WAC Commissioner Blasts Nevada and Fresno State for Jump to MWC

[Dirty]

WAC commish: 'Selfish' defectors won't find it easy to leave

CBSSports.com wire reports
Aug. 19, 2010 SALT LAKE CITY -- The commissioner of the Western Athletic Conference says the remaining members aren't likely to make it easy on Fresno State and Nevada when the two schools leave for the Mountain West.

MWC/WAC realignment

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Fresno State, Nevada accept Mountain West invite Dodd: WAC, MWC might shuffle off BCS radar Dodd: BYU's independence no sure thing yet SI.com: Would BYU be Notre Dame or Navy

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Karl Benson says the Bulldogs and Wolf Pack are going to have to pay up on a departure fee and possibly stay in the WAC until 2012 because they didn't meet a deadline to get out of the league earlier. And don't expect any favors.
Benson says Fresno State and Nevada acted selfishly when they accepted invitations to join the Mountain West. That basically dissolved an agreement the WAC had to bring BYU back to the league in every sport but football.
The Cougars would play football as an independent.
Benson says the WAC door is still open for BYU if the Cougars want to rework the arrangement.



WAC commish: 'Selfish' defectors won't find it easy to leave - NCAA Football - CBSSports.com

[66Days]

the wac is done, this guy needs to give up.

[Dirty]

Agreed... you can't blame them for moving to the better Conference

[Dirty]

Conference cannibalism continues

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By Pat Forde
ESPN.com
Archive
The offices of the Mountain West and Western Athletic conferences are separated by just a short stretch of Interstate 25 along Colorado's front range of the Rocky Mountains. Driving distance between MWC headquarters, north of Colorado Springs, and the WAC, south of Denver: 41 miles.
They don't share just geography, though. They share profiles, too. They're striver leagues on the outside of the college football circle of power that have overcome the stigma to win multiple BCS bowl games. And when they've had those victories -- two by Utah for the MWC, two by Boise State for the WAC -- there has been an aura of mutual respect and congratulation for sticking it to the elite.

[+] EnlargeAP Photo/Susan WalshMWC commissioner Craig Thompson has raided the WAC for three teams since June.


I remember calling Mountain West commissioner Craig Thompson for his reaction after WAC champion Boise State shocked Oklahoma in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl. He described the Boise victory as "great" and "one for the ages." Said he was openly cheering for the Broncos.
That seems like a very long time ago.
Today, Thompson and WAC commish Karl Benson might as well meet halfway between their offices -- say, Castle Rock -- for an Old West gunfight at 20 paces. During the course of a single predatory summer, the relationship between the leagues has devolved from brotherhood to fratricide.
The Mountain West poached first. It plucked Boise State from the WAC in June, trying to solidify itself as the entire landscape of college sports threatened to change. But after MWC member Utah left for the Pacific-10, that appeared to end the MWC-WAC movement.
Until this week. That's when Brigham Young's stunning gambit to become a football independent and a WAC member in all other sports became public. By the time the news leaked, it was a virtual done deal -- and the Mountain West, staring at the prospect of being down two marquee football programs, was suddenly in serious trouble.
So the MWC made a Darwinian counter attack Wednesday to grab WAC members Nevada and Fresno State. With his own conference teetering on the brink of collapse, Thompson moved to shove the WAC off a cliff first.

“ In today's intercollegiate environment, [raiding other leagues] has become fairly routine and fairly standard.
” -- WAC commissioner Karl Benson

On a marathon teleconference Thursday, Benson spent less time criticizing Thompson and the Mountain West ("Craig has a job to do, and I have a job to do"), and more time stabbing at Fresno and Nevada. He said they committed a "selfish act" and noted that as of this past Friday, both schools were all about WAC unity with BYU coming aboard -- until a better deal came along.
"On Friday there was solidarity," Benson said. "And four days later there was a defection."
The summer of defections to the MWC doesn't just leave the WAC with six teams and missing three of its most powerful football programs. It could well leave the WAC without BYU, too.
The MWC acquisitions of Nevada and Fresno abruptly cut off BYU's end run at the pass. The Cougars would be sending their other 19 sports into obscurity, competing in what now is a league of vastly diminished visibility and competitiveness. Benson said BYU is still more than welcome to join -- but he sounded more wishful than confident.
Don't be surprised to see BYU return -- however reluctantly -- to the Mountain West. Until the next realignment spasm happens.
Meanwhile, Benson is left trying to once again piece back together the league he has overseen for 16 tumultuous seasons.
It's true the MWC and WAC have had their share of friction. The Mountain West was born 12 years ago out of dissatisfaction with the WAC -- eight schools broke away from the unwieldy, 16-team WAC.

[+] EnlargeMark J. Rebilas/US PresswireBYU sparked the latest run of realignment moves.


But in recent years, the two conferences shared what Benson called "a healthy rivalry." Now it's turned into something that feels much more like blood sport.
The root cause of this particular form of conference cannibalism is none other than the BCS. If college football had an equitable means of crowning a national champion, one that was at least in theory open to teams from all leagues, would all this be happening?
"Probably not," Benson said. "That's a fair question. I think we're all chasing the BCS; we're all chasing recruiting exposure and notoriety and the financial windfall that comes with the BCS. We're all positioning ourselves for a bigger piece."
That's why, in this decade, conferences have attacked each other with a remarkable degree of avarice and a general disregard for collegiality. All the high-minded ideals university bigwigs like to talk about have been tossed aside in the brass-knuckles fight for increased revenue.
And in the bigger-is-better world of college sports, the painful side effects trickle down to the weak. The ACC attacked the Big East, which responded by gutting Conference USA. The Big Ten nearly poached the Big 12 out of existence. And once the Pac-10 destabilized the Mountain West by pilfering Utah, that left the MWC and WAC in an eye-gouging struggle to survive.
"In today's intercollegiate environment," Benson said, "[raiding other leagues] has become fairly routine and fairly standard."
This week, that standard operating procedure killed a brotherhood.

Pat Forde is a senior writer for ESPN.com. He can be reached at ESPN4D@aol.com.




Mountain West, Western Athletic conference rivalry turns into blood sport - ESPN

[Dirty]

Karl Benson says WAC will survive

August, 19, 2010 Aug 19
2:42
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By Andrea Adelson


WAC commissioner Karl Benson just held a conference call to discuss the events of the past 24 hours. In less than a day, the WAC went from being on the verge of gaining BYU as a non-football member to scramble mode after losing Fresno State and Nevada to the Mountain West.

Benson characterized the actions of Fresno State and Nevada as "selfish" and said the league will seek a $5 million buyout from each school within 60 days. He also expects them to remain members through the 2011-12 season.

"In a 12-hour period, we went from having a secure future to not knowing what will happen," Benson said.

Here are a few of his comments:

Benson said all eight remaining WAC schools agreed last week to the $5 million buyout as a way to keep the league together. Nevada was the lone school that did not sign the agreement, however Benson said its president verbally agreed to it in a phone call. The WAC believes that verbal agreement is binding. When asked the purpose of the buyout, Benson said, "It was introduced knowing that if the BYU piece went down it would more than likely be expected that a WAC member would be approached by the Mountain West, and we took that action to prevent or at least deter a school from accepting an invitation to the Mountain West."

Now that two schools have broken the agreement, the remaining schools are no longer subject to the $5 million buyout, Benson said. In hindsight, Benson said he wished the penalty was $20 million.

Benson said BYU approached the league as it considered going independent, and conversations began in early July about the school joining as a non-football member. They began discussing future football scheduling, with BYU playing four to six WAC teams a year: "There was an expectation on our part that we were getting very close and expecting it to happen."

When asked where BYU stands now, Benson referred questions to the school. "We hope that there’s still an opportunity to structure an arrangement that would allow BYU to be part of the WAC in some shape or form. We are open to any of that discussion."

Benson was told in the late morning yesterday that Fresno State and Nevada were considering offers to join the Mountain West, as he was moving his daughter into her dorm at USC. By later in the afternoon, the deal was done and there was nothing he could say to stop them from leaving. Mountain West commissioner Craig Thompson said yesterday that the move to add those two schools had nothing to do with BYU.

Benson saw it differently: "It was very clear to me and to the WAC membership that the Fresno State and Nevada invitation was a direct result of BYU’s interest in going independent and joining the WAC."

Where does the WAC turn? Benson said the school will begin to look at adding schools for the 2012 season. He said there are plenty of options. Several FBS schools have already contacted the league with an interest in joining. The league could also add current FCS members that have an interest in moving up. Benson said the state of Texas is a big market for the WAC, and said there had been discussions with Texas-San Antonio and Texas State. He added that keeping Louisiana Tech also was a priority.

To remain a viable FBS conference, the league needs a minimum of eight schools to play football.

With the latest defections, the WAC has lost its three top football programs in the span of two months. How does the league recover? "I still believe strongly the six schools that are left are in better football shape than when Boise State joined the league in 2001," he said. "Those programs have matured in the WAC and are on the verge of being legitimate members of the league."

He later added in response to another question: "The WAC has demonstrated in the past it has been successful."

Benson also said the WAC would weigh its legal options against Nevada and Fresno State.

[Dirty]

WAC fines Fresno St., Nevada for move

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Associated Press

DENVER -- The Western Athletic Conference is demanding a $5 million exit fee by Oct. 25 from Fresno State and Nevada, which are bolting to the Mountain West Conference.
WAC commissioner Karl Benson said the league would sue the universities if they don't pay up. He also said the league won't let the schools leave until after the 2011-12 season.
Fresno State and Nevada were informed of the WAC's hardline stance by letter on Friday. The schools announced Aug. 18 they would join the MWC. Because they didn't announce their decisions prior to a June 30 deadline required by WAC bylaws, neither school can leave for two years unless the league agrees to an early exit.
Benson said that by leaving before 2012, Fresno State and Nevada would cost each of the remaining WAC schools -- Hawaii, Idaho, Louisiana Tech, New Mexico State, San Jose State, Utah State -- $2 million or more.



WAC demands $5M from Fresno State, Nevada - ESPN