Back in 1998, BYU and a seven other highly disgruntled institutions packed their bags and left the Western Athletic Conference. At the time, BYU's unhappiness with the WAC--then a 16-team monstrosity--was so intense that it seemed all but impossible the Cougars would ever go back.
Well, maybe time really does heal all wounds, because 12 years after leaving the WAC in a huff, it appears that BYU is going back.
Sort of.
Rumors have been growing for the past 24 hours that BYU officials are planning to leave their current home, the Mountain West Conference, and re-join the WAC ... in all sports except for football. The rumors caught fire late Tuesday night, when the official tweeter of Colorado State football posted the following tweet: "BYU to go independent in football in 2011. Cougars will join the WAC for all other sports. Press conference scheduled for Thursday."
There had been no confirmation of these rumors as of Wednesday morning. But by Wednesday afternoon, the Salt Lake Tribune was calling the move a "done deal."
Now, I know what you're thinking folks. You're thinking that this whole things sounds crazy. And you're right. Because, heck, it is crazy. I mean, at a time when every other school in the nation is (smartly) scrambling for conference cover--doing so with the understanding that in order to survive in college football's New World Order, you need a conference (and conference television money) behind you--BYU is going to go ... independent?
I mean, independent?
Tremendous plan there, Cougars. Just tremendous.
Look, I know you good folks in Provo think you can become "The Notre Dame of the West." But I have some bad news for you: You can't. Because you aren't Notre Dame. Beyond that, I'm not sure why you'd want to be Notre Dame right now anyway. But that's another story.
The bottom line here is that BYU going independent in football is just a brutally horrible idea--brutally horrible for the football program, which is almost sure to find scheduling to be a nightmare, and brutally horrible for the athletic department as a whole, which would have to get really creative in order to keep the cash flowing. The Cougars could face massive new travel costs. They could find it difficult to secure bowl bids. They could lose their identity.
At the risk of sounding overly dramatic here, folks, I will go so far as to say that going independent could well prove to be the death of BYU football as we know it.
BYU may think it's making the right move here. The university may be completely convinced of it.
But my guess is the Cougars are going to find out rather quickly that life as a college football independent in this day and age is no picnic. Not for Notre Dame. And definitely not for BYU.
Photo: BYU is reportedly going independent in football. It's a horrible idea. (Getty Images)
Comments
About independence-
I actually don’t get why more schools aren’t considering independence. If there were for example 10 strong independents out there, they could avoid schedule challenges during the conference seasons, have contingency bowl tie-ins that include BCS, and then good paying bowls that will take the best available independents each year, much like bowls with conference tie-ins do now. They could also keep their revenues rather than split them with lesser earning conference members. For example, BYU would earn by itself much more than it makes sharing revenue equally with Wyoming, CSU, and the rest of the Mountain West. Texas and Oklahoma would probably bring in more individually than they do as members of the Big XII.
I think a coalition of independents would work quite well and seriously change the landscape of college football.
Tim,
Your entitled to your opinion, but it doesn’t make it correct.
If any other team in college football is positioned to go Independent its BYU. You didn’t mention the fact that BYU has been doing allot of work behind to scenes to ensure this is a good move. From building their own state of the art broadcasting company, to the possible deal they are working with the WAC conference for their non-revenue sports and basketball teams.
If they do get a similar agreement with the BCS as an auto qualifier if they finish 8th or higher in the BCS rankings, and if they get the workout with the WAC the scheduling won’t be nearly as difficult as you or others think. With a yearly game with Utah, plus four of the better WAC teams, that gives BYU 7 games to fill on a yearly basis. You really think that the former MWC teams don’t want a piece of the football money BYU generates per game? So you’d get one or two MWC teams a year to schedule BYU, that leaves you with 5 games against hopefully top end BCS teams a year.
Finally, are you sure this is what BYU is planning on doing long term. This could just be a temporary situation while the BIG XII prepares itself to add 2 more teams in the future, and you really don’t think BYU would be a prime consideration.
BYU’s problem is it played to nice with the other MWC teams (including Utah) when the MWC was formed. They should have demanded more local TV rights, and they should have demanded more then they received. They were attempting to be a good neighbor, but the recent move by Utah proved to BYU administrators its all about surviving in college football. Relationships and behind the scene promises mean nothing.
This is ridiculous. The only reason ND is independent is that they have more people who dislike them than like them, so they are guaranteed to get TV ratings.
Perhaps a lot of people like BYU, and some people don’t. But most people – especially those west of the Wasatch Mtns – simply don’t care. And that is where the TV viewers are and that is where the money is.
EPIC WIN for BYU fans. Now games can be watched all over the country on BYU TV!
Big mistake BYU !!
There is no comparison to ND.
Who are they going to play that can compare to the MWC schedule;
TV network –big woo– who’s going to watch
BCS agreement — not much of a chance
Joining the WAC is a step backward.
So long and goodbye BYU- You once were a good program.
BYU has their own HDS national TV network (something Texas can only Dream about). BYU has a national following of LDS folks that fill seats coast to coast and prove to be a good bet for AD’s looking to schedule. BYU will make 1-2 million per game as and indie with an ESPN tie in deal. They will pocket ALL of the bowl game revenue and TV revenue. They will be making 10 million a year. In the MWC they only make 1-2 million PER YEAR! Right now they are sharing everything equally with Wyoming, teams that aren’t pulling their weight.
BYU will have full control of who they play and when they get on national TV (every game will be nationally televised now. Not even Florida and Texas can say that!)
Personally, I’m stoked as a BYU fan. I think scheduling will not be that difficult. They just scheduled a 3 game series with Texas until 2014. I fail to see the downside here. Worse case they will be no worse off than they are now in an invisible, lame conference.
BillP,
I don’t think it’s “goodbye BYU” It’s “HELLO BYU” since they struck a 8 year deal with ESPN…….Something that my guess is, is your team dosen’t have.
And Tim, I want to know if you still think it is a horrible idea?
Tim you are right this is a horrible idea. Who in their right mind would want to do business with ESPN? You are so smart for not working for them, I bet turning down that job they offered you was the best decision you ever made. Wow I bet you feel like a moron for writing this, BYU is owned by the LDS church who has more money/liquid assets than all of the SEC schools combined. Too bad you can’t select “Edit, Undo” for this article…..
email me if you still wanna talk about how this will be the end of BYU football as we know it.
Dustin Call: dustcall@gmail.com
Horribly written article. You state over (and over) how bad of an idea it is to go independent but never gave any reasons why. And also you neglected to give the positives about independence, which are many.
BYU now has an 8 year contract with ESPN and have scheduled to play the likes of Texas and ND and this all finalized in 10 days wow! so I guess your right BYU isn’t ND and I think they’re okay with that. Have fun eating your crow pie buddy.
This is one of the worst articles ever written! “BYU is crazy… this is a horrible idea… I hate BYU”. Ok, so that last one I added, but you might as well have written that. BYU is set to make 10 million to 13 million next year in TV revenue from ESPN. That is a 600% increase from what they were receiving from the MTN and only includes football! Scheduling? BYU has setup schedules with Notre Dame, Texas, Ohio St, Penn St, Wisconsin and Syracuse just to name a few. I hate to call any writer foolish, but this article was exactly that. Written by someone with no clue that obviously had an axe to grind.
Time is only making this article look more and more foolish. The recruits are flowing in, high quality teams are on board. no more mountain network (definitely a plus), espn on board.
What’s the big deal with comparing BYU to Notre Dame. BYU is doing their own thing. Im excited to see how The Utes do in their new venture
I imagine the first couple years may be a little shaky with cake home games and tough road games but we’ll see how it pans out.
it could always get worse Tim, your Buckeyes won a grand total of 0 games in 2010. Truly horrible!!!