Post by CrimsonPhantom on Aug 3, 2012 22:00:07 GMT -7
,scheduling would be a primary challenge.
For an independent Aggie football program, scheduling would be a primary challenge
By Teddy Feinberg/tfeinberg@lcsun-news.com
Posted: 08/03/2012 06:20:02 PM MDT
LAS CRUCES - After last week's announcement from Interim Commissioner Jeff Hurd all but confirmed that the Western Athletic Conference would not be playing football in 2013 - and in turn, pushed New Mexico State University and the University of Idaho to the brink of football independence - one would hope the Aggies have a plan for such a scenario.
After all, having an independent football program at a school like NMSU would require some serious work on the scheduling front.
If the Aggies did seek a competitive season, they couldn't possibly fill half their 2013 campaign with money games - road contests against BCS competition in exchange for a paycheck. One look at their 2013 schedule, however, shows it consisting of just four contests so far (at Texas, Aug. 31; at UCLA, Sept. 21; at New Mexico, Oct. 5; vs. UTEP, TBA) according to the website FBSchedules.com.
"I don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves. ...To (put together a) schedule without a lot of assistance from the conference office and (the) cooperation from other mid-major (programs) would be virtually impossible," NMSU Athletics Director McKinley Boston said. "It's not simply making two or three phone calls. ... it's way too complicated to look at it in that context. (It) has to be done in a collaborative way. ... It'd be very complicated and, depending on level of cooperation, could be very expensive."
In part, cooperation would require opposing teams' willingness to visit Las Cruces - NMSU would need
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five home games against FBS competition to fulfill the NCAA's football scheduling requirements.
Getting such contests would be challenging, and could be further reason to form a scheduling alliance with another conference - say the Mountain West, Sun Belt, or Conference USA - to help guarantee the Aggies some home games that otherwise might be unattainable.
With that being said, getting such an agreement with an opposing league wouldn't appear to come easy, either.
"A scheduling alliance certainly would be beneficial, but it is difficult to accomplish (especially in the short term) in part as a result of non-conference commitments that already have been made," Hurd wrote in an email to the Sun-News. "Further, one of the real challenges is finding open dates in the middle of conference schedules (October through November) that work for both sides. That said, the WAC office definitely would use its contacts with other FBS conferences in an effort to assist in either facilitating such an agreement or finding possible FBS opponents."
As for NMSU's Olympic sports, Hurd said last week that conversations revolving around the WAC and Big Sky possibly locking arms - essentially, some of the Big Sky athletics programs would join the WAC's remaining non-football programs to keep the WAC afloat while adding an NCAA Tournament automatic qualifier for both conferences - have lost momentum.
Currently making up the WAC's Olympic sports membership is NMSU, Idaho, Boise State, Denver and Seattle, although BSU is anticipated to move their non-football programs to the Big West in the near future.
The WAC cannot hold firm with such a membership makeup - again, it would fall short of NCAA requirements - meaning that the league will have to add some athletics programs soon.
"I think we're fairly confident that will happen," Boston said. "I'm very, very confident there will be a non-football WAC."
Teddy Feinberg can be reached at (575) 541-5455. Follow him on Twitter @teddyfeinberg
From- www.lcsun-news.com/las_cruces-sports/ci_21230328/an-independent-aggie-football-program-scheduling-would-be?source=rss
For an independent Aggie football program, scheduling would be a primary challenge
By Teddy Feinberg/tfeinberg@lcsun-news.com
Posted: 08/03/2012 06:20:02 PM MDT
LAS CRUCES - After last week's announcement from Interim Commissioner Jeff Hurd all but confirmed that the Western Athletic Conference would not be playing football in 2013 - and in turn, pushed New Mexico State University and the University of Idaho to the brink of football independence - one would hope the Aggies have a plan for such a scenario.
After all, having an independent football program at a school like NMSU would require some serious work on the scheduling front.
If the Aggies did seek a competitive season, they couldn't possibly fill half their 2013 campaign with money games - road contests against BCS competition in exchange for a paycheck. One look at their 2013 schedule, however, shows it consisting of just four contests so far (at Texas, Aug. 31; at UCLA, Sept. 21; at New Mexico, Oct. 5; vs. UTEP, TBA) according to the website FBSchedules.com.
"I don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves. ...To (put together a) schedule without a lot of assistance from the conference office and (the) cooperation from other mid-major (programs) would be virtually impossible," NMSU Athletics Director McKinley Boston said. "It's not simply making two or three phone calls. ... it's way too complicated to look at it in that context. (It) has to be done in a collaborative way. ... It'd be very complicated and, depending on level of cooperation, could be very expensive."
In part, cooperation would require opposing teams' willingness to visit Las Cruces - NMSU would need
Advertisement
five home games against FBS competition to fulfill the NCAA's football scheduling requirements.
Getting such contests would be challenging, and could be further reason to form a scheduling alliance with another conference - say the Mountain West, Sun Belt, or Conference USA - to help guarantee the Aggies some home games that otherwise might be unattainable.
With that being said, getting such an agreement with an opposing league wouldn't appear to come easy, either.
"A scheduling alliance certainly would be beneficial, but it is difficult to accomplish (especially in the short term) in part as a result of non-conference commitments that already have been made," Hurd wrote in an email to the Sun-News. "Further, one of the real challenges is finding open dates in the middle of conference schedules (October through November) that work for both sides. That said, the WAC office definitely would use its contacts with other FBS conferences in an effort to assist in either facilitating such an agreement or finding possible FBS opponents."
As for NMSU's Olympic sports, Hurd said last week that conversations revolving around the WAC and Big Sky possibly locking arms - essentially, some of the Big Sky athletics programs would join the WAC's remaining non-football programs to keep the WAC afloat while adding an NCAA Tournament automatic qualifier for both conferences - have lost momentum.
Currently making up the WAC's Olympic sports membership is NMSU, Idaho, Boise State, Denver and Seattle, although BSU is anticipated to move their non-football programs to the Big West in the near future.
The WAC cannot hold firm with such a membership makeup - again, it would fall short of NCAA requirements - meaning that the league will have to add some athletics programs soon.
"I think we're fairly confident that will happen," Boston said. "I'm very, very confident there will be a non-football WAC."
Teddy Feinberg can be reached at (575) 541-5455. Follow him on Twitter @teddyfeinberg
From- www.lcsun-news.com/las_cruces-sports/ci_21230328/an-independent-aggie-football-program-scheduling-would-be?source=rss