Benson Says Wac Still Looking...

[KoldBeer]

This is from a story from a San Antonio newspaper. I don't know where Benson thinks he can find another football school for the WAC but he says the WAC will let us know around April 1 (I think it's funny that he picked April Fool's Day as the deadline). The story mentions North Texas. It says we haven't been contacted (yeah right).

Here's part of the story

Benson said the WAC would like to add a ninth football school for 2012, which would give UTSA the option of postponing its first season in the conference until 2013.

“By early spring, probably before April 1, we should know whether we’re going to be able to add that ninth football school,” Benson said.

North Texas was the only school he mentioned specifically as a potential WAC member.

“North Texas is somebody we’ve looked at before and had conversations with, although we haven’t talked to them this time around,” Benson said.

Link: http://www.kens5.com/sports/WACs-Benson-gives-high-marks-to-UTSA-Alamodome-city-during-visit--108792839.html

[VideoEagle]

Arstatefan had a great post on the Sun Belt board. My favorite line is, "The Sun Belt has had some bad days but we never offered a football membership to a school that hasn't played football."

In one day, the WAC invited a school that never played football to be a football member, were publicly rejected by a Football CHAMPIONSHIP Series school and had one of their bowl tie-ins drop them. That is a very, very bad day.

Here's the link to the thread on the SBC board.

Normally, I'd think the April 1st date would be ironic, but with the WAC it's just fitting.

[Green Lantern]

What's ya'lls take on the WAC?

[Daddy Dumpsalot]

What's ya'lls take on the WAC?

No comment.

you read it here

[Cerebus]

What's ya'lls take on the WAC?

About the same as my take on the possibility of contracting syphilis.

[TheTastyGreek]

About the same as my take on the possibility of contracting syphilis.

DAMNIT. I don't want us going to the WAC to be "very likely".

NINJAFACE.

Edited November 18, 2010 by TheTastyGreek

[DeepGreen]

What's ya'lls take on the WAC?

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no...................Did I mention no to the WAC?

This story just won't go away. No Boise St, no Nevada, no Fresno St, and probably no Hawaii in a few years. Is that WAC brand name that strong that this subject is even worthy of a thread?

[Cerebus]

DAMNIT. I don't want us going to the WAC to be "very likely".

NINJAFACE.

sneaky ninja face

have you ever brought the truth

doubt enters my mind

[UNT Mean Green]

the WAC sucks

[3XNTGRAD]

sneaky ninja face

have you ever brought the truth

doubt enters my mind

WACky Conference

Leave North Texas Alone Now!

We do not want you

[NT03]

If no SunBelt teams get to 6 wins , which is possible , then we should bolt. Sunbelt would be the biggest embarrassment in the history of college football. The league is not going to automatically have a better image than the WAC just because they added teams who have never been DI before. Want respect , gotta earn it. Even after Boise leaves , people will still view the WAC as a better conference. Drop Hawaii and I'll jump on the WAC board

A sea of red negatives in 3,2,....

[GreenN'walinsVet]

Playing Devils advocate here. Is the currently constructed WAC really that bad? Yes from a National Competitive standpoint I would say so, but from North Texas's standpoint maybe not. We would be in a conference with Texas State, UT San Antonio, Louisiana Tech and New Mexico State. That is 4 schools that are closer or about the same then any conference opponent we have now. If Hawaii leaves (witch if the rumors are true then they are) would our travel budget really increase? We already make trips to the East Coast now, so going to the West Coast wouldn't add much. If you had a conference of Idaho, Utah State, San Jose State, Hawaii, New Mexico State, Louisiana Tech, UTSA, Texas State and North Texas then the power of the conference would lie in and around Texas. Also, if Hawaii leaves then that would shift the balance of power if more to the Texas area.

Let me clarify that i am by no means advocating a move to the WAC, but I don't think it would be nearly the hit on the budget that some make it out to be, and in the end, it could possibly be a better fit then the Sun Belt.

[MeanGreenTeeth]

I think the upside to join the WAC is that with Texas State and UTSA on board we might actually get some regional airplay. Maybe if UTEP comes aboard we can talk turkey...

[KoldBeer]

Playing Devils advocate here. Is the currently constructed WAC really that bad? Yes from a National Competitive standpoint I would say so, but from North Texas's standpoint maybe not. We would be in a conference with Texas State, UT San Antonio, Louisiana Tech and New Mexico State. That is 4 schools that are closer or about the same then any conference opponent we have now. If Hawaii leaves (witch if the rumors are true then they are) would our travel budget really increase? We already make trips to the East Coast now, so going to the West Coast wouldn't add much. If you had a conference of Idaho, Utah State, San Jose State, Hawaii, New Mexico State, Louisiana Tech, UTSA, Texas State and North Texas then the power of the conference would lie in and around Texas. Also, if Hawaii leaves then that would shift the balance of power if more to the Texas area.

Let me clarify that i am by no means advocating a move to the WAC, but I don't think it would be nearly the hit on the budget that some make it out to be, and in the end, it could possibly be a better fit then the Sun Belt.

I was curious the other day on distance between new WAC and Sun Belt. Using Google maps, the average distance between UNT and the other Sun Belt schools is 701 miles. With UNT and the WAC it is 1,338 (if you take out Hawaii it drops to 895). If you take out the two Florida trips the Belt average drops to 546. The WAC does have three schools closer than any Belt team but has several long trips (Moscow, San Jose, Logan, Honolulu).

Here's the distance by school from Denton

Sun Belt

ULAR - Little Rock - 337 miles - 5.5 hours

Ark St - Jonesboro - 464 miles - 8 hours

FAU - Boca Raton - 1,305 miles - 22 hours

FIU - Miami - 1,342 miles - 22.5 hours

La-La - Lafayette - 428 miles - 7.5 hrs

Monroe - Monroe - 321 miles - 5.5 hrs

MTSU - Murfreesboro - 713 miles - 12 hrs

USA - Mobile - 627 miles - 11 hrs

Troy - Troy - 729 miles - 12.5 hrs

WKU - Bowling Green - 746 miles - 12 hrs

WAC

Hawaii - Honolulu - 4,891 miles - n/a

Idaho - Moscow - 1,915 miles - 31 hours

La Tech - Ruston - 291 miles - 5 hrs

NMSU - Las Cruces - 688 miles - 11.5 hrs

San Jose St. - SJ - 1,652 miles - 27 hours

Utah St - Logan - 1,286 miles - 22 hours

UTSA - SA - 307 miles - 5 hrs

TxSt - SM - 257 miles - 4 hrs

Denver - Denver - 760 miles - 13 hrs

I think travel will still be higher in new WAC. Just one more reason to stay in Belt.

[NM Green]

Our next destination of push needs to be the Mountain West after TCU leaves.

I truly feel our programs are on the rise and it is not just football anymore. I went to the UNLV game last night against SE LA of the Southland it reminded me just how far we have come since I have been following the Mean Green.

Basketball is STRONG in the MWC and you add in North Texas and now you have serious basketball prowess:

UNLV

Reno

New Mexico

North Texas

You have solid football programs:

Boise State

Reno

Fresno

Air Force

North Texas

You start jumping around in the bouncehouse with the Broncos, Runnin Rebels, Falcons and Wolfpack and that is a nice neighborhood to move into.

GMG

[Green Otaku]

If no SunBelt teams get to 6 wins , which is possible , then we should bolt. Sunbelt would be the biggest embarrassment in the history of college football. The league is not going to automatically have a better image than the WAC just because they added teams who have never been DI before. Want respect , gotta earn it. Even after Boise leaves , people will still view the WAC as a better conference. Drop Hawaii and I'll jump on the WAC board

A sea of red negatives in 3,2,....

The Sunbelt has no room for growth. The aspirations here are you dominate the league and maybe, thats a big maybe you get to go to CUSA when realignment comes around. In the WAC teams get picked for the most part because conferences WANT them, not because they need to fill in a vacant spot. Thats two completely different things.

Put up a team by team comparison, in all sports not just football and lets see how these two conferences really stack up.

To those talking about travel costs having the close block of NMSU, LA Tech, UTSA, TxSt will be enough for most fans to travel to. People don't travel to florida now so the same way people won't ravel to San Jose.

Also if UTSA and TxSt can handle the travel it would be embarrassing if we can't. Your going to tell me our great program can't keep up with these two startups?

I'm not saying lets go, but we need to see if anymore movement happens this summer like TCU to the Big East, (which is almost a guarantee) and see where we can move, but if no MWC or CUSA spot is available we should make a full analysis to see if this move would help us in both the long and short term.

[TIgreen01]

Our next destination of push needs to be the Mountain West after TCU leaves.

I truly feel our programs are on the rise and it is not just football anymore. I went to the UNLV game last night against SE LA of the Southland it reminded me just how far we have come since I have been following the Mean Green.

Basketball is STRONG in the MWC and you add in North Texas and now you have serious basketball prowess:

UNLV

Reno

New Mexico

North Texas

You have solid football programs:

Boise State

Reno

Fresno

Air Force

North Texas

You start jumping around in the bouncehouse with the Broncos, Runnin Rebels, Falcons and Wolfpack and that is a nice neighborhood to move into.

GMG

This.

We're not getting into CUSA as long as the privates control the west half of that conference.

[Rudy]

This is from a story from a San Antonio newspaper. I don't know where Benson thinks he can find another football school for the WAC but he says the WAC will let us know around April 1 (I think it's funny that he picked April Fool's Day as the deadline). The story mentions North Texas. It says we haven't been contacted (yeah right).

Here's part of the story

Benson said the WAC would like to add a ninth football school for 2012, which would give UTSA the option of postponing its first season in the conference until 2013.

By early spring, probably before April 1, we should know whether were going to be able to add that ninth football school, Benson said.

North Texas was the only school he mentioned specifically as a potential WAC member.

North Texas is somebody weve looked at before and had conversations with, although we havent talked to them this time around, Benson said.

Link: http://www.kens5.com/sports/WACs-Benson-gives-high-marks-to-UTSA-Alamodome-city-during-visit--108792839.html

Maybe we need that Headmaster from the school for the deaf on F.G. to get the message across to Benson. "Thank you and goodnight."

I think the upside to join the WAC is that with Texas State and UTSA on board we might actually get some regional airplay. Maybe if UTEP comes aboard we can talk turkey...

Aside from getting ZERO respect from a regional rivalry against two startup D-1 Programs, Do you actually think UTEP would leave CUSA for the WACky? If, by some act of God, they did, we should go after their CUSA spot.

To those talking about travel costs having the close block of NMSU, LA Tech, UTSA, TxSt will be enough for most fans to travel to. People don't travel to florida now so the same way people won't ravel to San Jose.

Also if UTSA and TxSt can handle the travel it would be embarrassing if we can't. Your going to tell me our great program can't keep up with these two startups?

I'm not saying lets go, but we need to see if anymore movement happens this summer like TCU to the Big East, (which is almost a guarantee) and see where we can move, but if no MWC or CUSA spot is available we should make a full analysis to see if this move would help us in both the long and short term.

UTSA and TXST will discover the cost of travelling quickly and look for a way out. Secondly, have you ever taken a trip to NMSU? Not exactly an "easy" trip.

Edited November 19, 2010 by Rudy

[SleepingGiantsFan]

What's ya'lls take on the WAC?

That they have no chance as long as Mr. Peanut is in charge.

[El Paso Eagle]

People have been counting Benson and the WAC out for years, yet somehow he keeps it together. Not saying a move is right for UNT, but don't be surprised to see Benson make this work.

[SleepingGiantsFan]

Our next destination of push needs to be the Mountain West after TCU leaves.

I truly feel our programs are on the rise and it is not just football anymore. I went to the UNLV game last night against SE LA of the Southland it reminded me just how far we have come since I have been following the Mean Green.

Basketball is STRONG in the MWC and you add in North Texas and now you have serious basketball prowess:

UNLV

Reno

New Mexico

North Texas

You have solid football programs:

Boise State

Reno

Fresno

Air Force

North Texas

You start jumping around in the bouncehouse with the Broncos, Runnin Rebels, Falcons and Wolfpack and that is a nice neighborhood to move into.

GMG

Just curious. Are you aware that SDSU is in the Mountain West? And that our football team is 7-3 this year? And that our basketball team was #25 in the AP poll before winning at Gonzaga two nights ago where the home team had won 76 out of 81? Or that the Aztecs have beaten UNLV in basketball 5 of the last 8 times they've played, including in the MWC championship game last March on UNLV's home court? Uh, didn't think so.

Despite the slight, for reasons I mentioned once before and won't repeat, I think UNT could be a good addition to the MWC. However, in order to do so, you can't afford to make a coaching hire this time anywhere near as atrocious as your last one. Hopefully your AD will listen to Chuck Neinas' recommendation. I understand a few of your posters think you're throwing money away by contracting with that guy, but people like him know things about the candidates that none of us commoners could possibly know.

[LongJim]

The Whack may be the greatest conference in history--but it's not a good fit for UNT.

[TheTastyGreek]

People have been counting Benson and the WAC out for years, yet somehow he keeps it together. Not saying a move is right for UNT, but don't be surprised to see Benson make this work.

He keeps it together like the Black Knight.

One more round of attacks and the party is over forever.

[SleepingGiantsFan]

We're not getting into CUSA as long as the privates control the west half of that conference.

How badly would you want to?

Consider this. TCU left CUSA for the MWC and Horned Frogs posters on the MWC board refer to that other conference as C-DOA. Among other things CUSA includes schools like Tulsa and Rice which have student populations so small they can't possibly compete with schools like UNT in the TV world of the new millennium and it's more and more getting to be TV ratings which drive conference revenue. Aside from Memphis, CUSA is a lousy basketball conference and how many of its football teams are in the top 25 now? And how many CUSA teams have qualified for a BCS bowl? Answer: The same as the number of SBC teams which have played in a BCS bowl.

[SleepingGiantsFan]

People have been counting Benson and the WAC out for years, yet somehow he keeps it together. Not saying a move is right for UNT, but don't be surprised to see Benson make this work.

You mean like he made THIS work?

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/sports/50175456-77/wac-byu-albrecht-benson.html.csp

I can't talk about specifics but will say generally that "The Project" included pathetic attempts to get SDSU and UNLV to return to the WAC. Putting two and two together, the manner in which Mr. Peanut thought he could persuade SDSU to do that had about as much of a chance as I would of persuading Jennifer Anniston to move into my house and go to work to pay my bills so I could sit on the couch and drink beer and watch sports all day. Could it happen? Sure - but only in an alternate universe.

Edited November 18, 2010 by SleepingGiantsFan