Lilley favors Idaho on eve of WAC meetings

Steve Sneddon (more stories by author)
RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL
6/2/2004 10:46 pm



Idaho’s knocking on the door, and Louisiana Tech isn’t going anywhere as the Western Athletic Conference schools’ presidents prepare for a board of directors meeting at Half Moon Bay, Calif., today and Friday.

Idaho, which plays football in the Sun Belt Conference and is scheduled to become a member in all sports in 2005, will make a presentation as the Vandals seek membership in the WAC.

“I favor admission of Idaho,

Davis is also a Land Grant University!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok question here. Cal-Davis just moved up from D2 and they are mentioned as a possible future WAC member? I would think that Sacramento St. would be considered first between the two. Is there a breakdown of differences between the two schools (# of sports, budgets, attendance for FB and MBB, lenght of time in current divisions, success level at that division, history vs. any current WAC school, travel concerns, etc.) What makes one more attractive than the other?

With Nevada, San Jose St. and Fresno St. nearby, I do see the FB and MBB attendence rising greatly if either or both did join the WAC.

Thanks,
CKS

CKS Wrote:Ok question here. Cal-Davis just moved up from D2 and they are mentioned as a possible future WAC member? I would think that Sacramento St. would be considered first between the two. Is there a breakdown of differences between the two schools (# of sports, budgets, attendance for FB and MBB, lenght of time in current divisions, success level at that division, history vs. any current WAC school, travel concerns, etc.) What makes one more attractive than the other?

With Nevada, San Jose St. and Fresno St. nearby, I do see the FB and MBB attendence rising greatly if either or both did join the WAC.

Thanks,
CKS

Great Question. I don't have the answer, but I do know that Davis has a great football tradition and has spawned quite a few Great Football Coaches. Davis has the all time record for most consective Football Conference Championships. I will check around and see if I can get some Davis guys to come around and give us some info.

Don't know anything about Sac State, except they play in the Big Sky.

And besides, with another Aggie school, USU78's dream of an all Ag conference comes one step closer to fruition. The rest of you will just have to change your names, 'cause it's going to be the Western Ag Conference:

Boazy State Ags (not just yer average spuds)
Cal Davis Ags (and you should see our men's gymnastics program!)
Fresno Ags (hay, hay and more hay -- hey!)
Hawai'i Ags (macadamia, anyone?)
Idaho Ags (you'll sell your birthright for our lentils)
LaTech Ags (goobers fer everybody)
Nevada Ags (ok, we don't grow anything, but we have a lovely lake close by -- check out the Pa Cartwright dutch oven breakfast)
NewMags (not quite True Ags, but old Ags nevertheless)
San Jose Ags (Just don't water your lawn or misdirect that coke can)
USU Ags (the True and original Ags and erstwhile Olsen family farm -- have some swiss while you're waiting for the grass to grow)

[QUOTE]NewMags (not quite True Ags, but old Ags nevertheless)

How do you figure that one? what more does it take to be "true Ags"?

It involves getting kissed on the "A." It's possible that some NewMags are True Ags, but not likely.

here are our future expansion candidates:

Sac State - seem committed to D1 sports, has FB that could go D1-A. Serious upgrades needed to stadium. Travel Part. to San Jose.
Portland State - good facilities, great market, has had interest in joining the WAC in the past. Serious upgrades needed to stadium. No close travel part.
Montana - good facilities, great fan support. They'd only need to add about 5K to make stadium D1-A compliant. Travel part. to Idaho.

Others (maybe)

UCDavis
NAU

[QUOTE] question here. Cal-Davis just moved up from D2 and they are mentioned as a possible future WAC member? I would think that Sacramento St. would be considered first between the two. Is there a breakdown of differences between the two schools (# of sports, budgets, attendance for FB and MBB, lenght of time in current divisions, success level at that division, history vs. any current WAC school, travel concerns, etc.) What makes one more attractive than the other?
[QUOTE]

Well there is a guy from Sac State that will come on and dispute all of this but I'll try to answer some of your questions.

-UC Davis just added womens golf which will be the 26th sport.

-UCD had a budget of $7 million for the final years in D2. At that time about $500,000 in scholarship money was spread across the entire athletic department. Funding has been secured to take the budget up to $14.5 million for the first official year of D1 (I-AA) competition.

-Attendance for football has dropped since many of the rival schools in California have dropped their programs. Games against CSUS, Nevada, and Cal Poly have traditionally attracted the largest crowds. Last season the Ags were not eligible for post season competition and attendance dropped to ~6,500. In 2002 it was ~9,500 (mind you this is a schedule that includes directional D2 schools that nobody in California has heard of regardless of whether they have good football teams).

-Davis has been a member of D2 since it was established. The Aggies have had 34 consecutive winning seasons and more trips to the playoffs than any school in D2.

-UCD and Nevada was a lot of fun throughout the 80's. The Pack discontinued the series when the Aggies won in '89 at Reno. SJSU could be a decent rivalry if they can hold on to their football program. If the two teams played in San Jose their would probably be more Davis fans in the crowd than Spartan fans.

-When UCD decided to make the move to D1 they made a major commitment to facilities. There is a $30 million football stadium scheduled to open in 2006 (was delayed by UC budget cuts even though it's privately financed. The gym seats 8,000 and is scheduled for a remodel next summer which will increase capacity to around 10,000. There is a new swimming/polo facility that opened this season and the tennis center is currently under construction. The baseball stadium seats 3,500 and the soccer facility is solid.

-On the gridiron Davis has beat Sac State 9 of the past 11 seasons and at one point took 18 contests in a row.

[quote="The Fan"] [QUOTE] question here. Cal-Davis just moved up from D2 and they are mentioned as a possible future WAC member? I would think that Sacramento St. would be considered first between the two. Is there a breakdown of differences between the two schools (# of sports, budgets, attendance for FB and MBB, lenght of time in current divisions, success level at that division, history vs. any current WAC school, travel concerns, etc.) What makes one more attractive than the other?
[QUOTE]

Well there is a guy from Sac State that will come on and dispute all of this but I'll try to answer some of your questions.

-UC Davis just added womens golf which will be the 26th sport.

-UCD had a budget of $7 million for the final years in D2. At that time about $500,000 in scholarship money was spread across the entire athletic department. Funding has been secured to take the budget up to $14.5 million for the first official year of D1 (I-AA) competition.

-Attendance for football has dropped since many of the rival schools in California have dropped their programs. Games against CSUS, Nevada, and Cal Poly have traditionally attracted the largest crowds. Last season the Ags were not eligible for post season competition and attendance dropped to ~6,500. In 2002 it was ~9,500 (mind you this is a schedule that includes directional D2 schools that nobody in California has heard of regardless of whether they have good football teams).

-Davis has been a member of D2 since it was established. The Aggies have had 34 consecutive winning seasons and more trips to the playoffs than any school in D2.

-UCD and Nevada was a lot of fun throughout the 80's. The Pack discontinued the series when the Aggies won in '89 at Reno. SJSU could be a decent rivalry if they can hold on to their football program. If the two teams played in San Jose their would probably be more Davis fans in the crowd than Spartan fans.

-When UCD decided to make the move to D1 they made a major commitment to facilities. There is a $30 million football stadium scheduled to open in 2006 (was delayed by UC budget cuts even though it's privately financed. The gym seats 8,000 and is scheduled for a remodel next summer which will increase capacity to around 10,000. There is a new swimming/polo facility that opened this season and the tennis center is currently under construction. The baseball stadium seats 3,500 and the soccer facility is solid.

-On the gridiron Davis has beat Sac State 9 of the past 11 seasons and at one point took 18 contests in a row. [/quote]
Sweet, we really appreciate that you took the time to give us the update Fan!

I have 2 questions:

How many seats planned for the $30 million stadium, and.....
Is there interest among the fan base to move up to D1A in football?????

Well if you read the local papers they say 12,000 in phase I with future build out to 30,000 but unless the UC Regents screw Davis over it should seat 30,000 from the start. Yes there is interest from the fanbase to go I-A and the student support would really take off but UCD is not ready for the WAC right now and probably won't be ready until at least 2010.

USU78 Wrote:It involves getting kissed on the "A."  It's possible that some NewMags are True Ags, but not likely.

Here's a link for any interested parties.

<a href='http://utahstatetoday.usu.edu/archives/october2002/10-17-02/studentnews-10-17-02.cfm' target='_blank'>http://utahstatetoday.usu.edu/archives/oct...ws-10-17-02.cfm</a>