Hasta La Vista, Utes!
How is Utah’s jump to the Pac-10 being viewed around the Mountain West Conference?
With a combination of admiration and congratulations – and maybe a little resentment by some officials from remaining Mountain West schools.
Here’s a sampling from MWC columnists:
Nick Canepa, San Diego Union-Tribune, quoting SDSU athletics director Jim Sterk, who formerly worked for the Pac-10′s Washington State:
“I’m looking at it from where we were a week ago, and I think we’re going to be stronger than we were. We’ve kept the Utah market (BYU) and added Boise State, which, in the BCS formula, is a better value than Utah. We didn’t want to lose Utah, but if you look at it from a BCS standpoint, we’re stronger.
“I was on the TV committee the last go-round, six or seven years ago, and I asked an executive with ESPN if the Pac-10 should expand. He said, ‘Without Texas, it isn’t worth it.’ The Pac-10 currently has 19 percent of the marketplace. Adding those two schools (Utah and Colorado), it possibly will be at 20 (percent) to 21 percent. That’s not big enough to drive the needle.”
Ed Graney, Las Vegas Review-Journal:
“There is no guarantee the Mountain West will ever be granted automatic BCS inclusion. It had a much better chance had Utah remained in the league with other Top 25 football programs in Boise State, Brigham Young and Texas Christian, but to say the Utes should have passed on all the riches ensured the members of a BCS league out of some sense of allegiance to other conference members is as naive as it is short-sided.
“Do you think UNLV would stay if invited by the Pac-10?
“Of course not. And if it did, anyone who would support such a thought should be immediately fired.
“Again, good for the Utes. They own the athletic program, the facilities, the on-field success, the academic weight and market size that deserves such a move.
The conference essentially swapped Utah for Boise State.
It’s not the worst thing. It’s hardly the best thing.
It’s just, well, the same thing.”
Rick Wright, Albuquerque Journal:
“I miss Utah.
“Yes, I know , the Utes aren’t gone yet; they’ll compete in the Mountain West Conference during the 2010-11 academic year before relocating to their new, swankier digs in the Pac-10.
“But I choose to start missing them now, in hopes that, when September 2011 comes around, I’ll barely remember what it was like to have the University of Utah in the Mountain West.
“To quote Fred Gwynne, sort of, from the movie “My Cousin Vinny” — What’s a Ute?
“That’s the attitude, in fact, going forward, that the Mountain West needs — not anger or jealousy directed at Utah, which only did what any MWC school would if it could, but a healthy dose of who needs ‘em.
“Since the MWC ain’t gonna have ‘em, it might as well not need ‘em.”
The general consensus among writers in the MWC is that Utah did what EVERY other team in the conference would do, if presented the opportunity. And that the MWC was wise in adding Boise State. However, that doesn’t mean the BCS is going to admit the conference as an automatic qualifier any time soon.