do we improve the quality of the 12 schools we have?’ There’s no advantage to us right now to expand. If we expand all we do is increase the division of resources. So, right now we’re not engaged in that. Do I know what’s around me? Yeah. I keep up with those things. But if 16 becomes the new norm and that becomes a qualification to compete then yeah, we’ve got to get out of enhancement mode and get into survival mode.