Embrace the Mountain West if need be

[Al_4_State]

I think we can talk the MWC into shooting bigger than 12, especially everyone else is. They want to be big time, so they need to keep up with the Jones's. Refusing ISU doesn't make much sense for them, as it would allow for growth of their network too. Iowa has a larger population than several MWC states.

 

[wonkadog]

Everyone's probably right about the MWC needing 16 teams, however it just sucks because it waters things down so much more. It'd be better to revamp the MWC and get it to 12, however I do think it's probably smarter to get right to 16 if that's what others do.

 

[Al_4_State]

Everyone's probably right about the MWC needing 16 teams, however it just sucks because it waters things down so much more. It'd be better to revamp the MWC and get it to 12, however I do think it's probably smarter to get right to 16 if that's what others do.

Right. It grows the Network, for one. That's GOT to mean a lot to them. It also helps legitimize the conference for the future.

 

[Wesley]

There goes the Director's Cup.

 

[Rickybaby]

Actually, the scenario the original poster set out is something that very well could come about and as several others have already said: as bad as that may look compared to our role in the B12 there are actually scenarios that are much, much worse.

You know what, JP appears to have pretty could foresight on how things are going to turn out so I will go out on a limb here and say:

"I bet JP has already anticipated such a scenario and has already been talking to some of his MWC counterparts".

 

[chuckd4735]

Actually, the scenario the original poster set out is something that very well could come about and as several others have already said: as bad as that may look compared to our role in the B12 there are actually scenarios that are much, much worse.

You know what, JP appears to have pretty could foresight on how things are going to turn out so I will go out on a limb here and say:

"I bet JP has already anticipated such a scenario and has already been talking to some of his MWC counterparts".

This is a GG issue more than a JP issue, as a new conference affects the entire University, not just the athletic department.

 

[acgclone]

The key to surviving as an AD in a new, lower tier conference like the MWC...... and minimizing the damage of such a drop, will be winning immediately. If we go to the MWC and start winning 8+ games year in and out (FB of course), then I don't think we'll see a hugely negative impact on fan support, attendance and recruiting. There would certainly be some positives of being more than just a little fish in a big pond like we are now.

On the other hand, if we continue to be like we have been (average in our good years and basement in our bad years), this AD will crumble over the next 10 years.

 

[chuckd4735]

What happens to our wrestling program when ISU goes to the MWC?

 

[Wesley]

What happens to our wrestling program when ISU goes to the MWC?

What program? We will have to cut the budget. This could be a demotion.

 

[chuckd4735]

What program? We will have to cut the budget. This could be a demotion.

My point is, there is no wrestling in the MWC...

 

[Rickybaby]

The key to surviving as an AD in a new, lower tier conference like the MWC...... and minimizing the damage of such a drop, will be winning immediately. If we go to the MWC and start winning 8+ games year in and out (FB of course), then I don't think we'll see a hugely negative impact on fan support, attendance and recruiting. There would certainly be some positives of being more than just a little fish in a big pond like we are now.

On the other hand, if we continue to be like we have been (average in our good years and basement in our bad years), this AD will crumble over the next 10 years.

Yes sir, you are correct. But also with the change, our TV/conference revenue would go down quit a bit. The AD needs to absorb that reduction and do what you say above, if so - we will be all right.

Oh, and what you say also applies to basketball ... if we are in the top 3-5 teams for the first few years, Hilton will be rocking and rolling well into the future.

Not so sure what would happen in other sports. Wrestling, yuck. WBB? If Fennelly can maintain his recruiting pipeline we could rule this conference.

Oh, one other thing: in the scenario we are talking about here I highly doubt the new conference would be called the Mountain West any longer. If it takes the best of the MWC and combines it with the remainder of the B12 to make 12 teams, it could very well still be called the B12. If it takes the B12 remnants along with Houston, Boise State, etc and the existing MWC to form 16, I think it would get a new name: that's what I'm thinking anyway.

 

[nileo]

Although, a 16 team MWC WOULD be a major conference. Yeah, it wouldn't be the Big 11 or Pac 16 or SEC, but it would be right there with the ACC on the next tier. BCS/Playoff, whatever, it would have an automatic qualifier. It just wouldn't have the TV money of those other conferences.

No it wouldn't be 'right there with the ACC'! If you are talking about FB, it would be close. Throw in bball and not even close.

 

[Frak]

No it wouldn't be 'right there with the ACC'! If you are talking about FB, it would be close. Throw in bball and not even close.

Basketball doesn't matter. Gonzaga and Butler have proven that you can have a dominant MBB team no matter what conference you're in. All you need is fan support and facilities.

 

[cyhiphopp]

Yes sir, you are correct. But also with the change, our TV/conference revenue would go down quit a bit. The AD needs to absorb that reduction and do what you say above, if so - we will be all right.

Oh, and what you say also applies to basketball ... if we are in the top 3-5 teams for the first few years, Hilton will be rocking and rolling well into the future.

Not so sure what would happen in other sports. Wrestling, yuck. WBB? If Fennelly can maintain his recruiting pipeline we could rule this conference.

Oh, one other thing: in the scenario we are talking about here I highly doubt the new conference would be called the Mountain West any longer. If it takes the best of the MWC and combines it with the remainder of the B12 to make 12 teams, it could very well still be called the B12. If it takes the B12 remnants along with Houston, Boise State, etc and the existing MWC to form 16, I think it would get a new name: that's what I'm thinking anyway.

BWC - Big West Conference

Every school would be west of the Mississippi

 

[cyhiphopp]

If we did end up in the MWC I like the layout of MookINLincoln's Signature graphic. They could poach Fresno State and Nevada to make it an even 16. That ends up being a pretty solid conference with only a few states having only one team a piece; Idaho, Iowa, Wyoming and New Mexico.

Interesting alternative and deffinitely prefferable to the MAC or C-USA.

 

[synapticwave]

Research funding goes way down, leads to cuts as the State will not be able to make up for the loss of funding. Same with grant money. ISU will not be able to recruit the same level of faculty in the MWC conference, and will not be able to keep paying some they already have. Our prestige in a lot of our academic programs will take a hit, which will lead to a decline in enrollment.

I hear this a lot...and I think it's blown way out of proportion. I can't find a single federal grant that was issued for Iowa State in partnership with any other big 12 school. I also t know of about 30 researchers at ISU that got their research grants through military or other dept of energy research programs and they have absolutely no bering on what institution the grant was going to. The athletic conference we're in will have very little impact on grant writing. As for partnerships with other institutions, I actually couldn't find any partner grants between ISU and another institution when looking through SBIR and STIR issued grants on grants.gov. The big12 conference was an athletics conference, not an academic or research conference like the big10. I find it very hard to believe that ISU being on National TV for sports 3-5 times less per year will have any significant impact on our ability to recruit faculty or receive research grants.

I will say though that not being able to join the Big10 hurts since we won't be a part of their research program through the CIC. But switching from one athletic conference to another won't have a tremendous impact on research grants. If anything, with a new conference we may be able to help start a shared research program like the CIC with the other MWC schools and perhaps boost our grant revenue.

 

[clonesbaby]

Will the Mt West want us?

Sadly it looks like the Big 12 destruction train has officially left the station today. Obviously the best landing spot for the clones would be the big 10. Almost as obvious is that there is less than 1% chance of that happening. With that said, the most realistic landing spot that would provide the softest landing would be the Mountain West Conference. The MWC currently has 9 members and has had some real nice success in BCS games recently. I have seen threads where it has been mentioned that ISU, KU, and K St could slide into the MWC and make a nice 12 team conference for both fball and hoops. My concern is that the MWC would have interest in KU, (great hoops tradition), K St, (political alignment with KU, recent hoops and fball successes), but not in ISU. Geographically we will be a long and expensive trip for non-revenue sports for schools like UNLV, New Mexico, and San Diego ST. We have a great passionate fan base, but unfortunately we do not bring much of anything in terms of tradition, revenue, or population that would drive tv contracts. Essentially we would be eating another piece of the conference revenue pie with no assurances that we would grow it for the other potential 11 members. It would be very tough sell to the conference members condsidering that it will greatly increase travel expenses and potentially take some of there existing revenue. On the bright side, it seems like the Big 10 played mizzery like a fiddle and now they are swinging in the wind with no home after being sure they were headed to the almighty Big 10!!!!!!!!

 

[LutherClone]

Re: Will the Mt West want us?

You know, I can't really tell who's a troll and who's just late to the ISU table these days....

 

[xboxfever]

Re: Will the Mt West want us?

You know, I can't really tell who's a troll and who's just late to the ISU table these days....

How is what he said being a troll? It's 100% true.

 

[michaelrr1]

Re: Will the Mt West want us?

Zuban Mahente (sp) on M&M today said the MWC is not interested in ISU as far as he knows. Doesn't mean they won't be after everything shakes out.