*Rumored Lamar to FBS discussion*

I went on the WAC board yesterday afternoon and there is still a lot of chatter about Lamar joining. A UTSA guy named BigRunner12 flat out says LU is in. Who really knows I haven't a clue. Makes for good reading if you are interested in LU sports.

 

I agree that there is a good possibility that Lamar is going to the WAC but Roadrunner doesn't know for sure if Lamar is in, he is just forecasting it.

 

BTW, that is the same poster that said the WAC will add SHSU, no one that claims to have "in the know" sources has said that. So I take some of the things he says with a grain of salt.

 

April 1st will yield nothing for us.

April 1st will yield pranks and jokes. And that is everything!!!

April 1st will yield pranks and jokes. And that is everything!!!

 

I'm sure TT will make an appearance on this very thread with some folly.

No Doubt

Sorry Lamar...

 

Many months ago, the WAC set April 1 as an informal deadline for the next round of expansion.

 

We are less than 24 hours from April 1, and no news is forthcoming.

 

Commish Karl Benson just told me that the league won’t issue any invitations tomorrow — but that doesn’t mean the conference alignment is set for 2012-13.

 

Quite the contrary.

 

Benson said the athletic directors of the eights schools (five existing plus TSU, UTSA and Denver) will meet in person in early May to hash out the options.

 

http://blogs.mercurynews.com/collegesports/2011/03/31/wac-football-and-basketball-no-expansion-news-yet/

Sorry Lamar...

 

Many months ago, the WAC set April 1 as an informal deadline for the next round of expansion.

 

We are less than 24 hours from April 1, and no news is forthcoming.

 

Commish Karl Benson just told me that the league won’t issue any invitations tomorrow — but that doesn’t mean the conference alignment is set for 2012-13.

 

Quite the contrary.

 

Benson said the athletic directors of the eights schools (five existing plus TSU, UTSA and Denver) will meet in person in early May to hash out the options.

 

http://blogs.mercurynews.com/collegesports/2011/03/31/wac-football-and-basketball-no-expansion-news-yet/

 

I'm confused, didn't you read what we posted? Most of us have known for a few weeks now that April 1st would yield nothing for us or anyone for that matter. Oh course you will dodge my remarks like you always do.

The end of the article is very interesting and encouraging:

 

Formal invitations could be issued at that point. The invitees would have to accept by July 1 in order to participate in the WAC in 2012-13.

 

One last thought:

 

Multiple sources have told me that major college football officials across the country want the WAC to add teams from the Football Championship Subdivision.

 

Why? The more FBS teams — there are 120 now, with UTSA and Texas State coming aboard and Villanova likely to join them — the better the chances of filling 70 bowl slots.

 

This is actually a very encouraging article.

The end of the article is very interesting and encouraging:

 

Formal invitations could be issued at that point. The invitees would have to accept by July 1 in order to participate in the WAC in 2012-13.

 

One last thought:

 

Multiple sources have told me that major college football officials across the country want the WAC to add teams from the Football Championship Subdivision.

 

Why? The more FBS teams — there are 120 now, with UTSA and Texas State coming aboard and Villanova likely to join them — the better the chances of filling 70 bowl slots.

 

This is actually a very encouraging article.

 

Hmm, Coach explain the bowl slots to me. Does this mean there are 35 bowls? And how would bringing in more FCS members better the chances of filling 70 slots when there are already 120 FBS teams?

 

Forgive my ignorance.

nothing to be sorry about here.lamar has been the subject of many debates across the college football landscape.ive seen more positive talk about lamar than negative(except for the louisiana tech site).lamar alumns have done a great job of educating people online about all that setx has to offer and most have been impressed with lu.not to mention we now have the most active fan site in the slc.i hope we make the move to fbs but it doesnt have to be this year.lamars plan was to make the move by 2015.if we make the jump prior to 2015 its gravy.i trust simmmons to make the right call.he hasnt been wrong yet.i want to see lamar get mens basketball going in the right direction,start girls softball,update inside of montagne and expand football stadium.once this is done i forsee lamar being able to pick a conference not be picked.with that being said if we get picked we should go.

nothing to be sorry about here.lamar has been the subject of many debates across the college football landscape.ive seen more positive talk about lamar than negative(except for the louisiana tech site).lamar alumns have done a great job of educating people online about all that setx has to offer and most have been impressed with lu.not to mention we now have the most active fan site in the slc.i hope we make the move to fbs but it doesnt have to be this year.lamars plan was to make the move by 2015.if we make the jump prior to 2015 its gravy.i trust simmmons to make the right call.he hasnt been wrong yet.i want to see lamar get mens basketball going in the right direction,start girls softball,update inside of montagne and expand football stadium.once this is done i forsee lamar being able to pick a conference not be picked.with that being said if we get picked we should go.

 

I agree with everything you are saying LUCards. I was just stating I don't understand why the FBS wants more FCS move ups.

 

We have lots of things going for us:

1. Great leadership, Simmons, Doblin, Mouton, Tidwell and all the VIPs of Lamar are extremely professional and most importantly they have a vision for Lamar. From what I have seen they do a pretty good job communicating that vision to Donors and Alums.

2. Ever increasing enrollment, this will help us in the future as we take more advantage of economies of scale.

3. Football, just getting that back and off the ground was a huge accomplishment and it has yet to pay the dividends I know it will.

4. A recently created athletic fee. With the hire of these new coaches like the strength and condition, Jumps, men's tennis, etc, our athletic department is going to improve regardless of what conference we are in.

5. Increased admission standards. This will improve the student body and therefore the school over the next 4 years as these students are cycled into the student body.

6. Improved campus and surrounding areas.

 

I'm pretty excited about the future of Lamar regardless of where we end up. What we all need to do is continue to support this university and get others to do the same and we will all be surprised where we end up. :)

I agree with all you said LUCARDS with one caveat. Lamar does not have the option come 2015 to just say, we are ready so WAC,SunBelt,CUSA you guys take us as members. It doesn't work that way. LU has to be invited. Passing on membership now has risks. You could be on the outside looking in with no options in 2015-2020. I think LU needs to take a WAC offer now. If they get a CUSA offer in say 2017, hey if it is better, you take it. But you don't pass on anything now!

I agree with all you said LUCARDS with one caveat. Lamar does not have the option come 2015 to just say, we are ready so WAC,SunBelt,CUSA you guys take us as members. It doesn't work that way. LU has to be invited. Passing on membership now has risks. You could be on the outside looking in with no options in 2015-2020. I think LU needs to take a WAC offer now. If they get a CUSA offer in say 2017, hey if it is better, you take it. But you don't pass on anything now!

 

 

I totally agree North. This was well said. Who knows what the college landscape will be in the future, if the opportunity is there now you must take it. There may not be movement for many years again after this shuffle and LU could be left rotting in the SLC.

The deadline is July 1st so if Lamar gets the invite it'll probably happen right before that date. I don't think Lamar will turn down a WAC invite, I just hope they get one. But I think there's still the possibility of some big shakeups that might open up other opportunities. From what I've read what Villanova and the Big East does affects everybody else.

The end of the article is very interesting and encouraging:

 

Formal invitations could be issued at that point. The invitees would have to accept by July 1 in order to participate in the WAC in 2012-13.

 

One last thought:

 

Multiple sources have told me that major college football officials across the country want the WAC to add teams from the Football Championship Subdivision.

 

Why? The more FBS teams — there are 120 now, with UTSA and Texas State coming aboard and Villanova likely to join them — the better the chances of filling 70 bowl slots.

 

This is actually a very encouraging article.

 

Hmm, Coach explain the bowl slots to me. Does this mean there are 35 bowls? And how would bringing in more FCS members better the chances of filling 70 slots when there are already 120 FBS teams?

 

Forgive my ignorance.

 

I think they are trying to get away from the bad press of having a .500 team get a bowl bid. Many people already think there are to many bowl games now as it is. Then to have a 6-6 matchup with somebody else in a lower tier bowl game doesn't look good.

http://vuhoops.com/2011/04/07/expansion-apocalypse-what-to-expect-when-you-are-expecting-a-decision/

 

It looks like Villanova will be playing Big East football if you read this article. I think it's likely to happen as well.

 

C-USA stays put

SBC stays put or adds one more possibly La Tech

WAC adds LU.

 

April 12th is the new big day!

http://vuhoops.com/2011/04/07/expansion-apocalypse-what-to-expect-when-you-are-expecting-a-decision/

 

It looks like Villanova will be playing Big East football if you read this article. I think it's likely to happen as well.

 

C-USA stays put

SBC stays put or adds one more possibly La Tech

WAC adds LU.

 

April 12th is the new big day!

 

SBC adding LaTech is a problem for the WAC and just adding LU doesn't help. What's up with that. I though LaTech didn't want to be with ULM!

http://vuhoops.com/2011/04/07/expansion-apocalypse-what-to-expect-when-you-are-expecting-a-decision/

 

It looks like Villanova will be playing Big East football if you read this article. I think it's likely to happen as well.

 

C-USA stays put

SBC stays put or adds one more possibly La Tech

WAC adds LU.

 

April 12th is the new big day!

 

SBC adding LaTech is a problem for the WAC and just adding LU doesn't help. What's up with that. I though LaTech didn't want to be with ULM!

 

As fans they don't but it's more compicated than it used to be. Universities make decisions based on money too and La Tech might view a more regional conference as financially more viable.

 

But your right, 95% of La Tech don't want sun belt, they wan't C-USA. Problem is that will never happen.

http://vuhoops.com/2011/04/07/expansion-apocalypse-what-to-expect-when-you-are-expecting-a-decision/

 

It looks like Villanova will be playing Big East football if you read this article. I think it's likely to happen as well.

 

C-USA stays put

SBC stays put or adds one more possibly La Tech

WAC adds LU.

 

April 12th is the new big day!

 

SBC adding LaTech is a problem for the WAC and just adding LU doesn't help. What's up with that. I though LaTech didn't want to be with ULM!

 

As fans they don't but it's more compicated than it used to be. Universities make decisions based on money too and La Tech might view a more regional conference as financially more viable.

 

But your right, 95% of La Tech don't want sun belt, they wan't C-USA. Problem is that will never happen.

 

It will never happen...La Tech is not a marketable school to be with the likes of Conference-USA.

 

It will never happen...La Tech is not a marketable school to be with the likes of Conference-USA.

 

Agreed, C-USA wants schools in large markets, Ruston, LA is not a large market. I never said La Tech could get in though. They could can get into the SBC but they don't like that conference, they're probably stuck in the WAC.

 

A new article came out today that says the SBC going to 11 is likely not happening.

I agree that LaTech isn't much of a draw, in the media-market world, but they are the school people think of when they're thinking about Northern Louisiana.

 

LaTech wants out of the WAC because they're so far from the rest of the conference... NMSU being their closest rival and Utah St. being next closest. They're losing a LOT of money being in that conference.

 

"Dropping" to the Sun Belt isn't a big loss of revenue, but is a huge savings considering they can take buses to conference games instead of flying and they're likely to get some opposing fans to actually make the trip to games in Ruston (like used to happen when they were in the Sun Belt from 1991-2001).

 

I actually miss the Sun Belt and wouldn't cry if we "settled" for that conference.

I agree that LaTech isn't much of a draw, in the media-market world, but they are the school people think of when they're thinking about Northern Louisiana.

 

LaTech wants out of the WAC because they're so far from the rest of the conference... NMSU being their closest rival and Utah St. being next closest. They're losing a LOT of money being in that conference.

 

"Dropping" to the Sun Belt isn't a big loss of revenue, but is a huge savings considering they can take buses to conference games instead of flying and they're likely to get some opposing fans to actually make the trip to games in Ruston (like used to happen when they were in the Sun Belt from 1991-2001).

 

I actually miss the Sun Belt and wouldn't cry if we "settled" for that conference.

 

Texas St and UTSA will be joining in 2012, they're about to have alot more company in the WAC. Also Hawaii, Fresno, Boise, and Utah are all western schools that are leaving. The SBC will still be cheaper on travel but the cost savings of switching will not be significant enough to justify it in my opinion. La Tech hates the thought of being in the same conference as ULM. The WAC is still the stronger basketball conference too.

Villanova votes tomorrow on whether to upgrade to FBS Big East football or not.

 

Things are going to start happening after this vote.

Not going to be tomorrow CA

 

http://espn.go.com/blog/bigeast/post/_/id/19127/villanova-delays-vote-on-big-east-football

Not going to be tomorrow CA

 

http://espn.go.com/blog/bigeast/post/_/id/19127/villanova-delays-vote-on-big-east-football

 

That's depressing. We are going to have to wait forever!!!! I am unsure if the Big East will add any C-USA teams like many are predicting, their last steal was TCU which added value, who are they going to steal from C-USA that comes close to TCU's reputation?

 

It's the slow time of year around here, this is the hotest topic we have on here now and we have to wait. I can't wait for football season to start again.

I'm guessing both Lamar and SHSU will get invited to the WAC in June. The WAC is going to be the new "southwest" conference in a few years. Probably SJSU and Utah State will eventually find new homes in the MWC.