(02-06-2018 10:31 PM)billybobby777 Wrote:  

(02-06-2018 06:34 PM)templefootballfan Wrote:  WAC had the right idea,
promblem was, WAC wanted to set pernament div
niether div wanted to give up BYU
BYU wasn't happy on either div
west cut them out range schools, east cut them off Cal schools
nobody wanted to be cut off from SDST
nobody wanted to go to Haw

WOW! Actually this ^ isn’t it.....at all. Totally fabricated revisionist history.
When the permanent divisions were going to be publicly announced in 1998, Air Force was to be put in with BYU, Utah, SDSU, UNLV, SJSU, Fresno & Hawaii.
The other side was to be Wyoming & Colorado St with The SWC 3, Tulsa, UNM and UTEP.
-Air Force threw a fit. To salvage things, both New Mexico and UTEP offered to swap spots with Air Force to appease them.
-Air Force organized the Denver airport meeting with Wyoming, Colorado St, BYU & Utah. Those 5 invited UNM, SDSU & UNM to form the MWC. This was June, 1998.
-there were no issues with anyone being “unhappy with being cut off from San Diego St.”
-there was no one saying they didn’t want to play at Hawaii.
-BYU wasn’t “unhappy with either division”

This is hindsight talking, but I wonder if they had added, say, Nevada instead of Tulsa, would the 16-team WAC have survived?

Pod 1: Rice, SMU, TCU, UTEP
Pod 2: Air Force, CSU, UNM, Wyoming
Pod 3: BYU, Nevada, UNLV, Utah
Pod 4: Fresno, Hawaii, SDSU, SJSU

The pod system works well, and if they instead wanted permanent divisions, you've got a nice split between East (1 & 2) and West (3 & 4).