(05-07-2021 08:13 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  

(05-07-2021 06:58 PM)YNot Wrote:  

(05-07-2021 06:08 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  

(05-07-2021 04:44 PM)solohawks Wrote:  

(05-07-2021 04:35 PM)Stugray2 Wrote:  I think the Big West part is DOA. If San Diego State or Colorado State is to be brought on board (or Air Force or UNLV) the American has to take them in All Sports. The SDSU AD made it clear that they have no intention these days (unlike the 2011 plan) to park their Olympics in some one bid bus league.

The reality is the MWC and WCC are the only acceptable conferences in the West for schools at the level of the MWC Basketball. Joining the AAC means they get booted from the MWC and the WCC is not going to take a renter school that is neither private nor faith based. The Texas schools, Tulsa and Wichita State have to be OK flying West for Olympic sports.

Yep the Big West seems stable and content. I don't see any interest on either side at this point

Boise is not in a great position to try and recruit friends after they left SDSU at the alter.

I think the AAC would need to add four Western all sports schools that could share a division with the TX schools, Tulsa, and Wichita/Navy in order to make this work and operationally feasible

Here's an interesting angle to consider.

Im not so sure the 4 current AAC members in the West would be on board with a 3 to 5 team all sports addition from the MW. You see, the only way to have a conference this spread out would be to move to the extensive use of divisional play in non-revenue sports (perhaps even mens basketball as well). That means the cost of greatly increased olympic sports travel burden would largely fall JUST on those 4 western AAC teams--and the rest of the league would only be mildly affected (in fact, the rest of the leagues travel costs would likley fall). Unless there is some sort of revenue device to offset those considerable new costs for the existing western members---Im not sure the western 4 AAC schools would buy into the idea of 4 western "all sports" additions. Four "football only" additions would be no problem as it's just a couple of trips a year, but I dont know about 4 "all sports" additions from the MW. That might be a tough sell without some financial recognition of the substantially increased travel burden that would largely fall on just 4 programs while everyone else reaps the benefits of lower travel costs.

Could be. I think it's overstated. I note that, pre-Covid, Boise State's softball team travelled to tournaments in Texas and South Carolina; SDSU's women's soccer team played Miami, Long Island University and Texas Tech; BYU's women's volleyball has recently played in Wichita, North Carolina, and Wisconsin....and SDSU's women's rowing team is already in the AAC.

Im just saying for a team like Houston---its farthest trip is Philly (a bit over 1500 miles). ECU would be around 1200 miles. No other 'all sports" school is over 1000 miles away. SDSU, and UNLV are both around 1500 miles---Boise is 1800 miles. If you added another western school its going to be around 1000-1800 miles depending on who you pick. The point is, in a divisional set up with 4 western members---fully half of Houston's trips now become 1200-1800 mile migrations where as before---such lengthy trips were fairly limited.

Good point. And Houston has always aligned themselves with Eastern and Central schools since.SWC ended. They might not like getting shifted to the far west