Denver Post

[50's PONY]

CU should join Mountain West, not Pac-10
By Mark Kiszla
The Denver Post



The day University of Colorado athletic director Mike Bohn allows a bunch of loud-mouthed, money-grubbing Texans to dictate how the Buffaloes run their business is also the day he should be fired.

Let me get this straight: During stressful economic times when Colorado families endure a 9 percent tuition hike to enroll their kids on the Boulder campus, Bohn really wants a ticket on a jet plane to fly off and play football in a conference spread from Seattle to Los Angeles to Lubbock, Texas?

That would pretty near be the dumbest move Bohn has made since allowing Dan Hawkins to name his son as starting quarterback of the Buffaloes.

At a juncture when college sports threaten to spin out of control, Colorado needs to get a grip.

The Buffaloes have no business in the Pac-10 Conference, especially if the league expands to 16 teams, and the nearest rival to CU would be located nearly 600 miles down the road from Folsom Field.

There's a whole lot of pimping in college sports these days, as conferences flirt with realignment. The same educators who decry the evils of a football playoff now peddle their student-athletes like pieces of meat.

Hate to be the one to break it to you, Buffaloes. But you don't have the chips to be a major player in this high-stakes game.

The University of Texas is calling the shots as conferences nationwide greedily chase the beaucoup bucks to be pocketed from football television rights.

With no shame, it seems every league lustily dreams of hooking up with the Longhorns. The Big Ten. The Pac-10. What's the next rumor? Texas to replace Jacksonville in the AFC South?

But following Texas, whose $125 million athletic budget is more than twice what CU can afford to spend on sports, anywhere in this new college landscape would be a fool's errand for the Buffs.

Why?

If you're constantly chasing the Longhorns' tail, the view never changes. And it stinks.

There's no denying the Big 12 Conference, where the Buffs now reside, faces a crisis. But the league has been in trouble since 1994, when the Cornhuskers, Sooners and friends sold their souls to four teams from Texas. Well, the bill to pay the devil is due. Shouldn't we all have seen this day of reckoning coming?

As Nebraska football legend Tom Osborne so accurately noted, the center of gravity in the league has slowly moved south. Want to ruin something good?

Texas fry it. You think the Longhorns really give a hoot about Big 12 tradition, much less the prosperity of Kansas State or Iowa State?

No wonder Missouri wants out, anxiously waiting for an invitation from the Big Ten.

The Buffaloes could use some creative thinking. So here's one modest proposal: What if Bohn shopped CU to the Mountain West with the idea of becoming a 12-team league eligible for a conference championship game in football?

As early as this week, the Mountain West could extend an invitation to Boise State as its 10th member. Add the Broncos, who finished No. 4 in the final polls last season, to a football roster that already includes Texas Christian, Brigham Young and Utah, then you have teams with BCS muscle to flex against almost any league in the country.

By joining the Mountain West, CU would enhance rivalries with Colorado State, Air Force and Wyoming, an idea which makes marketing sense, to say nothing of more sensible travel than the Buffs hitching a ride to Waco.

Make it an even dozen teams in the Mountain West by signing up Houston and its TV market to bundle with Denver, Dallas, San Diego and Salt Lake City. If you dare to dream even bigger, go to 14 teams, grabbing Kansas and Kansas State when the Big 12 implodes.

Sound a little crazy? Sure.

But in this age of unholy alliances, Bohn needs a bold plan that gives CU more than a prayer of keeping the budget in line while winning championships.

The Buffaloes don't need to roam all the way to an expanded Pac-10, begging for a handout in exchange for being the road kill of Southern Cal or Texas.

Now is the time when a university athletic department must reveal if it is about anything more than chasing a buck.

Make a stand, CU. Here, in the Rocky Mountains. That's home.

Mark Kiszla: 303-954-1053 or [email protected]

[03Mustang]

Houston and CU to the MWC along with KU, and K State. Once again, I fear we get left out in the cold.

[Texafornian]

Unless the MWC expands to 16 with the addition of those mentioned in the article plus SMU and Nevada. TCU and UNLV would get rivals/traveling partners and the MWC would get huge control over the D/FW and Nevada markets.

[davidpaul123]

CU definately doesnt have the money to play with the big boys as evidenced by the fact that they didnt fire their coach after last year cause they didnt want to pay the buyout. CU to MWC is definately and interesting thought.

[Dubbya]

That would be interesting to join a conference with Nevada, after handing it to them in the Hawaii Bowl.

[Water Pony]

The reasoned argument is that CU would be a geograhical outlier in an expanded PAC10/Big XII South merger. I made the same point when TCU joined MWC and rationally it makes sense.

However, privates, such as the Frogs and Mustangs, chase relevance by pursuing AQ conferences, i.e. bigger stable mates with large budget$, traveling fans and TV exposure. MWC could rationalize its membership by grabbing Houston and SMU for a mini-Texas division. Adding KU and KSU is unlikely for these two schools, who are accustomed to a bigger stage.

However, if the Big XII folds with NE and MO to Big Ten and Big XII to PAC10, then MWC might secure a AQ, replacing Big XII. Substract BE with Big 10 and ACC taking the best parts and you end up with five AQ. The assurance of MWC being elevated is the only thing that would matter to KU/KSU. Perhaps Iowa State could find home with MWC, if Baylor replaces CO in the PAC10.

In this case, KU, KSU, Iowa State, Boise, Houston, and SMU make it a 16 team conference with either CO or Baylor (one goes to PAC10). Alternatively, Nevada replaces ISU.

[EastStang]

Would the MWC want to keep Wyoming and New Mexico in lieu of other teams in other conferences? And would the Kansas' of the world, want to travel to Laramie and Albequerque? As opposed to Dallas, Houston, or El Paso? For CUSA will there be some BE leftovers for us to snatch up and make a BCS bid?

[PK]

Would the MWC want to keep Wyoming and New Mexico in lieu of other teams in other conferences? And would the Kansas' of the world, want to travel to Laramie and Albequerque? As opposed to Dallas, Houston, or El Paso? For CUSA will there be some BE leftovers for us to snatch up and make a BCS bid?

I think the only way any conference gets rid of conference members is when the conference implodes like the big 12 may unless the individual conference member breaks conference rule of eligibility. So Wyoming and New Mexico aren't likely going to be ousted from the MWC.

[Charleston Pony]

And to think the Big XII started all of this...sounds like a truly dysfunctional family...not unlike the SWC in it's final days. Lets see...what/who is the common denominator in all of this?

[ponyboy]

I can't believe none of you full blooded Texans didn't comment on the typical Colorado condescension towards our great state.

[PK]

I can't believe none of you full blooded Texans didn't comment on the typical Colorado condescension towards our great state.

That is just par for the course. It's best just to ignore such crap and not dignify it by responding.

[StallionsModelT]

F that state.

[West Coast Johnny]

Would the MWC want to keep Wyoming and New Mexico in lieu of other teams in other conferences? And would the Kansas' of the world, want to travel to Laramie and Albequerque? As opposed to Dallas, Houston, or El Paso? For CUSA will there be some BE leftovers for us to snatch up and make a BCS bid?

Good post. I see the forgotten four of the Big 12 taking the best of the MWC, CUSA & Big East. It would be a good way for the MWC to get rid of their bottom dwellers. A new Big 12 of:

ISU
KSU
KU
Colorado / Baylor
Memphis
Louisville
TCU
BYU
Utah
Colorado State
SMU
Air Force
(Others receiving consideration: Wyoming, New Mexico, Houston, Tulsa, Boise)

Its probably a BCS conference considering the Big East will go away.

[RE Tycoon]

Only problem is no BCS bid and no NCAA tourney automatic bid when you create a conference out of thin air.

[abezontar]

How long has TCU been in the MWC, then TCU, BYU, Utah, CSU and AFA would make the cut.