What does the MWC have against adding UTEP? I can understand to a certain degree why they don't want to add New Mexico State. They're terrible in football (so is New Mexico btw) but they have been historically successful in basketball and would certainly give the MWC a chance of having multiple bids in the NCAA tournament. But why is there an animus towards UTEP? They fit the geography of the conference and have been members with the twelve teams in the past. Does the MWC treat UTEP the same way the ACC treats West Virginia? They had a golden opportunity when the CUSA was being raided by the AAC and Sunbelt to add UTEP and finish off the CUSA once and for all, after surviving near potential defections from Air Force and Colorado State. Why didn't they take it? What's the inside story as to why UTEP may never be added to the conference?

UTEP sucks at football and basketball and has no television market. No other story or reason needed.

El Paso has the 93rd largest TV market. Not huge but certainly not non-existent.

Where UTEP falls short is that the MWC already has 12 football members. They're just the odd team out.

(06-05-2022 08:57 PM)DoubleRSU Wrote:  UTEP sucks at football and basketball and has no television market. No other story or reason needed.

This honestly tells almost all of the story. No money, no TV market, no location administrators are excited about visiting, no meaningful recruiting territory, and meh-to-terrible football and basketball.

The MWC already has too many charity cases. The league doesn't want to add more unless they have choice.

While UTEP was a yes vote that brought about the WAC-16, I don’t think there’s a giant grudge against the Miners among the MWC schools.

I think it boils down to market size and the fact that their football has struggled for some time.

The last time the MWC expanded, there were really 3 top candidates: Utah St, San Jose St, and UTEP. Utah St was playing good football and built a geographic bridge. San Jose St and UTEP both struggled but the Bay Area has more TV sets so they won the last spot. If the MWC had needed 3 schools at the time, UTEP would probably be in.

UTEP was in WAC when they expanded to 16

UTEP checks many boxes- geographic, historic and cultural. The MWC is fine at 12 though and UTEP doesn't add enough to make their addition needed at the moment. UTEP will always be there if they need them so there is no rush.

Personally though, I wish the MWC would add NMSU and UTEP and go to a 3-5 model for football. It would unite the western half of the country under one G5. As a fan of a CUSA school that needs the conference to stay together though, I do not want this.

(06-06-2022 05:16 AM)dawgonit Wrote:  UTEP checks many boxes- geographic, historic and cultural. The MWC is fine at 12 though and UTEP doesn't add enough to make their addition needed at the moment. UTEP will always be there if they need them so there is no rush.

Personally though, I wish the MWC would add NMSU and UTEP and go to a 3-5 model for football. It would unite the western half of the country under one G5. As a fan of a CUSA school that needs the conference to stay together though, I do not want this.

We’ll take ‘em back. Along with Texas St and LaTech for an MW 16.

Why not? It’s amateur sports anyway, right? And if cbs and Fox gave mw a rosier than AAC tv contract in 2026, and for some reason a stipulation was to go to 16 and the only 4 we could get were LaTech, Texas St, NMSU and UTEP, I’d be happy with that.

(06-06-2022 06:02 AM)Fresno Fanatic Wrote:  

(06-06-2022 05:16 AM)dawgonit Wrote:  UTEP checks many boxes- geographic, historic and cultural. The MWC is fine at 12 though and UTEP doesn't add enough to make their addition needed at the moment. UTEP will always be there if they need them so there is no rush.

Personally though, I wish the MWC would add NMSU and UTEP and go to a 3-5 model for football. It would unite the western half of the country under one G5. As a fan of a CUSA school that needs the conference to stay together though, I do not want this.

We’ll take ‘em back. Along with Texas St and LaTech for an MW 16.

Why not? It’s amateur sports anyway, right? And if cbs and Fox gave mw a rosier than AAC tv contract in 2026, and for some reason a stipulation was to go to 16 and the only 4 we could get were LaTech, Texas St, NMSU and UTEP, I’d be happy with that.

Sign me up. I'd be fine with that. I'm ready to bring back the Battle of the Bone with Fresno....also terrorize Hawaii fans with pinecones. Who knew they had such a phobia.

(06-05-2022 08:52 PM)andybible1995 Wrote:  What does the MWC have against adding UTEP? I can understand to a certain degree why they don't want to add New Mexico State. They're terrible in football (so is New Mexico btw) but they have been historically successful in basketball and would certainly give the MWC a chance of having multiple bids in the NCAA tournament. But why is there an animus towards UTEP? They fit the geography of the conference and have been members with the twelve teams in the past. Does the MWC treat UTEP the same way the ACC treats West Virginia? They had a golden opportunity when the CUSA was being raided by the AAC and Sunbelt to add UTEP and finish off the CUSA once and for all, after surviving near potential defections from Air Force and Colorado State. Why didn't they take it? What's the inside story as to why UTEP may never be added to the conference?

I don't think there is "animus" towards UTEP, just lack of interest.

UTEP is on an island. Far from everywhere.

(06-06-2022 05:16 AM)dawgonit Wrote:  UTEP checks many boxes- geographic, historic and cultural. The MWC is fine at 12 though and UTEP doesn't add enough to make their addition needed at the moment. UTEP will always be there if they need them so there is no rush.

Personally though, I wish the MWC would add NMSU and UTEP and go to a 3-5 model for football. It would unite the western half of the country under one G5. As a fan of a CUSA school that needs the conference to stay together though, I do not want this.

If they both left and we brought in two replacements closer to everyone else I’d be happy with it. My fear is the MWC has one opening and takes one of them.

UTEP was a member of the WAC from 1968-2015. It has a long history with the schools that formed the MWC in 1998.

The membership in the 10-membet WAC before the 1996 expansion was BYU, Utah, New Mexico, CSU, AFA, Wy, SDSU, Fresno St, Hawaii and UTEP

The 1996 WAC expansion to 16 teams added UNLV, SJSU, TCU, Rice, SMU and Tulsa.

When the MWC formed, they took 8 teams, 7 of which were from the pre-1996 WAC era. The only team added that was not from the pre-1996 WAC era was UNLV.
The 3 from the pre-1996 WAC era left behind were UTEP, Hawaii and Fresno ST.

So essentially the 7 "original" WAC teams dumped UTEP, Hawaii and Fresno St for UNLV when they formed the MWC.

After that UTEP decided its future was better aligned with other Texas schools, even though geographically they were no where close to the other Texas schools. So when Tulsa, Rice and SMU bolted for CUSA, UTEP took the last spot being offered in CUSA at the time, even though geographically it would have made more sense for CUSA to offer that last spot to LA Tech and UTEP to stay in the WAC

When spots starting opening up in the depleted MWC, UTEP made the strategic mistake to stay in CUSA. UTEP probably could have got the last spot offered to SJSU, but did not take it. SJSU would have ended up a WAC football orphan like Idaho and NMSU.

If UTEP would have left for MWC in 2012-2014, CUSA probably would offered another spot to a SBC school during that time, which might have tipped the balance in favor of CUSA over the SBC in the last go around.

(06-06-2022 07:34 AM)goofus Wrote:  UTEP was a member of the WAC from 1968-2015. It has a long history with the schools that formed the MWC in 1998.

The membership in the 10-membet WAC before the 1996 expansion was BYU, Utah, New Mexico, CSU, AFA, Wy, SDSU, Fresno St, Hawaii and UTEP

The 1996 WAC expansion to 16 teams added UNLV, SJSU, TCU, Rice, SMU and Tulsa.

When the MWC formed, they took 8 teams, 7 of which were from the pre-1996 WAC era. The only team added that was not from the pre-1996 WAC era was UNLV.
The 3 from the pre-1996 WAC era left behind were UTEP, Hawaii and Fresno ST.

So essentially the 7 "original" WAC teams dumped UTEP, Hawaii and Fresno St for UNLV when they formed the MWC.

After that UTEP decided its future was better aligned with other Texas schools, even though geographically they were no where close to the other Texas schools. So when Tulsa, Rice and SMU bolted for CUSA, UTEP took the last spot being offered in CUSA at the time, even though geographically it would have made more sense for CUSA to offer that last spot to LA Tech and UTEP to stay in the WAC

When spots starting opening up in the depleted MWC, UTEP made the strategic mistake to stay in CUSA. UTEP probably could have got the last spot offered to SJSU, but did not take it. SJSU would have ended up a WAC football orphan like Idaho and NMSU.

If UTEP would have left for MWC in 2012-2014, CUSA probably would offered another spot to a SBC school during that time, which might have tipped the balance in favor of CUSA over the SBC in the last go around.

I don't remember any talk of the MWC having interest in 12-14. There was some talk for UTEP fans around then, but not even MWC fan interest. UTEP made no strategic mistake, they simply had no choice.

(06-05-2022 09:37 PM)_C2_ Wrote:  El Paso has the 93rd largest TV market. Not huge but certainly not non-existent.

(06-05-2022 09:44 PM)MattBrownEP Wrote:  This honestly tells almost all of the story. No money, no TV market ...

"Facts are facts"

(06-05-2022 10:29 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  The last time the MWC expanded, there were really 3 top candidates: Utah St, San Jose St, and UTEP. Utah St was playing good football and built a geographic bridge. San Jose St and UTEP both struggled but the Bay Area has more TV sets so they won the last spot

Probably using the same consultant that advised Britton Banowsky to snatch up Florida International.

(06-05-2022 09:44 PM)MattBrownEP Wrote:  This honestly tells almost all of the story. No money, no TV market, no location administrators are excited about visiting, no meaningful recruiting territory, and meh-to-terrible football and basketball.

Ahh yes, how much will my wife (or mistress) enjoy the road trip?

I LOL'd because it's no doubt true

Good to know college administrators are basing their decisions on what matters most as opposed to, y'know ...

(06-05-2022 09:44 PM)MattBrownEP Wrote:  

(06-05-2022 08:57 PM)DoubleRSU Wrote:  UTEP sucks at football and basketball and has no television market. No other story or reason needed.

This honestly tells almost all of the story. No money, no TV market, no location administrators are excited about visiting, no meaningful recruiting territory, and meh-to-terrible football and basketball.

The MWC already has too many charity cases. The league doesn't want to add more unless they have choice.

About the bolded, I don't know about administrators, but as a traveling fan, I love visiting El Paso. It is a beautiful area, like stepping back in to an old John Wayne western. Especially in the cooler months.

UTEP does not have a viable partner for 14 even. You really have to take NMSU along with them which makes no sense. They only make sense as a backfill. You aren't going to pair them with someone like NDSU because there is no synergy there.

I don’t pick which road game to attend based on what there is to do in the area. I travel to the game and then go home.

There’s no grudge per se but the MWC has to have the need to expand (e.g. reacting to realignment moves, tv money) in order to consider UTEP or any other school for that matter. At the moment, the MWC is fine at 12 and with divisions going away, I don’t see any incentive for the MWC to expand even if they lose a school or multiple schools.

I’m over the MWC. I think the majority of UTEP fans are on the same page. I wish them well and I’m sure there’s no grudges on either side. It’s just business. If you notice on past and future OOC schedules, there has been multiple MWC schools on the schedule in FB and BB so the will to play each other is there. Just to give you an example, UTEP is hosting Boise State in September and New Mexico is a regular in FB and BB.

At the end, it’s just about winning and UTEP has failed to win in both revenue sports. Basketball is looking better but no FBS conference is expanding for basketball purposes otherwise Kansas would be in the Big Ten or SEC by now.