....Additionally, remember BYU is a regional school, not a state flagship or a metro University. BYU's recruits come from all over the mormon empire and all over the world, not just Provo and Orem...
Actually you're wrong on BYU being a regional school. It's not a public school, it's affiliated with the Church of Latter Day Saints, so it's pretty much THE national Mormon university. If you want a private education and you happen to be Mormon, whether you're from Salt Lake City, the Midwest, the Southeast, generally BYU is at the top of the list, and I know many people from areas where Utah schools aren't generally considered (Indiana, Ohio, Nebraska, etc) that go to BYU. Think of it like if Notre Dame was the only catholic university in the country, it's along those lines.
I knew I should have spent the time to find a synonym for "regional" when I wrote that sentence. I know in terms of Universities that word carries a different meaning, I thought the rest of the paragraph illustrated that I was using the the term in a more general sense in describing BYU.
ie. BYU is not limited to just being a state flagship (like Utah), rather it is the flagship of the dominant religion in a multistate ...we will say"area"... stretching from Arizona to Idaho and California to Colorado.
Once again, UVU has no chance of the WAC unless they get football. Period.
If you look closely, you'll see I haven't said UVU could or would be admitted without taking up football. This is a school that has a lot of positives in terms of FBS potential. Additionally, it is a school that is trying to redefine themselves. If the WAC offerred a bid to them based on them adding football, this is the kind of scenario where I could see a school administration with no apparrent football plans, seriously considering it.
And yes, just like FIU and FAU they would have to transition through FCS.
The WAC (not to mention any other I-A school)has no interest in taking more teams unless they have football. Under the RIGHT circumstances they may be willing to accept a I-AA school ready to make the jump (see: Montana), but there's no way they're going to want to nurse a brand new program into I-A, it doesn't work that way. The Sun Belt can get away with it because FAU and FIU are in a deluge of possible recruits, so they're not going to be hurting, while Western Kentucky is a recent I-AA champion who was willing to put the money up (and is already in the conference), so they're not exactly building from scratch. UV is literally going to have to build a football team from scratch (if they even want to). You have to do this at the I-AA level and build your team up, THEN you might be able to move to I-A.
I think you overstate some of your points. I acknowledge that FBS conference are looking for established football members, but part of the jist of this post is that in the WAC, where membership is at a bare minimum and there are relatively few candidate schools who could make the jump, UVU is a compelling mix of a a school with the potential to do it and no limitations (beyond obvious financial ones --- which may or may not be there).
This is not the frequently mentioned Montana, the only school who could make the jump tomorrow. Montana realizes that if they move up to FBS, they will always be stuck in the worst conference in the region because they lack any media, academic, or attendance clout. Additionally, the prospects of going without Montana State would be, at best, not without rancor. They probably will remain FCS for the next 20 years+.
So where will the next member school come from? What happens if TCU recruiting flatlines and the team starts losing? If angry alumni force a withdrawl from the MWC and a return to CUSA? Does the MWC just lose face or do they pull Reno or Boise from the WAC? Who does the WAC pick up? Texas State??? That is another travel anchor that financially challenged conference doesn't need.
I do agree that UVU is athletically dead in the water with no football. I created the post only to mention the university and talk about it's potential, as something COULD happen. Nothing more than that.
The sunbelt added FIU and FAU because they were hurting for members, the schools fit the footprint, offered good potential markets, few local competitors, and were dedicated to the move financially. The recruiting potential was probably not a big factor. Small time FBS schools recruit locally, so while FIU and FAU might quickly become solid sunbelt schools, this isn't like the Big East nothern schools wanting a launching board to recruit blue chip Florida recruits. Additionally, I do not think either school was an athletic power in IAA (ala montana) in their breif IAA stays. One of the schools qualified for the playoffs after they started getting the IA recruits in preparation for moving up, but to call them IAA powers would be a huge stretch.
Additionally, I think you are looking at it backwards. ULM, and regionally displaced Idaho and NM St., those were probably not an FBS conference's first choices. The sunbelt took what they could get to start. The sunbelt cherrypicked IAA (as best they could) for their later members. FIU and FAU give good media markets. Troy and WKU were FCS powers with long tradion and were likely candidates to transition to competent FBS schools quickly. They didn't get everyone they probably wanted, but no FCS school that wanted to move up in the eastern half of the country thought the sunbelt would shun them if they moved up. The same can't be said about the WAC.
You bring up Boise State, Troy, UCF and USF, but what you're totally missing is that these schools either have built themselves into solid I-AA programs BEFORE moving into I-A. Boise and Troy have national titles, and the Florida schools were both playoff contenders before their moves. The universities have also made a wholehearted effort to lose the "commuter" stigmata and establish more on-campus or nearby housing, where as IUPUI, which has a fulltime enrollment of 23,000+ and total of over 30,000, is nowhere near being able to pull this off because they're just in the past few years starting to build more on-campus housing, however they also suffer from lack of space and location, so it's not particularly likely they'll be adding football or ever making a drive to get into a I-A conference.
I haven't mentioned IUPUI at all. I haven't mentioned a number of other large commuter schools who don't seem interested in rebranding themselves, but if they were rebranding themselves, I would. I am talking about UVU which has made a conscious decision to rebrand itself, just like FIU and FAU did. The mindset is there and that should not be discounted.
The WAC isn't just going to take any mom and pop football-playing university, they want a school that is going to enhance the brand, or that has multiple other assets to being a member.
I agree that is the current WAC logic, but IMO it is wrong thinking. If they had say 9-10 members they could afford to be more choosey. At 8 members, they look a little shortsighted to me.
That's why the MAC took Buffalo and Central Florida. Buffalo is one of the leading research schools in the East, being a major academic boon to what used to be largely a private school conference (of which Miami is the only one left), and Central Florida provided access to FL recruits (much in the same way the Big East took South Florida).
I think this logic is off a bit. It is dead on for larger conferences, but I don't buy it for the MAC. Buffalo is a great add for all the reasons you mention, but do you really think their addition is an effort by the MAC to rebrand themselves as a more academic conference? Do you really think the MAC added UCF to recruit Florida? UCF is an enormous university in a great maket. That had the chance to be a very high profile add that added TV money --- just like temple. That eased the travel concerns for the member schools some. But really it was just about numbers. You aren't considering that when all of this went down, the MAC was worried that a number of their teams would be forcibly reclassified to FCS by the NCAA for failing to meet attendance minimums. They didn't want to lose their revenue generating championship game. They had a real reason to grab any school that wanted in. UCF looked at the MAC as an establish conference vs. the cobbled together startup Sunbelt. There were reasons for these schools and the MAC to get together that seem a lot more compelling than your suggestions.
The Sun Belt is merely getting its member schools to move up so they will still have a conference (without FAU and FIU moving up, they would be teetering on even being a football conference).
Where is the WAC as a football conference if Boise or La Tech bolts?
Right now, UVU brings nothing to the table. .... there's also a d**n good chance they become Utah's IPFW...
I don't disagree with any of this. I am merely pointing out that there is potential there. UVU, if they were willing to play football, would be a great regionally sensible insurance policy for the WAC in case Boise or La Tech bolt.