So, the BYU Cougars announced recently that they are leaving the Mountain West Conference to become independent in college football. The rest of their sports will be joining the West Coast Conference (WCC) with the exeption of their track & field, swimming and softball teams as the WCC doesn't sponsor those sports (yet another example of how football drives college athletics & universities). Moving to the WCC became their only option when Fresno State & Nevada were pilfered from the WAC to go to the Mountain West. The real losing conference here is the WAC, as they are also losing Boise State. Anyway, that's another discussion altogether. So, back to the original topic...
BYU going independent in football is a risky yet calculated decision by the athletic administration and the university. You can bet your bottom dollar that they researched this for quite some time, talking with ESPN executives, putting feelers out to major BCS schools about scheduling, etc. So, before I break down how I see this playing out, a little history lesson on BYU football.
Throughout the 1980's and 1990's under coach LaVell Edwards (the field is named after him), they were always in the rankings and even won a National Championship in 1984. To me, 1984 doesn't really seem that long ago, but to most of you reading this, shoot you weren't even born then!! Some highly successful quarterbacks called Provo, Utah home during their college career: Jim McMahon, who led the Chicago Bears to the 1986 Super Bowl Championship; Steve Young, 1992, 1994 NFL MVP & 1995 Super Bowl MVP; Ty Detmer, the 1990 Heisman Trophy winner. They have had many players drafted by the NFL, but as of late the only notable player would be Austin Collie of the Indianapolis Colts.
Since 1974, they have played in 28 bowl games, compiling a 10-17-1 record during that span which is less than impressive. However, upon closer inspection, they have gone 3-1 in their last four bowl games, all in the Las Vegas Bowl against Pac-10 teams. Last year, they soundly defeated Oregon State 44-20. Since the inception of the BCS, the Cougars were not in the final rankings until these last 4 years. In order from 2006 through 2009, they have finished 20th, 17th, 16th and 14th respectively. While Utah, Boise State and TCU have garnered much of the mid-major attention around the country, BYU has been slowly trending upward in the BCS standings.
So, here are the questions/issues about going independent:
1. Exposure (no conference affiliation)
2. Scheduling
3. Bowl Game
4. Revenue/Money
Here are the answers:
1. The exposure component was solidified prior to their going independent. There is no way you mortgage your athletic department if you don't already know you have a deal in place for television exposure and money from ESPN. The deal is interesting in that it is an 8-year deal that guarantees all their home games will be aired on the ESPN family of networks...the family including ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ABC. The kicker is that they are only guaranteed that 3 will appear on either ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC. However, this is a MUCH MUCH better TV package than they had in the Mountain West (although I bet with the addition of Boise State, Nevada and Fresno State, their TV package will be increased a great deal).
2. Scheduling is and always will be a nightmare no matter what sport you are dealing with in college athletics (I know from experience). However, I didn't foresee this as being a major issue for them due to their tradition and mostly to the announced deal with ESPN. It appears that is going to play out that way. They already had in place series with Oregon State, Utah State (natural rival) and Texas. Since the announcement came out they were going independent, they have scheduled series with Notre Dame, Utah and the University of Central Florida. That gives them series vs BCS schools Texas, Oregon State & Utah (gonna take me a while to get used to that).
3. Bowl Game - Well, they are not guaranteed anything and will all these bowls having ties and commitments to conferences, I have no idea what they will be able to do. I'm sure they will negotiate with any bowl that has an expiring contract with a league. I don't see them getting an automatic bid to a BCS bowl similar to the deal Notre Dame has as they just don't have as strong a history as the Irish. However, if they are able to finish in the Top 2 in the BCS rankings, they would automatically be in the BCS Championship game. In reality, competing in the Las Vegas Bowl for 5 consecutive years vs the 5th place Pac-10 team isn't extremely prestigious and does cause an issue for a religiously affiliated school that won't even play games on Sundays in any sport. To a student-athlete though, a Bowl game is a BIG deal so this could be a hurdle in regards to recruiting (more on that in a minute).
4. Revenue/Money - They gain TV money from ESPN but lose the shared bowl moneies that they would get from the conference, which has included BCS bowl money lately. I would say that the plus is going to be more than the loss. In addition, with being able to schedule all their games, in theory they will have more higher quality teams at home which may provide greater revenue (people will pay more to watch Texas as opposed to UNLV).
The biggest question for me is one that I did not list up above...recruiting. Having had a long career in college athletics, I know first hand what's important to recruits: winning & championships. BYU has a tradition of winning and as I mentioned earlier, they have been trending back upward. However, the opportunity to win a championship/bowl game is now gone. That is something that the other independents (Notre Dame, Army, Navy) still maintain and have opportunities and tie-ins to bowl games. The flip side to this is that the types of people that aspire to be student-athletes at BYU are NOT typical...it is a completely different experience at this school. Thus, I believe as long as they continue to win, they will still get the recruits they want.
So, to answer the question, I believe this is a good idea for them in regards to football and will work out. I don't like it due to loving having those rivalries within a league and so much riding on each competition.
As a side note, I believe they did this because they are upset about not being invited to the Pac-10 or the Big XII and when Utah got the invite to the Pac-10, they felt they couldn't afford to stay pat in the Mountain West. The only alternative was to go independent in football.
Until next time...
- The Sports Nut
RIP John Wooden, the greatest coach in history
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