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DrBulldog

10 years ago, the “Project”

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Guest #1Stunner
3 minutes ago, RSF said:

There's only one problem with this story...Ann Richards wasnt Governor at the time.

 

The Pac-10 told Fehlberg that BYU would need a travel partner. Fehlberg suggested Utah, but the idea was dismissed immediately — BYU already brought the Utah TV market to the league. Fehlberg approached Colorado, which immediately liked the idea of joining the league. But, as Fehlberg tells it, Colorado later reneged. He says CU officials told him that Texas governor Ann Richards threatened to sue if Colorado left the Big 12, which included many Texas schools.

 

 

I wont be surprised if Colorado tries to move back to the Big12.  The Pacific coast is fine for smaller leagues with smaller fanbases.  But it is rapidly dying on the Power 5 level.

Some of these PAC12 schools might not recover from the COVID impact.

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9 minutes ago, RSF said:

There's only one problem with this story...Ann Richards wasnt Governor at the time.

 

The Pac-10 told Fehlberg that BYU would need a travel partner. Fehlberg suggested Utah, but the idea was dismissed immediately — BYU already brought the Utah TV market to the league. Fehlberg approached Colorado, which immediately liked the idea of joining the league. But, as Fehlberg tells it, Colorado later reneged. He says CU officials told him that Texas governor Ann Richards threatened to sue if Colorado left the Big 12, which included many Texas schools.

 

 

Below is a link Val Hale said BYU was ticketed to join B12 before Ann stepped in. I can’t find the one with New Mexico but they going with BYU. 
 

https://www.deseret.com/2010/2/26/20098587/when-byu-was-closer-to-joining-the-pac-10

The Masters 5k road race All American.

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13 hours ago, robe said:

Interesting read. The author speculates that the WAC would have been the 2nd best conference in the West. I felt bad for Benson. He nearly smashed it out of the park. I wonder if Boise would have came back eventually. Maybe even getting Gonzaga to come over. 
 

In the end I think it has work out better for everyone except for New Mexico St and Idaho. BYU relied heavily on the old WAC schools until Holmoe got the schedule figured out. I’m actually surprised we play more PAC 12 schools than MWC schools now. 
 

I think the animosity for the most part is over. I doubt BYU will ever return to the MWC it will be the AAC if anything. Personally I think BYU is going to stay independent. 
 

I wish the WAC could have survived we need another conference in the west. 
 

If the WAC could have added BSU, UNLV, New Mexico and Gonzaga that would have been better for BYU. 

Correction it work out better for everyone except for the original members of MWC who didn’t leave. But they are still in a decent spot. 

The Masters 5k road race All American.

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Guest #1Stunner
2 minutes ago, robe said:

Correction it work out better for everyone except for the original members of MWC who didn’t leave. But they are still in a decent spot. 

The school most hurt was SDSU.  Their fans are now relegated to rivalries with Fresno and SJSU (before their main rivals were BYU and Utah).

 

UNLV is thrilled to be paired with UNR.

The Front Rangers are a good match with the WAC additions.

 

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3 hours ago, robe said:

Ann Richards is to blame for this whole thing BYU and New Mexico we’re headed to the B12 until she got involved. The MWC would have never existed and we would still have the Big West. 

I would actually say BYU was to blame since they were the ones that started it...all for the love of money

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Had The Project been successful, the Aztecs would have been in a conference with highly esteemed Idaho, New Mexico State and UTEP. Somebody actually thought SDSU would have jumped at the chance? :rotflmfao: :lol::hahaha:

 

(Actually, I can't vouch for the accuracy but was told at the time that part of the plan was for Fresno State and SJSU to lobby the CSU Board of Trustees to pressure SDSU to return to the WAC regardless of what a steaming turd the conference would have been. If so, that too was an effing joke.)

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1 hour ago, #1Stunner said:

The school most hurt was SDSU.  Their fans are now relegated to rivalries with Fresno and SJSU (before their main rivals were BYU and Utah).

SDSU is like Hawaii in being a captive of our geography. The difference is we're considerably less constrained by our location and both SD county and contiguous Riverside county (which contains only athletically irrelevant UCR) continue to grow by leaps and bounds.

On your second point, SJSU is the same kind of "rival" of SDSU as we were of your school in the 1980s (I graduated in 1981). That is to say during that decade we Aztecs loved to hate BYU and were always highly motivated to play you whereas you hardly knew we existed.

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Guest #1Stunner
43 minutes ago, 818SUDSFan said:

SDSU is like Hawaii in being a captive of our geography. The difference is we're considerably less constrained by our location and both SD county and contiguous Riverside county (which contains only athletically irrelevant UCR) continue to grow by leaps and bounds.

On your second point, SJSU is the same kind of "rival" of SDSU as we were of your school in the 1980s (I graduated in 1981). That is to say during that decade we Aztecs loved to hate BYU and were always highly motivated to play you whereas you hardly knew we existed.

Have to disagree with your second point, a bit.

There have always been a decent number of BYU fans in San Diego.   Because of that reason, a decent portion of the BYU fansbase has always gotten fired up about playing SDSU.   I doubt that many SDSU fans live near San Jose State.

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1 hour ago, 818SUDSFan said:

SDSU is like Hawaii in being a captive of our geography. The difference is we're considerably less constrained by our location and both SD county and contiguous Riverside county (which contains only athletically irrelevant UCR) continue to grow by leaps and bounds.

On your second point, SJSU is the same kind of "rival" of SDSU as we were of your school in the 1980s (I graduated in 1981). That is to say during that decade we Aztecs loved to hate BYU and were always highly motivated to play you whereas you hardly knew we existed.

Upon further reflection, the current MWC 12 is a better conference for Hawaii than The Project.  We miss the ESPN games though, but we were not that great under Chow in the first years as conference mates.  We probably would not have to pay travel subs if the WAC survived.  We are lucky to be in a conference.
 

I like having SJSU in the Conference as NorCal is a strong recruiting area for Hawaii (and Boise, etc).  Plus, I live in NorCal.  Just hope SJSU can improve themselves but I enjoy seeing Hawaii win on the road there so I don’t see what’s wrong.  
 

Utah State has improved the most since joining the MWC in my view.  
 

Glad we got the monkey off our backs with a win in San Diego.  Now need to figure out how to win in Boise. 
 

The Front Range schools might not have had much love for Hawaii before, but we’re here thank you and hope to make you proud.

 

I like the MWC football only and Big West Olympic sports.  
 

thanks for the favorable MWC road schedule this year, if we have a season (only one road trip east of the pacific time zone); especially if we play in winter.  You’re welcome for the hawaii road game (in winter).

 

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15 hours ago, thedude15 said:

Yeah there wasn't enough incentive for a WAC school NOT to jump to the MW. If Nevada/Fresno stuck to the "project" then maybe the MW just invites USU/SJSU and says screw Fresno/Nevada. 

Don't get me wrong it would have been SWEET for the WAC to outlast that MWC. But the only way that was really practical was if BSU lead the charge back to the WAC. If for nothing else than pride BSU was going to pick and average MW over and average WAC.

Except USU was offered the invite before Fresno and Nevada, they held to the agreement and turned it down. This has since been confirmed by all involved.

Having BSU, SDSU and UNLV come back was in the plans for the WAC. The project was the initial step to end the MWC and Thompson knew it, that is why he acted so quickly and sent out invites so hastily. Gonzaga was also not happy at the time in the WCC and without BYU being a 3rd competitor in that conference they would have looked for options.

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6 hours ago, Zoomie said:

I would actually say BYU was to blame since they were the ones that started it...all for the love of money

Wyoming started the whole thing with the airport meeting. It’s Wyoming fault

The Masters 5k road race All American.

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19 minutes ago, TrueAg said:

Except USU was offered the invite before Fresno and Nevada, they held to the agreement and turned it down. This has since been confirmed by all involved.

Having BSU, SDSU and UNLV come back was in the plans for the WAC. The project was the initial step to end the MWC and Thompson knew it, that is why he acted so quickly and sent out invites so hastily. Gonzaga was also not happy at the time in the WCC and without BYU being a 3rd competitor in that conference they would have looked for options.

I think this is the most accurate portrayal of what was planned. It would have been a decent conference. Would have been probably the best basketball conference in the west. 
 

USU

SDSU

UNLV

Nev

Gonzaga

BYU

what could have been. 
 

if I remember right the scheduling agreement was 5 games a year. 

The Masters 5k road race All American.

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4 hours ago, Ibanez said:

How was BYU gonna save the MWC this year? The MWC and the choice they made had nothing to do with BYU. As always you are making yourself out to be bigger than you already are. Do you need me to link the article written a few weeks ago about how the P5 does not consider BYU a P5 school?

I understand a couple of teams reach out to BYU in behalf of the conference. 

The Masters 5k road race All American.

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6 hours ago, #1Stunner said:

The school most hurt was SDSU.  Their fans are now relegated to rivalries with Fresno and SJSU (before their main rivals were BYU and Utah).

 

UNLV is thrilled to be paired with UNR.

The Front Rangers are a good match with the WAC additions.

 

I agree.

The Masters 5k road race All American.

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22 hours ago, TrueAg said:

Still have disdain for Fresno St. and Nevada for their back-stabbing actions during this. Milton Glick and John Welty were big smelly vaginas. One coined the whole thing "The Project" and the other made demands and negotiations right up until the day he turned tail and ran. Honestly it doesn't matter much now because I think this conference is the collection of schools that should be together (swap SJSU for BYU if we're being honest). I said it then and it didn't go over well but I really think if this had gone through as planned,  the front range schools that would have been on the outside looking in. AFA would have had options but Wyo, CSU and UNM would be without a country.

Here's an article by Honolulu Star Advertiser that documented it pretty well at the time.

Interesting read. 

The Masters 5k road race All American.

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23 hours ago, TrueAg said:

Still have disdain for Fresno St. and Nevada for their back-stabbing actions during this. Milton Glick and John Welty were big smelly vaginas. One coined the whole thing "The Project" and the other made demands and negotiations right up until the day he turned tail and ran. Honestly it doesn't matter much now because I think this conference is the collection of schools that should be together (swap SJSU for BYU if we're being honest). I said it then and it didn't go over well but I really think if this had gone through as planned,  the front range schools that would have been on the outside looking in. AFA would have had options but Wyo, CSU and UNM would be without a country.

Here's an article by Honolulu Star Advertiser that documented it pretty well at the time.

Excellent article. Perhaps, a what if thread to distract us from Election-ageddan would be fun.

I think UNM would have partnered with the NewMags into CUSA.

Q: Are big smelly vaginas better or worse then nasty asses ?

:rolleyes:

"We don't have evidence but, we have lot's of theories."

Americans Mayor

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19 hours ago, nvspuds said:

It was a stupid idea....There was never any chance UNLV and SDSU were going to join..Boise wasn't coming back.  

Nevada

Fresno State

San Jose State

Hawaii

New Mexico State

Idaho

Utah State

La Tech

Some games with BYU weren't going to change the fact that would be a horrendous football conference.

BYU Olympic sports were no prize..

It was stupid stupid stupid.... 

 

 

They were also thinking a BYU partnership coupled with a UTEP/LaTech swap would create a domino effect of SDSU and UNLV follow and Boise doubles back based on the fait accompli.

Even if Fresno/Nevada stay, that's a lot of dominoes that need to fall.

 

"We don't have evidence but, we have lot's of theories."

Americans Mayor

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18 hours ago, thedude15 said:

Yeah there wasn't enough incentive for a WAC school NOT to jump to the MW. If Nevada/Fresno stuck to the "project" then maybe the MW just invites USU/SJSU and says screw Fresno/Nevada. 

Don't get me wrong it would have been SWEET for the WAC to outlast that MWC. But the only way that was really practical was if BSU lead the charge back to the WAC. If for nothing else than pride BSU was going to pick and average MW over and average WAC.

 

"We don't have evidence but, we have lot's of theories."

Americans Mayor

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