Now that Boise State will be staying put in the Mountain West Conference (at least until the next opening comes along), the question is: Who might be the next aboard?
Southern Methodist? Houston? Brigham Young, perhaps? Maybe Texas-El Paso or Tulsa?
On a day when MWC commissioner Craig Thompson announced the coup of getting Boise State to renege on its often-repeated pledge to join the Big East in 2013, he said the conference has also talked to “three to five” other “Western” schools in recent days.
Boise State’s return gives the MWC 11 football-playing schools for the 2013 season, including Hawaii, which is a football-only member, and Thompson said a decision is expected to be made soon whether a 12th will be added.
San Diego State, which was contracted to follow Boise State to the Big East and is now in scurry mode, is the most likely addition if the MWC goes with 12 in 2013.
“I don’t know that I can say that on Aug. 1 we will be an 11-team conference,” Thompson said. “Twelve football-playing institutions is something we are deliberating about. With 12 you could have a championship game. Those are conversations we will have in ensuing weeks. At some point you have to put out a football schedule. If we are going to have 12, that decision has to be made here in a very short time frame.”
Thompson said the final number is not set. “If it makes sense to have 11 institutions, that’s the decision the board will make. If, hypothetically, we could have 14 institutions, let’s look at that. Long term is relative.”
SMU and Houston are also pledged to the Big East for ’13, but with that conference listing badly by the week, the Texas schools figure to be looking for a lifeboat, too.
And if the MWC is willing to play Let’s Make A Deal in reconfiguring its TV package and permitting the Broncos to keep their blue uniforms, then can an agreement with BYU be beyond possibility?
The MWC will assist Boise State in what could be as much as a $5 million buyout from the Big East and a $1.5 million exit fee from the Big West. Nobody at UH on Monday could say how much the school might be on the hook for.
Still, even if it means the Warriors find themselves on the snowy tidy bowl turf come November, the Broncos remaining in the MWC is good news all ’round for UH. Not only does it boost the credibility and income potential of the MWC in football, it removes the Broncos from the Big West, where their other sports would have brought little to the party and added another time zone to travel.
While it remains to be seen who else might come aboard in the MWC, one thing is likely: unlike in the Big West, where subsequent incoming members are on their own, UH is expected to be required to pay travel subsides for the privilege of playing them.
“The short answer, I would presume, is yes (Hawaii will pay),” Thompson said.
Even in a new year and new-look conference, some things apparently won’t change.
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Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.
