COAST TO COAST! Boise State officially joins the Big West starting in 2013

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!  Wait, I'm conflicted...is this good or bad? The official press release can be seen here.  I know that there are a lot of Big West fans who aren't particularly excited (Cal State fans...) but the price was worth it.  Considering that the entry fee for the Big West in general is $1,000; the conference got their moneys worth from the Broncos.  A 2.5 million dollar entrance fee to be paid over 5 years plus a initiation fee of $50,000.  The Broncos will also be paying an annual $750,000 subsidy cost for travel purposes.

And now here's my MS Paint version of me and my "house divided apparel."

So welcome Broncos, I'm at least happy you're here.

Boise State President Says Everything's in Order to Join Big West

Olympic recaps are coming, I promise, as is women's soccer previews and schedule for Week 1.  This kind of takes higher priority considering I'm probably one of the last people to be writing about it (and that's a shame since it is a Big West blog).

To summarize, according to the Idaho Statesman, Kustra said that financial commitments from Boise State and the Big East has helped the Broncos convince the Big West to let them join.  While the article goes more into detail about the whole process of how this happened, still no actual monetary figure has been mentioned and no vote has taken place.  Three things concern me out of this:

1. Kustra knows he had to say something about this situation before the start of school.  Either he's hoping he's right, or he really is, but the bottom line, until we see a complete formal vote, Boise State is not in the Big West yet.

2. Remember that he said this to the news media, which means that in today's social media, everyone knows about it by now.  Suppose the Broncos don't get the necessary votes?  This is something, that while not might cost Kustra his job, to put it in the gambler's perspective: he put too many chips on the table for what looks to be a push.

3. All that being said, it's really the Cal State schools that Boise State has to worry about.  If he convinced either Long Beach or Fullerton, then this vote will be a yes, as I am fairly confident that Northridge, Fullerton and Long Beach would be the "no" votes due to the Cal State financial fiasco.

If everything that the Statesman reported is true, then the Big West should be happy, because there could be a couple of hefty TV deals coming their way as also an unmentioned Big East/West basketball partnership.  A media rights deal with Time Warner Cable could easily bring more exposure to the under-exposed Big West.  We're not talking Pac12 network type money, but we are talking more media coverage of an entertaining non-football conference.  The Big East's hiring of former executive VP of CBS Sports Mike Aresco, also should make this very interesting as well, not only from a new TV deal for the Big East, but because of SDSU/BSU's potential conference ties with the Big West, also could make a sweet small partnership as I've speculated above.

First things first, we have to see if Kustra's media talking gamble pays off...if it doesn't he might want to be looking to focus on other things before he opens up again.

H/T to Mountain West Connection's Jeremy Mauss for bringing this article to my attention.

Keep reading here for continuous updates on Big West news.

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Morning Links 7/3/12

Well, we had a busy weekend, and for the offseason, it's always nice to have news on hand to give.  That being said, lets get some links going:


ESPN analyzes the impact of conference moves on college basketball
Is this a backhanded compliment by Coach Gib Arnold? "The RPI of the Big West is a step down from the WAC, however the prestige of the league will improve greatly with the entry of San Diego State."  That's funny, I didn't think of the RPI as that much of a step down from the WAC...

Big West wants to vote on Boise State by September
On last night's podcast, Jeremy and I debated about this article.  He thought this was a rushed move, whereas I suggested that the Big West knows exactly where it stands and what Boise State needs to do to get in or stay out.  Everyone's mind is made up, to a point.

If you missed it, here's the recording of last night's podcast on Mountain West Connection
Poor CSU-Bakersfield...

Don't worry Hornets, we didn't forget about you...
If you see a Sac State alumni/student, make sure you also welcome them to the Big West.  They became an associate member for men's soccer on July 1st as well.

Big West sends a few to London
SLO alum Sharon Day, punched her ticket to London by finishing 2nd in the Heptathlon.  Others who are going are: UCD assistant coach, Kim Conley (5000-metre) and Stephanie Brown Trafton (Women's discus).  If you know of any other Big West alumni who made the Olympics, please comment.

NBA Draft: UCSB's Orlando Johnson drafted by Kings
...but traded to the Pacers.  He was selected number 6 in the 2nd round, 36th overall.

Casper Ware not selected in NBA Draft, joins Pistons for Summer League and a chance to tryout for spot
All the best to the 2-time Big West Player of the Year, as he will try to defy the odds and make the team.

See anything I missed? Comment below!

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As of 8:30 PM PST/11:30 PM EST Boise State gives it's letter of resignation to the Mountain west

Source is from the Las Vegas Review Journal who reported that it was UNLV President Neal Smatresk who has broken the news.  You can find the link here.

The MountainWestHub twitter feed has confirmed it:

Boise State beats deadline, will leave Mountain West - Las Vegas Reviewsns.mx/pZn4y3
— Mountain West Hub (@MountainWestHub) July 1, 2012

Interesting to note that there hasn't been any press release from Boise State themselves. Maybe they're waiting until 11:59:59 PM MST to announce it.  All we know for now is that the paperwork is in according to Smatresk.  Which now brings us to the next issue which directly relates to all things Big West: will BSU enter the Big West?

UPDATE: Brian Murphy from the Idaho Statesman is confirming this.

Have gotten confirmation that Boise state sent letter to all 10 mountain west presidents shortly before 10 pm mountain.
— Brian Murphy (@murphsturph) July 1, 2012

My guess is we won't know for another week or two.  Oh well, let the speculation continue...

It's Podcast Time!

Jeremy Mauss from Mountain West Connection and I are doing a podcast late tonight (9 pm PST/12 am EST) to speculate on the BWC/Boise's future.  Hopefully we'll have more than "I don't know" by then.  If you want to listen to the show live, click on the embedded link below.  Otherwise you can go to the mwcconnection section of Blog Talk Radio and listen to the episode later!

Listen to internet radio with mwcconnection on Blog Talk Radio

In the meantime, Saturday we'll know a final decision about BSU leaving the MWC (though maybe not joining the Big West) and Sunday we'll be saying ALOHA to the University of Hawaii!  Keep checking in to the Confidential this weekend because it's a big one.

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Morning Links 6/21/12

LOOK! A WILD LINKS APPEARS IN THE OFFSEASON! This can't be good, can it? I wasn't expecting any news until the last day of June (i.e. a decision on Conference Expansion), let's see what it is:

Postseason ban for UCR after NCAA tabulates low APR scores

More on this later...

The Examiner's UNLV basketball writer really wants BSU to stay in the Mountain West
As much as I would love BSU to come to the BWC, I've been ranting on other sites about keeping BSU in the Mountain West for all sports since about oh, April of last year.  Geographically, it makes sense, and the competition is similar to what BSU would be getting in the Big East.

See anything I missed? Comment below!

Morning Links 6/14/12: Welcome to Offseason

Do you hear that silence? That's the offseason: a horrible time when there's very little going on in the sports you're covering.  We here at the Big West Confidential have it a little worse: we don't have football.  However what we do have is potential conference expansion swirling rumors around until June 30th when the Big West finally makes their decision about Boise State.  Se we'll cover some of that, and other projects.  Here's your links:

BSU's prepped to pay a lot
Six figures on top of the subsidy costs is a hefty increase.  However Jeremy from Mountain West Connection doesn't thinks so...

Mountain West Connection speculates about this a little more
Jeremy feels that BSU should be offering a little more than the 6 figure number.  If you followed our twitter debate yesterday, 5 million (which is the MWC's exit fee) was a good number that he came up with.

 Miscellaneous: Progressive Boink's Jon Bois creates a one-act play
In other words...why didn't the Thunder give shirts to these two guys?

12 Big West Track and Field athletes recieve All-American honors
The first team All-Americans travel to Eugene to compete in the U.S. Olympic Trials starting next week.

That's it for now.  Do you have an interesting article you would like to share? Comment below!

Morning links 6/5/12

Off we go, rapidly into the offseason (with the exception of the Track and Field results) and so there will be less Big West links and more general college/miscellaneous sports links.   When we get updates for the Big West, we'll let you know, specifically for conference expansion.  Off we go:

Mitch Haniger selected in the first compensation round of the MLB draft
The Brewers picked him up as a compensation pick for the Fielder trade.  The 2012 BWC Player of the Year was the second highest Mustang ever to be drafted after John Orton.  Congratulations to him.


NCAA Track and Field National Championships start tomorrow
This was the preview given by the Big West website.  Here's to bringing home Championship medals!

The Chronicle of Higher Education is getting into conference realignment
Actually this is a really good article, stating that teams vying to get into better conferences have pushed to bring their academics up to par as well.  TAKE THAT BUZZ BISSINGER!
 H/T to EDSBS


Progressive Boink explains why Microsoft Office is so expensive...
If you have never read Progressive Boink, you need to leave this website right now and go read it.  It's amazing for so many reasons, the least of them being that they take the art of blogging to a whole new level.

That's it for now! Have something you would like to share?  Leave it in the comments!

Morning Links 6/4/12

With the first weekend in June already gone, summer and the complete college offseason rapidly approaching, we continue our pursuit of Big West news.  Here are your links:

Fullerton eliminated in Eugene Regional by Austin Peay
More on that later, but lets congratulate the Governors on being the token surprise Texas team of the NCAA baseball regionals.  It's too bad they couldn't finish the Ducks, otherwise between them and Kent State, we'd have two potential dark horses.

Boise State's Olympic sports are in the hands of the Big West
There's a reason why I'm conflicted about this, but at the same time, very happy.  As a BSU alum/fan I'm scared to hell that the BWC will turn down any price we throw at them.  At the same time, as a UCR/Big West fan, I'm loving the amount of power we have here.  H/T to Jeremy Mauss for this gem.

Just a friendly reminder that the NCAA Track and Field Championships are in two days
The Big West is sending 13 athletes.  Best of luck to them this week, and here's to hoping we have a National Champion amongst them!

Have anymore links to share?  Comment below!

Nothing but Hypotheticals: If Boise State joins as 11th member, who becomes the 12th?

In our complete theoretical speculation of what the hell will happen with conference realignment, we here at the Big West Confidential know two things: 1.  BSU really wants in if the WAC dies, 2. The Big West isn't sure if they really want to expand (they're looking at it, but if the opportunity is not right, they will not accept BSU).  So lets assume that Big West feels it's worth bringing in the Broncos, who do they look at or take as a 12th member?

We have a whole slew of teams available but geographically speaking, the Big West would only be interested in about 4.  Note: there is no rumors swirling around, this is slightly more than a bunch of bullshit possibilities that I made up.

Fresno State: Let's start with the obvious of obvious, the Bulldogs of Fresno State.  This would be the most ideal team for Boise State and SDSU to drag into a "West Coast Partner" for the Big East.  Let's forget for one second that they've been okay at best the last five years in football, and look at the potentials.

1. Fresno State is right in the ideal geographical region for the Big West.
2. They hold natural rivalries with SDSU, Boise State and Hawaii.
3. They are in the "north" area of the conference.
4. They would be the sole representative of the San Joaquin Valley.
5. Their baseball would be extremely competitive with the conference, as would their basketball.

Isn't that sound just wonderful? Here's the problem, the Big East is not looking at Fresno State, as we've seen from their addition of Memphis (a horrible football school, only added for their basketball).  You can bet if there is a push to get more west teams, and BYU turns down the rumors that they'll join (as well as Air Force, who I think will stay loyal to the MWC), Fresno State will be another meaningful option.

Odds of this happening (fake statistical bullshit for the common observer): 5-15%

Nevada: This one's a little more difficult than Fresno State, however it still would be doable.  Looking at the football trends over the past five years, the Wolfpack are on the up and the Bulldogs are in Limbo, making Nevada more ideal than Fresno State to move to the Big East.  Nevada's location in Reno make them rivals with Boise State (which has been fierce as of late) and UC Davis (2 and a half hour drive).  Nevada's basketball has been in a bit of a rough patch the last couple years after dominating the WAC, and their baseball is decent, not great.  While their other Olympic sports would have a home, rifle and swimming & diving would have to find a new home.

Odds of this happening: 5-10%

UNLV: AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...oh wait, you're serious? Alright fine, UNLV would be the total dick move of them all.  First of all, they won't get invited by the Big East unless all sports go (and if the Las Vegas Bowl gets a tie-in as well).  Secondly, lets say their football program gets dropped because you know, of fan disinterest.  The Mountain West would fight tooth and nail to keep them, and even then, there's no clue that the Big West would want them.  This is a team, who has a proud history winning a National Title with the Big West, so why wouldn't they want them back? Mostly because the basketball team would utterly dominate the sport (again) with very little resistance (except from the Aztecs).  Also, this adds another team in the southern part of the conference, and they are actually fairly far from other teams in that area, the closest being UCR at 3 in a half hours (believe me, I've checked!).  Their baseball is decent, but would not be dominant at all, and would be a middle of the road BWC team.  Plus, I have a feeling now that they've gotten Reno back from the WAC, those two schools will be packaged.  So, while not far from any stretch of the mind, adding UNLV would be a near zero probability.

Odds of this happening: 0-π%

Sacramento State: Okay, I'm just pulling things out of  my ass now, right?  Actually...I'm not.  Think about this, the Hornets men's soccer team is already a part of the BWC starting July 1st.  The WAC is about to die leaving baseball with no home (the Big Sky doesn't sponsor baseball).  The Big Sky will start sponsoring softball later this year, giving a quick opportunity for the Hornets to change their mind and join the Big West.  If Sacramento State really wanted to, they could defect their Olympic sports to the BWC while keeping football in the Big Sky (like UCD and Cal Poly).  The Hornets' arch-rival is the Aggies, which even has a name: The Causeway Classic (as the football game is called) and it provides a source of school spirit as provided from an article written a couple years back.  While this would provide more of an ideal opportunity (as like with Fresno State), I really don't see it happening unless Sac State decides to pull a Cartman at the Big Sky meetings ("Screw you guys, I'm going that way!")

Odds of this happening: Carry the Hamiltonian in your time-dependent Schrodinger equation and you have a quantum probability somewhere between zero or one.  No one really knows for sure...

Interview with a Blogger: OBNUG

 As long as Boise State is still in the picture for the Big West, I want to be know what people think about this, whether it's our conference teams or whether it's someone from the outside looking in.  Thus, the "Interview with a Blogger" series is born out of necessity for those of us who want knowledge and analysis.  Having been a commenter on what I considered to be Boise State's best blog: One Bronco Nation Under God (OBNUG for short), I figured emailing Kevan from OBNUG would be the most natural choice in having someone from Bronco Nation explain as to why BSU should be in the Big West.  Below are the answers that Kevan gave to my questions.

 BWConfidential: There's a lot of talk as to why Boise State wouldn't be wanted in the Big West.  Convince me otherwise.

KL: As someone who finds conference realignment  xx, I have half a mind to say that the Big West can be justified saying and doing and deciding whatever it wants. That said, I'm a Boise State homer, so the Big West's not wanting the Broncos is an egregious mistake that will ruin them. Boise State brings national cachet and competitive sports teams that are as good but not so good as to be that much better than existing Big West schools. The Broncos are more of a geographic fit than Hawaii; Idaho and California practically touch. If the Big West wants to keep growing with quality programs, Boise State is one of the West's best. And we're single.

 BWConfidential: There's an issue of "Boise State is a bigger school in athletics, therefore will be more dominant."  Is this true?

KL: The Broncos will probably compete at the higher end of the Big West, but that's not to say that Boise State is going to dominate the conference. The BSU budget will be larger than the others, but I'm pretty sure that the football team gets the credits and debits of the budget and the rest of the sports pull from petty cash. 

 

BWConfidential: Scenario: BSU joins the Big West.  Who (other than Hawaii or SDSU) becomes the Broncos biggest and most natural rival?

KL: I would like to think that Long Beach State would fit as Boise State's biggest rival, if only because there is some recent shared basketball history there. But the obvious answer is UC Davis for the obvious - and tangential - relationship to Coach Pete and the football team.

 

BWConfidential: Scenario: The Big West declines BSU's application, and now Boise State has to look for other options.  Is the only option available to go back to the Mountain West?

KL:Considering how quickly things change in NCAA conferences nowadays, I find it hard to believe that Boise State would have no options if the Big West falls through. I don't consider the Mountain West to be an option because of the football component. I could see the Broncos taking some sort of weird independent walkabout for a year or two before college god reshuffles the cosmic dominoes and an opening is created in, say, the Big West Sky (a combination of the WCC and the Big Sky, natch).

 

BWConfidential: This is a question inspired by your blog bets: On a scale of fast food restaraunts, the high being Dairy Queen and the low being Taco Bell, how excited do you think Bronco Nation is to be even considered for the Big West?  Are we just a second-hand rag to them, or will the conference be treated with respect?

KL: Assuming Bronco Nation cares about sports other than football, I would say the Big West option is a firm Chick-fil-A (less than a Dairy Queen, but not by much). BSU fans greatest fear would be losing the Big East option or living with relegation on par with whatever fate the University of Idaho finds for itself. That a conference with the clout of the Big West and the familiar faces in San Diego State and Hawaii thinks of us when we're not around is a lot nicer than the alternatives.

 

Thanks a lot to Kevan for being willing to participate.  If you've never done so, GO READ OBNUG!  You get the analysis of all the Bronco football you need, plus a dabbling of the Olympic sports as well.

Morning Links 5/17/12

As we continue to bring updates with conference expansion, life will continue as normal.  However, the links are brought extra early to you today:

Big West Softball All-Conference team is diverse in teams
Here are your players and coaches of the year:
2012 OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Nikki Armagost, Pacific
2012 PITCHER OF THE YEAR
Justine Vela, UC Davis
2012 DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Nicole Matson, Pacific
2012 FRESHMAN FIELD PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Shelby Wisdom, UC Santa Barbara
2012 FRESHMAN PITCHER OF THE YEAR
Justine Vela, UC Davis
2012 COACH OF THE YEAR
Brie Galicinao, UC Santa Barbara

The All-Conference teams are in the link, so be sure to visit there to see if your favorite player made it.

Track and Field Honors start a series of firsts for a couple different programs 
UCD and UCSB who had never won a conference championship before, were rewarded with COY awards for their coaches (and indirectly the staff).


Hawaii may be Boise State's biggest enemy
Now this is stupid for many reason, mainly the fact that UH football has not been extremely competitive with BSU since Colt Brennan left, however, if UH votes "no" to BSU admission to the Big West, that puts Bronco football back into the MWC, where many of the temporary rivals of BSU want them to be.  That being said, how much power the Warriors have in the Big West right now is relative.


Another article about BSU's issues with going to the Big West
This one from KBOI in Boise says that the Broncos have been given a New Member Assessment Tool which is essentially an application form.  Two issues they bring up are travel costs (which I still think is easier than UH's travel costs) and approval from 8 of 10 members.


Mountain West Connection weighs in...
This is not from me, it's from bluesyourdaddy, the BSU writer for MWConnection.  His thoughts are similar to the Hawaii article in the fact that the MWC could be pushing for Hawaii to say no.  It's interesting he brings up the twelfth member choice as Fresno State.  This could be what's really worrying the Big West, though I'm firm in my suspicions that Bakersfield would more likely get the nod as the twelfth member now that they've become more developed and already competes with the rest of the Big West on a regular basis.


Stay tuned for more action and drama!

Morning Links 5/16/12

After a small day off due to school/work things, we're back with the links.

Big West reconsidering Boise State
If many of you could see my face right now, it would be something like this:

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE SEND OUT AN INVITE COMMISH!
/no further comments...or is there

"SDSU sends very subtle message to Big West"...a Hollywood screenplay from AKH
There are serious articles that report facts...and then there are rolling on the floor laughing blog posts that portray what's going on from an exaggerated view point.  This is why we're bloggers.  Let ESPN/USAToday/CNN or whoever do the reporting and let us tell the story and analyze the situation.  In the meantime, the Cedric Ceballos line was my favorite...

Baseball recap from Monday: UCD 6, Hawaii 3
UCD finished of their four straight days of playing by beating Hawaii 6-3.  This is win number 4 in the last 6 as they start to make their final push for .500 ball to finish the season.

Baseball recaps from yesterday
Cal Poly beat CSU Bakersfield 6-2, UCD beat SJSU 12-9, Pacific lost to their future conference mates Santa Clara 8-5, No. 21 USD edged out UCI 4-3 and the Dirtbags fell to Pepperdine 5-3.

See something I missed? What's your feelings on conference expansion? Leave comments below!

Morning Links 5/11/12

It's Friday and it's also championship weekend for many sports.   That means you'll get an open thread to play around with this weekend: and I expect participation!  Here are your links:

Old article: still relevant
Andy Katz of ESPN dwells on whether the Big West should let BSU in.  And people thought conference expansion was over and done with...

Big West coaches meeting results in 16-game conference schedule for 2013
SDSU coach Steve Fischer was pushing for 14, but he's not going to make an issue of it, from what we can tell.

After one round, UC Davis Women are tied for 18th in the NCAA regional
Slow start, but they can come back from this.  Remember: the top 8 teams advance, so the Aggies will have to shoot well these next couple of days.

Remember: Pacific vs. LBSU is on ESPN3 today for both their games in the doubleheader, Women's Tennis begins with Arkansas vs LBSU at 10 am today and UCI's water polo team takes on LMU at 5:15 pm in San Diego.  The Tennis tourney is in LA, and the Water Polo tourney is in San Diego: if you have the opportunity, go watch these teams!  Open thread should be up here by 10.

Morning Links 5/9/12

Good Morning! If anyone was paying attention yesterday, the Big West might have some potential big news coming up...but we won't know until next week, at least.  Here are some links:

Big West Baseball goes 0-fer in Tuesday's mid-week action
UC Davis fell to Nevada 9-8 after coming back from an 8-2 deficit, USF beat Pacific 5-2 and Anteaters lost to USD 4-1, ending their 7-game win streak.

Big West sends two teams to the NCAA Regionals
Conference champs UCD enters the Stanford Regional as a No. 13 seed and LBSU enters the Athens Regional as a No. 7 seed (Athens, Georgia).

ESPN3 to broadcast the LBSU-Pacific Doubleheader
Do I really need to tell you to go watch?

No. 23 Aggies enter NCAA Regionals as a No. 8 seed in West Regional
The West Regional is in Erie, Colorado.  Top 8 teams of each regional qualify for the national finals at the Vanderbilt Legends Club.

Hawaii might be fine with BSU's inclusion because of travel subsides issue (Subscription Access)
Apparently, their travel subsidy doesn't figure for any new Big West teams joining.  This won't have any effect on a final decision, but it is interesting nonetheless.

As a final note, this is my own opinion: if any of you caught the "Ban College Football" debate, both sides were obscenely off.  It resolves nothing, and it solves nothing.  Bissinger and Gladwell went more on an anti-football propaganda, while Green (who did fairly well) and Whitlock provided poor arguments for keeping football.  I would like those 2 hours of my life back after hearing such stupidity, thank you.

Morning Links 5/1/12

IT'S THE FIRST OF MAY! Summer is right around the corner, can you feel it? I can...mainly because it's gotten a lot warmer, but also because football conference expansion is continuing and the Big West keeps coming up.  If this trend looks to continue, it would be a great opportunity for the Board of Directors (hint hint...if any of you actually read blogs) to start looking into some lucrative TV contracts to bring more money and revenue.  You can also potentially get some very big names too (outside of Hawaii and SDSU).  Onto Links:

Pacific unable to hold lead, UCDavis leads after two rounds for Men's Golf tourney
As I write this, the final round is underway.  For live stats, follow here.  Here is the standings after two rounds:

1	UC Davis	-6	0 - 0	E	290	280	-	570
2	Pacific	-5	0 - 0	E	282	289	-	571
3	UC Santa Barbara	-3	0 - 0	E	292	281	-	573
4	41 Long Beach State	+1	0 - 0	E	294	283	-	577
5	UC Irvine	+3	0 - 0	E	291	288	-	579
6	CSU Fullerton	+6	0 - 0	E	290	292	-	582
7	CSU Northridge	+21	0 - 0	E	301	296	-	597
8	Cal Poly	+23	0 - 0	E	301	298	-	599
9	UC Riverside	+27	0 - 0	E	294	309	-	603

Boise State might try again to get into the BWC for non-revenue sports
They were turned down from both the BWC and WCC when they originally signed up for the Big East, BWC because it's California-heavy, WCC because they are full of private institutions.  With Pacific going to the WCC, can the BWC set a price high enough that BSU (who will have access to a lot more money than any current BWC school) will say okay?

The WAC is Dead
Great article by Jeremy of the MWCConnection and The Skip Shot.  While this is not a BWC article, once again it could have BWC implications.  For now, we sit back and watch the destruction of one of the oldest conferences because of greed.

What do you think?  Should the Big West go for some of the bigger named teams to kill the WAC effectively? The only teams left after this round of carnage will be University of Seattle (whom the WCC could pick up...again), University of Denver (which would make absolutely no sense), Idaho, NMSU and Boise State.  NMSU might get back into the MWC because of their ties with UNM, but no guarantees.  Idaho has an open slot in the Big Sky for all sports, but will they be too prideful to drop a division?  And now, everyone knows my opinion of whether or not BSU should be in the Big West...while it takes away the California-centric aspect, it's just another big name who could bring in other big names for non-conference play.  Leave your comments below!

Conference...Contraction? Pacific officially leaving the BWC to go to the West Coast Conference

Like I linked before in the Morning Links, Pacific is leaving for greener (?) pastures in the Big West.  As far as I can tell, this was not a disrespectful move, or one of desperation to leave.  It sort of just happened.

Don't get me wrong, I don't want Pacific to leave, but in this case, it's for the best.  The Tigers were founding members of both the WCC in 1952 and the Big West in 1969, so it totally makes sense that the Tigers would essentially go back to their roots.  Throw in the fact that Pacific is a private religious institution (under the United Methodist Church if anyone's curious) and the were the only private college in the Big West and this move makes Pacific feel even more at home.  They were rivals with nobody really from the conference (Regionally, it is UC Davis, but Davis and Cal Poly claim each other rivals.  According to various sites I've found Pacific has a rivalry with San Jose State and Utah State.), and the West Coast Conference has one thing that probably attracts them the most, outside of "higher" prestiege: no playing games on Sundays.

Now here are the things I find interesting: nowhere in the school's official statement is any kind of thank you.  It's like casting off the island you lived on for over 40 years and wanting nothing to do with it.  On the other side, the Big West's official statement, makes it clear that while they didn't want Pacific to leave, it was a very natural move.  Maybe I'm reading into it too much, but Pacific had to have been dissatisfied with maybe one or both of the conference expansion moves.  Because of the tourism sponsorship, Hawaii was easily a natural move; however, I think San Diego State may have been one where conflicts could have arisen.  We're fine at 10 teams why do we need 11, especially a public school that'll probably sweep through the sports?  From the time SDSU got accepted to the Big West, that's probably around the time Pacific thought it was time to move out.  The monetary benefits of the WCC may be a little more (they do have an ESPN contract), but it probably wasn't significant enough to jump ship immediately, there was more thinking that had to be done.  The WCC at 9 teams wanted an even 10, they had looked at Boise State, but BSU went back to the WAC for the time being (until it loses all its members, if that happens).

So does the Big West stay at 10? My initial thoughts are yes, however, do not be surprised if something falls through in the WAC.  If the WAC disbands, would the Big West be willing to take other schools?  Yes, but only if the Big West can get some nice television contract to help compensate adding more schools.  Otherwise, the Big West will stay at 10 teams for a long time.

What do you think of the Pacific move?  Now with Pacific going, is this the time to be aggressive and try and get new TV deals and more teams? Comment below. 

Morning Links 3/28/12

Good morning! Here's some links for you to enjoy!

EVERYONE PANIC! PACIFIC IS PLANNING TO JUMP SHIP!
So don't panic, they're looking at the WCC.  This makes sense because Pacific is the lone private school in the conference, who are religiously affiliated.  The Big West shouldn't worry though, we have SDSU and Hawaii incoming, with also the possibility of CSU Bakersfield if the commissioner wants to go that route.

Kristina Santiago named honorable All-American
And do you blame AP for this decision?  She was practically unstoppable, and she's getting scouted professionally.

CSU Northridge volleyball coach Stork selected to Volleyball Hall of Fame
Outside of the potential joke that is "I didn't know they had a Volleyball Hall of Fame"...Stork's playing resume is pretty impressive, one that highlights a gold medal in the 1988 Olympics.

Tuesday's softball recaps
The highlight of which would be Pacific's dominance in a doubleheader against CSU Bakersfield.

Tuesday's baseball recaps
In what could have been a close loss, UCSB turned it around and beat Pepperdine 10-5.  Other games yesterday: ASU beat the Titans 1-0 and SDSU beat UCR 7-3.

Seen anything I've missed? Comment below!

Potential Expansion: UCSD and Cal State Bakersfield

With SDSU and Hawaii all set to become members in the Fall of 2013, one would think that expansion is done with the Big West; however, it could be the beginning of a very short expansion.  The UCSD Guardian gave a very realistic introduction of the explanation of the vote, the pros and cons.  And as it mentions in the article, the vote won't mean anything if the Big West doesn't invite the Tritons.

Why would the Big West want UCSD though?  First and foremost, the Tritons are an ideal school to add, academically and athletically for the conference.  They would have natural rivalries with UCR and UCI, but even more so, it would be an in-city rivalry for SDSU if they were invited.  That alone would provide some high intensity matchups for the Big West, and with the regional FS San Diego starting in March, more games to highlight the city's athletics.  Academically, they would be a perfect fit as well, as there are already 4 other UC schools, 4 of the top CSU schools, and Pacific.  And travel costs wouldn't be an issue, with the exception of Hawaii.

The main reason not to expand, is just having to split revenues more, and for some, that's reason enough.  Also, UCSD has already applied and gotten turned down once, so who's to say that they won't do it again.  My personal sneaking suspicion though is if the student vote is a "yes," then the Big West will not say "no."

All this is fine and dandy if the vote goes through and the league says yes, however, there is another lurker in the midst as well.  CSU-Bakersfield has applied and been denied once as well, and they are not giving up.  They are already Division I and part of the WAC (baseball), Pac12 (wrestling), Great West (track and field and women's tennis) and Independent.  While they were turned down originally for Hawaii (2010 vote), there is no reason why they shouldn't get in if UCSD's interest goes through.  Academically, they are ranked No. 88 regionally in the West according to US News and World Reports, and it looks like they are still going up.  They would provide another Central-Northern California school to form rivals with (UCD, UCSB, Cal Poly) and it would provide another potential larger city to bring in a media market.  Once again, the biggest downside to bringing in the Roadrunners is splitting another piece of the money pie.

My personal opinion is that it is worth the student fees to move to Div I.  Having graduated undergrad from a Div I school, and going to a Div I grad school, there is definitely an enhanced pride for the school.

For now though, everything comes down to the vote this week.