Joining the Mountain West Conference

[TomCat88]

When there a FBS upper and lower division I think MSU will be a great fit.

[Prodigal Cat]

Its interesting the two positions:

Those in the FBS (think Idaho, New Mexico) overwhelmingly say they don't want to drop down and play FCS for a championship no one watches or cares about.
Those here say mostly they don't want to move up and play a meaningless bowl that no one watches or cares about.

I guess the key point is no one watches or cares about it no matter which side your on. I think I could be happy either way. It's fun to be consistently a top 25 team playing for a spot or even a seed in the playoffs.
There would be something cool to compete against the Nevada, Utah St, Colorado St's of the mountain west. Old school rivalries. Not to mention attending the occasional away game @UNLV or even better, @Hawaii!

[CelticCat]

We've visited this topic a couple of times in the past. It's not just about adding 22 more football scholarships.
Just briefly...FCS requires a minimum of 12 NCAA sports, with at least 6 men's sports. Basketball is required.
FBS requires a minimum of 16 sports, football is required with a minimum of 8 female sports. Don't ask me about Gonzaga, Seattle U, etc., I don't know and don't care. Also, the football program must generate a minimum of 15,000 home game fans on a rolling two year basis. Again, many have not been meeting the requirement...maybe they are on some type of probation ? .
There's more, but those are the basics. So MSU would possibly be looking at adding four more teams, coaches, venues, trainers in addition of more football rides. Oh, and FBS does not allow "partials". All football scholies are full rides.
That's a lot of stuff.
NDSU did a deep dive study into this a few years back and decided to stay put....for a lot of the reason posters have called out above. They also have a problem because they likely would need to build a new stadium. The one they play in now belongs to Fargo. So they are very happy playing where they are playing now.. at the top of the table. Nothing wrong with that, I say.

[FYI]

That's all it takes. Thank you for the update.

[ND0479]

Its interesting the two positions:

Those in the FBS (think Idaho, New Mexico) overwhelmingly say they don't want to drop down and play FCS for a championship no one watches or cares about.
Those here say mostly they don't want to move up and play a meaningless bowl that no one watches or cares about.

I guess the key point is no one watches or cares about it no matter which side your on. I think I could be happy either way. It's fun to be consistently a top 25 team playing for a spot or even a seed in the playoffs.
There would be something cool to compete against the Nevada, Utah St, Colorado St's of the mountain west. Old school rivalries. Not to mention attending the occasional away game @UNLV or even better, @Hawaii!

From a player's POV, I would think it'd be way cooler to compete for an FCS Nat'l Championship versus playing in the GoDaddy.com Bowl. Flip side, it would be cool to play Hawaii instead of Idaho.

[Montanabob]

Its interesting the two positions:

Those in the FBS (think Idaho, New Mexico) overwhelmingly say they don't want to drop down and play FCS for a championship no one watches or cares about.
Those here say mostly they don't want to move up and play a meaningless bowl that no one watches or cares about.

I guess the key point is no one watches or cares about it no matter which side your on. I think I could be happy either way. It's fun to be consistently a top 25 team playing for a spot or even a seed in the playoffs.
There would be something cool to compete against the Nevada, Utah St, Colorado St's of the mountain west. Old school rivalries. Not to mention attending the occasional away game @UNLV or even better, @Hawaii!

From a player's POV, I would think it'd be way cooler to compete for an FCS Nat'l Championship versus playing in the GoDaddy.com Bowl. Flip side, it would be cool to play Hawaii instead of Idaho.

Hey! Idaho? Oh never mind, your right.

[PHAT CAT]

Ms.Cruzado wants MSU to be in the Mountain West. Look around campus. Waded gets what she wants. I'll leave it at that.

[Purrfection Cat]

Ms.Cruzado wants MSU to be in the Mountain West. Look around campus. Waded gets what she wants. I'll leave it at that.

You are exactly right. She has positioned the university for exactly this move. I truly believe this is our trajectory. There is so much more money in fbs tier schools. Only question is can UM keep up

[Cataholic]

Ms.Cruzado wants MSU to be in the Mountain West. Look around campus. Waded gets what she wants. I'll leave it at that.

You are exactly right. She has positioned the university for exactly this move. I truly believe this is our trajectory. There is so much more money in fbs tier schools. Only question is can UM keep up

There is no question that playing in a legit FBS conference (Sun Belt doesn’t count) with bigger schools will raise the profile of the university. Boise State is a great example. I am concerned about being competitive in FBS. We probably fit in well with the Mountain West both geographically and competitively. And you are right about U of M. They are currently the smallest school in the Big Sky.

[catgrad05]

Ms.Cruzado wants MSU to be in the Mountain West. Look around campus. Waded gets what she wants. I'll leave it at that.

You are exactly right. She has positioned the university for exactly this move. I truly believe this is our trajectory. There is so much more money in fbs tier schools. Only question is can UM keep up

There is no question that playing in a legit FBS conference (Sun Belt doesn’t count) with bigger schools will raise the profile of the university. Boise State is a great example. I am concerned about being competitive in FBS. We probably fit in well with the Mountain West both geographically and competitively. And you are right about U of M. They are currently the smallest school in the Big Sky.

Is this true or a dig? Has Missoula community college gotten that small?

[Cataholic]

Ms.Cruzado wants MSU to be in the Mountain West. Look around campus. Waded gets what she wants. I'll leave it at that.

You are exactly right. She has positioned the university for exactly this move. I truly believe this is our trajectory. There is so much more money in fbs tier schools. Only question is can UM keep up

There is no question that playing in a legit FBS conference (Sun Belt doesn’t count) with bigger schools will raise the profile of the university. Boise State is a great example. I am concerned about being competitive in FBS. We probably fit in well with the Mountain West both geographically and competitively. And you are right about U of M. They are currently the smallest school in the Big Sky.

Is this true or a dig? Has Missoula community college gotten that small?

True. Next smallest school is Southern Utah at 10,000 students.

[TomCat88]

Ms.Cruzado wants MSU to be in the Mountain West. Look around campus. Waded gets what she wants. I'll leave it at that.

You are exactly right. She has positioned the university for exactly this move. I truly believe this is our trajectory. There is so much more money in fbs tier schools. Only question is can UM keep up

There is no question that playing in a legit FBS conference (Sun Belt doesn’t count) with bigger schools will raise the profile of the university. Boise State is a great example. I am concerned about being competitive in FBS. We probably fit in well with the Mountain West both geographically and competitively. And you are right about U of M. They are currently the smallest school in the Big Sky.

Is this true or a dig? Has Missoula community college gotten that small?

True. Next smallest school is Southern Utah at 10,000 students.

I believe UM is now the smallest state university in the USA. The only ones I know of that are smaller are historically Black universities like Alabama St. and Kentucky St.

[rivercat]

Griz Fans whined for years that they couldn't "move up" because they had little brother in tow. Might be our turn to whine about um holding MSU back. However, back then the institutions were relatively equal in terms of enrollment. Now, MSU is so far ahead of um in all respects that I fear um may actually be the dead weight we are chained to.

[FYI]

Mountain West Conference by Size

Boise State 22,113
San Jose 32,773
Nevada 20,194
San Diego St 33,778
Hawaii 19,500
Air Force 4,000
Colorado St 34,413
Wyoming 12,627
New Mexico 27,353
Utah State 28,118
UNLV 28,600
MSU 16,703

Former Members of the Rocky Mountain Conference Include:
BYU
Colorado
Colorado State
Utah State
Wyoming
Montana State

[Cledus]

Ms.Cruzado wants MSU to be in the Mountain West. Look around campus. Waded gets what she wants. I'll leave it at that.

You are exactly right. She has positioned the university for exactly this move. I truly believe this is our trajectory. There is so much more money in fbs tier schools. Only question is can UM keep up

There is no question that playing in a legit FBS conference (Sun Belt doesn’t count) with bigger schools will raise the profile of the university. Boise State is a great example. I am concerned about being competitive in FBS. We probably fit in well with the Mountain West both geographically and competitively. And you are right about U of M. They are currently the smallest school in the Big Sky.

Is this true or a dig? Has Missoula community college gotten that small?

True. Next smallest school is Southern Utah at 10,000 students.

I couldn't pass up the chance to make a spreadsheet and chart. I see someone posted a different number for MSU. I got my figures here. The difference in figures doesn't really seem to be a big deal, my picture is more about showing the scale.

[TomCat88]

Ms.Cruzado wants MSU to be in the Mountain West. Look around campus. Waded gets what she wants. I'll leave it at that.

You are exactly right. She has positioned the university for exactly this move. I truly believe this is our trajectory. There is so much more money in fbs tier schools. Only question is can UM keep up

There is no question that playing in a legit FBS conference (Sun Belt doesn’t count) with bigger schools will raise the profile of the university. Boise State is a great example. I am concerned about being competitive in FBS. We probably fit in well with the Mountain West both geographically and competitively. And you are right about U of M. They are currently the smallest school in the Big Sky.

Is this true or a dig? Has Missoula community college gotten that small?

True. Next smallest school is Southern Utah at 10,000 students.

I couldn't pass up the chance to make a spreadsheet and chart. I see someone posted a different number for MSU. I got my figures here. The difference in figures doesn't really seem to be a big deal, my picture is more about showing the scale.

[FYI]

Ms.Cruzado wants MSU to be in the Mountain West. Look around campus. Waded gets what she wants. I'll leave it at that.

You are exactly right. She has positioned the university for exactly this move. I truly believe this is our trajectory. There is so much more money in fbs tier schools. Only question is can UM keep up

There is no question that playing in a legit FBS conference (Sun Belt doesn’t count) with bigger schools will raise the profile of the university. Boise State is a great example. I am concerned about being competitive in FBS. We probably fit in well with the Mountain West both geographically and competitively. And you are right about U of M. They are currently the smallest school in the Big Sky.

Is this true or a dig? Has Missoula community college gotten that small?

True. Next smallest school is Southern Utah at 10,000 students.

I couldn't pass up the chance to make a spreadsheet and chart. I see someone posted a different number for MSU. I got my figures here. The difference in figures doesn't really seem to be a big deal, my picture is more about showing the scale.

Believe yours are undergrad figures

[Cledus]

Believe yours are undergrad figures

Full time equivalent, which includes grad students also. I should have just used gross head count, but it wouldn't have changed the chart in any meaningful way. MSU would still be slightly below the median the um would still be at the bottom by a long shot.

[Cat Grad]

Griz Fans whined for years that they couldn't "move up" because they had little brother in tow. Might be our turn to whine about um holding MSU back. However, back then the institutions were relatively equal in terms of enrollment. Now, MSU is so far ahead of um in all respects that I fear um may actually be the dead weight we are chained to.

The two Iowa schools, Georgia and Georgia Tech, Clemson and South Carolina come to mind about schools being in the same conference. I've felt for many years both Montana schools would flourish were they to have a pleasant divorce and be allowed to go their separate ways. Some in Kansas share the same thoughts.

Heck look at Brookings, SD. Only 40 to 50 miles from Sioux Falls with a population of about 200k. Things can change dramatically in ten years and those of you raised in the Gallatin Valley as I was can attest to that fact. People are not gping to quit moving to that area anytime soon.

Back to Kansas thoughts: https://247sports-com.cdn.ampproject.or ... 8374276%2F

[Cat Grad]

And how many of you grasp this?

https://www.montana.edu/marketing/about-msu/

Kansas, for example, is one of the few AAU schools. Kansas State is not. The Big 10 will not accept certain schools just because of their football program. Oklahoma and the SEC may not be a good fit academically. They'd be better off in the PAC.