Hawaii looking to join Mountain West

[gschwendt]

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=5823667

Hawaii football considering MWC

HONOLULU -- The University of Hawaii says it's in talks to join the Mountain West conference for football.

School President M.R.C. Greenwood said Thursday the Mountain West Conference has asked the school to enter discussions about membership.

Hawaii has been part of the Western Athletic Conference for 32 years, but it could become the latest school to bolt for the Mountain West, joining Boise State, Nevada and Fresno State.

The WAC announced last week that it would add Texas-San Antonio, Texas State, and the University of Denver. Denver doesn't have a football team.

Other WAC members are San Jose State, Idaho, New Mexico State, Louisiana Tech and Utah State.

I can only sit back and laugh at Louisiana Tech... let em rot!

[JBHuskers]

The WAC should add Montana.

[gschwendt]

The WAC should add Montana.

Montana has already turned them down and rejected the notion of joining FBS. As well, UNT & ULL previously rejected an invitation from the WAC.

[JBHuskers]

Montana has already turned them down and rejected the notion of joining FBS. As well, UNT & ULL previously rejected an invitation from the WAC.

Ahh that was Montana, I knew someone in the area had turned them down prior. Wasn't sure if it was them or not. Someone will accept I'm sure.

[JBHuskers]

"We have a handshake but we have yet to agree on the details," Greenwood said

[JeffHCross]

Someone will accept I'm sure.

I guess you're forgetting about this ...

Texas State, Texas-San Antonio, Denver and Seattle?

Bye, bye, WAC.

I have to say, I have no idea why the MWC would want Hawaii. It adds significant travel concerns, while getting very little in the way of recruiting, television, or strength of schedule improvements. They're already at 10 members, so unless they have someone else in mind, 11 does them no good.

[gschwendt]

I guess you're forgetting about this ...


I have to say, I have no idea why the MWC would want Hawaii. It adds significant travel concerns, while getting very little in the way of recruiting, television, or strength of schedule improvements. They're already at 10 members, so unless they have someone else in mind, 11 does them no good.

The MWC has been very "pre-active" when they know they're losing a team. To me this all but confirms that TCU is going to the Big East.

[JeffHCross]

To me this all but confirms that TCU is going to the Big East.

Unless the Big East has sweetend the offer and said that TCU can come in for basketball, everybody at TCU has officially said "No Chance" to the offer.

I think TCU would be very foolish to go to the Big East.

[SmoothPancakes]

Looks like Hawaii isn't the only team the Mountain West is currently interested in/considering.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=5828820

A member of the Mountain West Conference board of directors says the league's tentative plans for football extend beyond the addition of Hawaii -- to a 12th team.

Stephen Weber, the president of San Diego State University, spoke to the San Diego Union-Tribune about the possibility of forming two six-team divisions with a cash-friendly postseason title game.

"But we're a long way from that," Weber said. "There's going to be a meeting in January. It's been scheduled for a long time, and we'll probably be making some advances in nailing this stuff down."

No clue in terms of any teams of interest, but the usual mention of Houston being a possibility by the media is included at the end.

[baseballplyrmvp]

Looks like Hawaii isn't the only team the Mountain West is currently interested in/considering.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=5828820

who am i forgetting thats leaving the mwc? the conference currently has 9 members, assuming tcu doesnt leave and with the loss of utah to the pac12, they'll have 8 schools. but they're gaining boise state, fresno state, nevada, and hawaii (hopefully its a done deal) to make 12 and adding a conference championship game. why would they add more, unless they have plans to go along the super 16 team conference route?

edit: woops....forgot byu was going independant.

also jeff, hawaii has been arguably the second/third best wac team over the past 5 years and with the mwc raiding the conference, why not take the best schools? i was really surprised when a mwc invitation was sent to utah state a couple of months ago, but utah state declined the invitation. there are also talks that hawaii will have to pay for part of the visiting team's travel expenses- the extent of which hasnt been finalized yet.

[SmoothPancakes]

who am i forgetting thats leaving the mwc? the conference currently has 9 members, assuming tcu doesnt leave and with the loss of utah to the pac12, they'll have 8 schools. but they're gaining boise state, fresno state, nevada, and hawaii (hopefully its a done deal) to make 12 and adding a conference championship game. why would they add more, unless they have plans to go along the super 16 team conference route?

edit: woops....forgot byu was going independant.

also jeff, hawaii has been arguably the second/third best wac team over the past 5 years and with the mwc raiding the conference, why not take the best schools? i was really surprised when a mwc invitation was sent to utah state a couple of months ago, but utah state declined the invitation. there are also talks that hawaii will have to pay for part of the visiting team's travel expenses- the extent of which hasnt been finalized yet.

Yeah, I assume it's really only one team that is being looked at, unless there is something going on in the MWC where one or two other teams may be thinking about leaving, plus the threat of, maybe, TCU getting taken by the Big East if the BE is interested in the Cougars, that they are looking at multiple teams just so they have options in case of TCU jumping for the Big East or someone else pulling a BYU.

As for Hawaii, it's a little bit of a head scratcher what with the layout of the MWC schools and then you add in the long ass trip to Hawaii, (or the long ass trip to the continental US to play road games), I can't imagine that's something that TCU and such would be looking forward to making on a regular basis. While you're basically just trading Louisiana Tech for TCU in terms of the longest trips for road games by jumping ship from the WAC to the MWC, you're still looking at longer trips overall with the footprint of MWC teams being farther east than the footprint of WAC teams.

On a personal level, I love it. I've always enjoyed watching Hawaii play and I would love to see the games between them and the MWC.

[JeffHCross]

also jeff, hawaii has been arguably the second/third best wac team over the past 5 years and with the mwc raiding the conference, why not take the best schools?

Well ... you said "arguably". I'd argue that Fresno and certainly Nevada are both better programs than Hawai'i. Hawai'i had success under Jones, but I haven't seen sustained success that warrants an invite.

But your post kind of hit it on the head. If they were already at 9, then adding Hawai'i makes sense. Get to 12 and get that title game. If they're going to be adding a 12 team, then adding Hawai'i makes sense for the same reason. Adding Hawai'i as an 11th team, and only an 11th team, makes no sense whatsoever. Too many negatives in adding Hawai'i with no positives -- again, if they were stopping at 11.

The invite to Utah State went out when MWC was at 11 teams and BYU was still, tenuously, part of the MWC. They were trying to preserve a Utah-based opponent for BYU (since Utah left for the Pac12) and get the 12th team required for the championship game.

Since Montana turned down the WAC, I wouldn't be altogether shocked if the Mountain West was able to sway them to join FBS. MWC would be a much better invite than WAC. Other possibilities would be Houston (of course), SMU (unlikely), Rice or UTEP. Houston would bring in the most TV eyeballs, but UTEP would be the most logical geographical addition.

[baseballplyrmvp]

i wouldnt say fresno or nevada are better than hawaii. in the last 5 years, we're 4-1 against both of those teams, and 2-1 against both fresno and nevada under McMackin's coaching. but fresno has gotten more national attention by playing big6 teams really well, whereas hawaii usually doesnt

but overall, i'm kinda excited for the chance of a 15 game schedule.....

on a side note, there was one hawaii blogsite that came up with another good idea had hawaii not received the mountain west invite. that site thought of having hawaii, utah state, louisiana tech, idaho, san jose state, and new mexico state all join the c-usa as a 3rd division- making an 18 team conference that truly lived up to the "conference USA" name. lol

[JeffHCross]

but overall, i'm kinda excited for the chance of a 15 game schedule.....

Huh. Somehow I didn't know that Hawai'i got to play a 13 game schedule. I knew their opponents did, but not Hawai'i.

i wouldnt say fresno or nevada are better than hawaii. in the last 5 years, we're 4-1 against both of those teams, and 2-1 against both fresno and nevada under McMackin's coaching. but fresno has gotten more national attention by playing big6 teams really well, whereas hawaii usually doesnt

Yeah, and Nevada is often ranked. They're close, I'll give them that ... but my perception has been Boise, Nevada, Fresno, Hawai'i. There's occasional movement one way or the other, but that's my "overall" view.