Making what it considers a bold and innovative move, the Big West Conference Thursday announced plans to invite any NCAA Division I-A football team that's interested to come play for a Big West title without actually joining the conference and competing in its other sports. It could start happening as early as next year.
"We've just created the Big West Football Consortium," declared Utah State Athletic Director Rod Tueller, who envisions a six-game (possibly five) consortium schedule that would leave five games to schedule unaffiliated teams to keep geographic rivalries like USU's with BYU and Utah intact.Big West commissioner Jim Haney describes the consortium - still a fairly vague idea with no input from any potential members - as "a collection of institutions that decide to schedule each other" in football. He called the idea "futuristic" and said, "We've adopted a concept, and we believe in it, and over the next six months, we'll define whom we want to talk to."
Meanwhile, the Big West officially and unanimously invited Nevada (Reno), currently of the I-AA Big Sky, to join the I-A Big West Thursday, and Nevada quickly accepted the opportunity to replace departing Fresno State starting in the 1992-93 season in all sports.
Also, in news coming out of the Big West Football Media Day Thursday, the BWC announced the end of its agreement with the California Raisin Bowl in Fresno and unveiled a plan to start another Big West bowl to perhaps be staged at UNLV.
The consortium, an alignment that the league can see growing to 12 or 14 teams or more, could attract independent schools, those who would prefer to move up to I-A football status while their regular leagues remain I-AA or lower and schools dissatisfied with their current football conferences.
Some eligible independents - who have not been contacted by the BWC as to their interest - would be Tulsa, Northern Illinois, Southwest Louisiana and Memphis State, said Haney and Tueller.
Other sports would not be affected - or considered - which is the unique feature. It's football only, making travel more palatable.
"We've created an opportunity for flexibility," said Tueller, adding the "philosophy" of the consortium will be in place for the 1992 season, though there may appear to be no outward changes then. He said 1995 is the target date for having it all implemented.
Said Haney, "There may not be anybody that joins this consortium for three or four years; it doesn't matter."
Haney said the idea began in earnest more than a year ago with all the talk of megaconferences; the Big West needed a countermeasure and empowered the athletic directors to come up with a plan that would keep the league's football programs growing.
The consortium idea is seen as a way of bringing the Big West into favor for College Football Association status, which requires schools to play eight CFA games a season. There are 63 CFA teams, and about 43 I-A teams that are not.
When Fresno State announced recently that it would leave the BWC for the Western Athletic Conference, said Haney, it was "the catalyst to come up with a plan for the future. We've responded to the impact of the Fresno State departure in a positive way."
"The Fresno move increased the intensity," said Tueller. Now, he says, "We're on the cutting edge. I never did think the Big West is in an emergency mode. We're a Division I-A league, and this strengthens that."
The move could prove harsh for Long Beach State and Cal-Fullerton, which don't yet have stadium facilities that meet I-A criteria (30,000 seats) but have been able to be I-A because the conference is. By 1995, each individual school must meet the requirements. Both schools are planning new on-campus facilities, but those may not be big enough under current plans.
"We understand the ramifications; we're headed in the right direction," said new LBS Coach Willie Brown. "The No. 1 goal is to try to get a stadium. The consortium is a good idea. It puts pressure on if we want to maintain I-A status."
Fullerton Coach Gene Murphy says his school's administration supports the idea but will put it up to the community as to whether requirements are met.
Coaches from other schools seemed to favor the idea.
Utah State's Chuck Shelton heartily endorsed the plan, calling it "a visionary thing. I'm excited about these meetings and am leaving here (Los Angeles) as optimistic about the Big West as I've ever been," Shelton said. "You have to be active or you go backward."
Regarding the addition of Nevada, Haney said that school's football coach/athletic director Chris Ault called the Big West last summer "notifying us they might be interested in making a change." There were several other conversations throughout the year, and the Big West studied both Nevada and Boise State. "Then, all of a sudden the Fresno State thing hit," he said.
The Big West needed to move quickly. "We could not have gotten to this point if it had not been in motion already," Haney said. "With Fresno departing in '92-93, it's easy to slot them into the position Fresno had in all sports."
Big West reasons for wanting Nevada, said Haney, were that it's "in the geographic footprint of the conference, a sister institution to UNLV, the quality of the program in football and it gives us 10 members as compared to nine."