(11-15-2021 01:26 PM)mjs Wrote:  

(11-15-2021 01:21 PM)mjs Wrote:  Interesting to me that the WKU Athletic Director, in an interview, made it clear WKU was very much wanting to join the MAC. This was nixed by the MAC when MTSU decided to stay put. It seemed to me that the WKU AD pretty much said they were hoping for a MAC invite in the future. Pretty strange thing for an AD to say publicly while they are still in CUSA for the foreseeable future.

Part of his statement:
"I really enjoyed the dialogue I had with everybody associated with the MAC," Western Kentucky athletic director Todd Stewart told The Blade. "I had conversations with athletic directors. Our president had conversations with presidents. I had multiple conversations with commissioner Steinbrecher and his staff, and I really enjoyed it. I have a lot of respect for everybody. The league clearly has good, strong leadership, and it was something we would have loved to be a part of. We were hoping it was going to work out, and certainly, we were disappointed when it didn't."

MTSU's reluctance and the MAC's final decision left Western Kentucky fans feeling spurned, with most of the vitriol directed at their archrival for what they believed to be a short-sided financial decision that negatively affected the future of WKU athletics.

"The fans are stakeholders," Stewart said. "They are our shareholders, so to speak. When word initially got out that the MAC might be a possibility, the response was overwhelmingly positive. I anticipated that it would be good, but it was even better than I thought. Everyone I ran into expressed how much they hoped it would get done, across the board. The more people looked at it, the more it made sense."

And a not so veiled slam on the CUSA leadership too! Looks like WKU is taking up the La Tech method of how to win friends and influence people, huh!