(01-07-2021 04:56 PM)Wedge Wrote:  

(01-07-2021 03:21 PM)AllTideUp Wrote:  Northern Arizona makes the most sense. The geography of it is clear.

Also the weather...play in mostly relatively warm climes or play in the Northwest all year? Choose the less icy weather.

The winter weather at NAU resembles the winter weather at Weber State or Idaho State far more closely than the winter weather at Lamar or UTRGV.

Also, the driving distance from NAU to WAC schools, especially the ones in Texas as well as Seattle, is greater than the distance from NAU to Montana.

(01-07-2021 04:59 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(01-07-2021 03:21 PM)AllTideUp Wrote:  Northern Arizona makes the most sense. The geography of it is clear.

Also the weather...play in mostly relatively warm climes or play in the Northwest all year? Choose the less icy weather.

FWIW, Flagstaff (Northern Arizona) is in no way like most places in Arizona. It is almost 7,000 feet above sea level.

In the summer, when it is 110 degrees in Phoenix and Tucson, it is a mild 80-85 in Flagstaff. In the winter, it is cold and often windy, highs in the 40s with nighttime lows in the teens. Flagstaff gets over 8 feet of snow on average during the winter.

I've actually been to Flagstaff many years ago. Nice little community, beautiful, and I was shocked to find that Arizona wasn't just one big desert with cacti everywhere. The TV of my youth lied to me!...lol

Yes, it is cold and snowy there, but that's not what I'm talking about. Most athletes would rather live and play in more comfortable climates. Flagstaff isn't 100% perfectly ideal for that, but if you're an athlete from a warm climate then would you rather play closer to home or spend all your time traveling to climates that are even colder than your own campus?

NAU can't alter Flagstaff's weather, but they can make themselves more appealing to a higher percentage of athletes by cutting themselves away from the Northwestern teams.

Some of the travel distances wouldn't be ideal, but the Big Sky isn't remotely ideal either. I've spent a lot of time driving through much of the American West. It's a lot of beautiful territory, but some of the distances are deceiving. A lot of those mountainous roads are not quick to travel on...even some of the interstates. The Southwest and especially TX is very different. Most of it is flat and it leaves plenty of space to route highways around the most difficult terrain. Actually, smaller airports are more prevalent in the West because the large cities are few are far between, but that doesn't mean everyone drives everywhere.

Not to mention, Southern Utah and Dixie State would be fairly short trips. New Mexico State isn't really that far. By comparison, Ogden(home of Weber State is an 8 and half hour drive. Las Cruces is 7 and a half. Seattle is a long trip, but so are Idaho, Montana, Montana State, and Northern Colorado.

We'll see if a couple of the CA schools go for the WAC and then it will really be a slam dunk.

The TX schools wouldn't be a short trip, but the travel distances are mostly a wash.