(05-10-2020 10:17 AM)chrisattsu Wrote: (05-10-2020 09:47 AM)Trod0 Wrote: I’d take NAU also. Denver and Eastern Washington and bring back Idaho. These keep the WAC footprint, I would hate to see this turn into some kind of Texas league.
NAU, Denver, WT and ACU would be nice additions.
Proximity wise, staying within our current conference footprint, all four schools would be good additions. However, NAU doesn't add much to the WAC except a warm body when you take into account methods of travel to Flagstaff. There is no incentive for NAU to leave the Big Sky. There addition would move forward the premise of starting up FCS football in the WAC but falls well short of promoting the any idea of building a FBS conference for the future. NAU simply doesn't have the support to move up to FBS (averaging about 6.5K per game).
As for Denver, they left the WAC for academic reasons. They felt not all the current WAC schools represented Denver's academic values; feeling more comfortable with their peers in the Summit. They do not support football. So they would help NMSU goals at the FBS level or Dixie State and Tarleton State at the FCS level.
To be honest, I don't know a lot about Abilene Christian. If the are a well funded private school like Grand Canyon and California Baptist, I could see them as a plausible addition. But I don't see them leaving the Southland anytime soon. There is no incentive for them to leave one FCS conference for another. And they are not FBS ready.
I do like West Texas A&M because of their location within the WAC footprint and proximity to Amarillo; for travel. I feel they still have the reminisce of being D1 with their current facilities. As a D2 school, they out draw NAU in football attendance (at just over 7.6K). They is an infrastructure there which could easily move up to the FCS level and join Dixie State and Tarleton State. And, with (a lot of) time maybe even the FBS level.
The only reasons to join the WAC at this moment is to give D2 schools a landing spot to move up to FCS football and basketball into D1. Or, to start an FBS football conference for those FCS schools on the cusp on making that move. Unless a school is in one of those categories, I don't think schools are interested in the WAC. The old WAC model used to be to target non-football playing D2 schools in large metropolitan location for cheap travel, recruiting, and marketing. However, there are not enough D2 schools ready to make the move to D1... UC San Diego chose to join the Big West, Metropolitan State of Denver chose to stay at the D2 level, and California State Los Angeles performed a feasibility study to move to D1 but no results are currently available. Consequently, the WAC Commissioner changed the model by targeting football playing D2 schools with healthier budgets and are more D1 ready. But this has now put the WAC on a new path to target schools that have similar qualities to Dixie State and Tarleton State. Hence my interest in West Texas A&M.