No CUSA invitation, but could the realignment finally leak out to the state of New Mexico?

LAS CRUCES – New Mexico state leadership finds itself in yet another reorientation of college sports, nearly a decade after the Western Athletic Conference was disbanded as a football conference.

The WAC survived and even brought back FCS-level football with quality programs at that level in the Southwest and Texas. But when the American Athletic Conference on Thursday announced the addition of UAB, UTSA, North Texas, Florida Atlantic, Charlotte and Rice to start the game on a later date, schools like Liberty, James Madison and New Mexico became State suddenly mentioned by national writers.

All six new additions came from Conference USA, which is currently reduced to eight schools. It was reported on Wednesday that Southern Mississippi and Marshall could soon join the Sun Belt.

CUSA needs at least six schools to compete at the FBS level.

It is an opportunity for the state of New Mexico to consider the possibility of attending an FBS conference for the first time since the Sun Belt suspended the Aggies football program in 2017, forcing an unsuccessful four-year period as independent football.

“This (the US conference is losing at least six members) is the event the school was hoping to attend an FBS conference,” said Mario Moccia, NM state director of athletics.

The WAC is currently on solid ground with 13 schools, six of which play FCS soccer, and the league could very well expand further.

But if there was a window to reach Conference USA and provide a travel partner for rival UTEP, it probably won’t be open for long as these things are moving so quickly.

And who knows when there will be another opportunity.

New Mexico State President John Floros said the school did not have an invitation to join CUSA, but he would not disclose whether the NMSU administration was in contact with either the UTEP or Conference USA regarding possible membership.

“When an invitation came from a conference, we have to look at it in the context of whether it is best for the NMSU or our student athletes for our sport and the university as a whole,” said Floros, acting chairman of the WAC board of directors.

“Let me tell you that the urgency is there and always has been. We always wanted to belong to a conference where all of our sports in FBS football are represented. But we don’t dictate or control it. We are part of another conference and our approach right now is to make this conference as strong as possible. Until there is another possibility, I will continue to work on this path. “

Pros and cons of leaving WAC

The WAC is about to have a fascinating basketball season as a 13-team league that, despite trips to Seattle and Chicago State, will be manageable for the rest of the schools in the league.

But for anyone who has followed athletics in the state of New Mexico in the past few years, membership of a league in football and the financial constraints on the athletics department as a whole has been publicly debated by Moccia and others over the years.

“It doesn’t happen all the time, although it looks like it happens every day these days,” said Floros of the realignment dominoes that have fallen since Texas and Oklahoma announced they were leaving the Big 12 for the SEC. “I understand that sometimes you have to make decisions quickly and important decisions for our athletics programs are not made lightly. There will be input from athletics and other parts of the university and discussion with the regents.”

Travel expenses and the fans’ identification with potential conference rivals are certainly important factors, but attending a football conference could add to the budget of the sports department.

“In my opinion, the financial implications are extremely important,” said Floros. “If we can find ways to fund a lot of our activities and maybe put some money into facilities and coaches and student athletes, that would be one of the biggest and most important boxes to check.”

For example, the two most significant financial implications if the NM State were invited and accepted membership in Conference USA would be television revenue and the distribution of college football playoffs.

The current television contract for CUSA is among the worst in the group of five, but the $ 500,000 per school payout is higher than the school’s current contract, which is a minimum amount with the WAC for Olympic sports.

Conference USA received $ 17 million from college football playoffs last year to be distributed to conference members.

NM State received the minimum amount of $ 300,000 for the soccer team that meets the NCAA’s APR requirements.

Floros said he felt that most of the current soccer schools in the WAC would be happy to switch to FBS soccer, but it is unclear which schools would make the switch or get a full understanding of the obligations required.

Even if the league started the transition process to FBS this weekend, there is no guarantee that a new iteration of the WAC will automatically receive CFP funds.

“This is something that we are currently very actively investigating with the WAC board and our staff,” said Floros. “We have a number of schools that play at the FCS level. The question is what are the next steps that we as a conference need to take to establish the conference primarily as an FCS conference and then switch to FBS . “

Football future of the WAC

Moccia said football was not a talking point at this week’s WAC Fall Meetings in Denver.

At the conference level, there is currently uncertainty about the future of football and which individual schools are willing or able to play at the FBS level.

“We monitor the landscape like any other with inbound and outbound phone calls,” said Moccia. “We made it clear that attending an FBS conference in the state of New Mexico 1A and 1B is a priority. The WAC is going in the right direction with the Texas schools and we are on the cusp of a new commissioner. I think it is crucial to figure out how many schools are interested in switching to FBS and how quickly they can. “

The league presidents will meet in November, with the focus on interviews with the finalists for the vacant post of WAC commissioner.

At this point the conference can begin to have a better understanding of which schools are hoping to move to FBS, as the current schools would either take two years to move from FCS to FBS, or four years as Tarleton State and Dixie State two years old is a four year transition process from Division II football to FCS.

“We are looking for someone who understands the playground, understands university sports from many different perspectives and can accompany us as a conference in the near future and in the long term for all sports, but especially for football and basketball,” said Floros.

It’s clear that the WAC is in a much better position than it was in 2011, when Boise State headed for Mountain West and was followed by everyone but Idaho.

Former President Barbara Couture told Sun News in a 2013 interview that the school was interested in talking to other conferences while strengthening the WAC.

Back then, like Floros, Couture was President of the WAC, but the WAC is much better off now than it was then and is currently more stable than CUSA.

“I can’t say much about what happened in the past but what I can tell you now is that we don’t have to make choices in front of our eyes,” said Floros. “If we had to make these decisions, we would be pretty well informed and make the best decision for the university.”