(08-21-2012 09:32 AM)97App Wrote:  

(08-20-2012 11:38 PM)FeFiFo Wrote:  The auto bid comes from the strength of the conference. Not from just a conference name. Without football schools, some low level basketball teams joining the conference would not justify them having an auto bid.

From my understanding strength of conference has nothing to do with auto-bids. It's purely having a conference with enough teams that have been in the same conference for a long enough period of time. You could literally take the worst 8 teams in the nation, join them in the same conference for the required period of time and they would receive an auto-bid.

Bingo. There are some really poor basketball conferences that get auto bids because that's how the rules work. I think the Great West is the only conference that doesn't get one and that's because they only have 5 schools I believe. I think you need 7 or 8 and have to be together for 5-7 years (not sure) before you can qualify for the auto bid. So throwing any 5 schools into the WAC would keep their bid in tact, no matter how bad those schools are.

To me it seems the hostile takeover by the Big Sky seems like the best solution for everyone involved. Both conferences can pare down to eight or nine, resulting in more guaranteed basketball credits each season. It also makes the effect of any Big East expansion neutral, since there would be a landing place for a school like Air Force for whom the Big West is at best a poor option.

(08-21-2012 10:39 AM)SubGod22 Wrote:  

(08-21-2012 09:32 AM)97App Wrote:  

(08-20-2012 11:38 PM)FeFiFo Wrote:  The auto bid comes from the strength of the conference. Not from just a conference name. Without football schools, some low level basketball teams joining the conference would not justify them having an auto bid.

From my understanding strength of conference has nothing to do with auto-bids. It's purely having a conference with enough teams that have been in the same conference for a long enough period of time. You could literally take the worst 8 teams in the nation, join them in the same conference for the required period of time and they would receive an auto-bid.

Bingo. There are some really poor basketball conferences that get auto bids because that's how the rules work. I think the Great West is the only conference that doesn't get one and that's because they only have 5 schools I believe. I think you need 7 or 8 and have to be together for 5-7 years (not sure) before you can qualify for the auto bid. So throwing any 5 schools into the WAC would keep their bid in tact, no matter how bad those schools are.

So they do that and they automatically lose their basketball auto bid. Seems like very little result except to keep the WAC name alive.

(08-22-2012 08:54 AM)FeFiFo Wrote:  

(08-21-2012 10:39 AM)SubGod22 Wrote:  

(08-21-2012 09:32 AM)97App Wrote:  

(08-20-2012 11:38 PM)FeFiFo Wrote:  The auto bid comes from the strength of the conference. Not from just a conference name. Without football schools, some low level basketball teams joining the conference would not justify them having an auto bid.

From my understanding strength of conference has nothing to do with auto-bids. It's purely having a conference with enough teams that have been in the same conference for a long enough period of time. You could literally take the worst 8 teams in the nation, join them in the same conference for the required period of time and they would receive an auto-bid.

Bingo. There are some really poor basketball conferences that get auto bids because that's how the rules work. I think the Great West is the only conference that doesn't get one and that's because they only have 5 schools I believe. I think you need 7 or 8 and have to be together for 5-7 years (not sure) before you can qualify for the auto bid. So throwing any 5 schools into the WAC would keep their bid in tact, no matter how bad those schools are.

So they do that and they automatically lose their basketball auto bid. Seems like very little result except to keep the WAC name alive.

I'm not sure the current schools care about the WAC name. They care about NCAA monies and keeping those coming in with the auto bid. The WAC I'm sure will get a year or so to get back to the number they need without losing the auto. If they're not going to be a football conference, they need to be smart about who they bring in and try to avoid having to bring in Chicago State or NJIT. I'm sure there are some DII schools in the west that would bring more to the table than those two without killing the travel budget.

Don't eight basketball schools have to play together for five years before they can have an auto bid though?
So, other than the name, they could form a conference and do the same exact thing. The NCAA isn't going to just continue to give the WAC an auto
bid when the schools have not played together for the set number of years.

I think if the WAC brings in teams they will continue to get an auto bid. If a new conference were to form, I believe a set number of those teams have to be together for a period of time in order to get one. I could be wrong, but that's my understanding of it.

(08-23-2012 10:38 AM)SubGod22 Wrote:  I think if the WAC brings in teams they will continue to get an auto bid. If a new conference were to form, I believe a set number of those teams have to be together for a period of time in order to get one. I could be wrong, but that's my understanding of it.

Nope.

Running to other conferences and bloating them to ridiculous numbers that will be sharing one bid is not the answer. If the WAC can't get Sacramento State, Portland State, Montana, Montana State, North Dakota, and North Dakota State to join Idaho and New Mexico State, the only other solution is going non-football like I posted above.

Idaho should be allowed to go to the Big Sky, where they will eventually put football as well, because they won't be able to swing independence while New Mexico State will be able to hang on much longer. First ask the NCAA to grant the WAC a waiver to count D2 upgrades in the numbers right away and then go out and grab five schools.

Two from the Great West, Utah Valley and UT Pan American, are obvious. So is Cal State Bakersfield. Then get Grand Canyon aboard to maintain more presence in the West and ask TAMU International to move up in order to have a sensible travel partner and foil for UT Pan American. It keeps the WAC in the West and preserves the autobid.

What this does is provide totals of 8 for men's basketball, 7 for baseball, 5 for men's soccer (associates allowed to fill third team sport), 8 for women's basketball, 6 for softball, 7 for women's soccer, and 8 for women's volleyball. Only include Chicago State and NJIT if the NCAA refuses a waiver getting the D2 upgrades to count immediately.

Guess Hurd's 30 days passed. Wonder what he will be doing now and if they will dissolve the WAC staff at the end of this school year.

(10-01-2012 06:44 PM)GoApps70 Wrote:  Guess Hurd's 30 days passed. Wonder what he will be doing now and if they will dissolve the WAC staff at the end of this school year.

His deadline passed about 3 months ago. The WAC is dead. Not enough Fcs schools agreed to join.

WAC football is dead but what is he doing regarding a non football WAC? Do they pay him to do nothing?

Guess he can justify his salary right now since it's the last year for WAC football, and maybe other sports.

(10-02-2012 10:41 PM)RUfan03 Wrote:  WAC football is dead but what is he doing regarding a non football WAC? Do they pay him to do nothing?

Can we same Lame Duck!!!!!!

This is all on Carl Bensons head. He dropped the ball on expansion and the WAC started to collapse around him. Then rather than try to maintain what was left and rebuild, he jumped ship to another conference and left this mess for someone else to clean up. I don't blame Hurd to much mainly because the WAC was beyond saving by the time he was put at the wheel. Oh well, the WAC had a good run and alot of good teams have launched from this conference.

Guess he had a mess coming in, but seemed that he never put enough information out there to get fan support from some of those Western schools that might have been interested. Still believe he could have got enough teams from the Big Sky to keep football alive and well, but maybe that is a wrong idea.

The problem with Western Schools is they don't have the population numbers that Eastern Schools do to support alot of teams. This and the time zone difference really hurt them. I hated when La Tech would play @ Hawaii because the game was always in the evening and would go well past midnight (central time) before it was over. I was watching the Utah vs. USC game last night and it went till 11:30 pm ON A THURSDAY!!

Was that 11:30 pm Central Time?
I didn't even know it was on. Some days I am so tired when I get home and turn on the TV or computer I pass out asleep, other days I practically stay up all night. Guess it was the former last night.

Guess I can see why conferences want the Western schools though. Particularly nBE and CUSA. In a large conference gives them a late night game to maybe go with some of the earlier ones in the same conference.

Last time App State played Hawaii we got creamed. Figured the travel had a lot to do with it, but we were also trying out some new weird offense called the spread. Didn't know it at the time how important that would be.