Over the border in Idaho......

[Loyal Coug]

....interesting stuff happening, none of it good for little brother UI.

2 months isn't long enough to decide if AD Rob Spear should stay or go, so they have extended his leave. Fer gawd sakes, how long does it take to review 3 year old facts?

A few days ago, the Idaho Board of Education in effect fired Spear's boss, President Chuck Staben, who will now be gone in a year. And he made his bed - said he would be there for 10 years, then applied for other jobs, just like his predecessors before him. Not that I blame him. And I think he absolutely made the right call in going back to the Big Sky, for which he was villianized. No more Middle Tennessee State coming to town?!

3 sports are at risk due to UI's whopping $1 million Athletics shortfall. Thanks goodness WSU doesn't have that kind of financial problem!

If Petrino has any success in FB this year, he will be gone. He's probably the highest paid 1-AA coach now that they have dropped down.

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2018/may/31/university-of-idaho-extends-ad-rob-spears-administ/

 

[cr8zyncalif]

Thanks, Loyal.

I don't see where Idaho had a realistic shot at FBS unless the state decided to write big checks every year. Enough subsidy money could have made it work, but BSU's success pretty much short-circuited that possibility.

Idaho has competed strongly in FCS before and I suspect that they will do it again. There will be no shortage of irony if they are a national championship contender within 5 years (and with a good coach I suspect that they could be) and none of the decision makers who did the right and sane thing are still around to see the results. IMHO much of EWU's success has come from filling the recruiting & support vacuum created when Idaho went to FBS. That and EWU had some good leadership with a plan. I see EWU and Idaho football becoming a bigger rivalry than the old Idaho/Montana game.

 

[Cougzz]

It has been a long time since the U of I has been able to catch a break. The relationship with their state legislature must be awful.

 

[Observer11]

Thanks, Loyal.

I don't see where Idaho had a realistic shot at FBS unless the state decided to write big checks every year. Enough subsidy money could have made it work, but BSU's success pretty much short-circuited that possibility.

Idaho has competed strongly in FCS before and I suspect that they will do it again. There will be no shortage of irony if they are a national championship contender within 5 years (and with a good coach I suspect that they could be) and none of the decision makers who did the right and sane thing are still around to see the results. IMHO much of EWU's success has come from filling the recruiting & support vacuum created when Idaho went to FBS. That and EWU had some good leadership with a plan. I see EWU and Idaho football becoming a bigger rivalry than the old Idaho/Montana game.

EWU is on the verge of imploding. New president, new AD, exodus of coaches. Great place to be if you’re not a male however.

 

[How_did_this_happen?]

EWU is on the verge of imploding. New president, new AD, exodus of coaches. Great place to be if you’re not a male however.

What is going on there?

 

[PeteTheChop]

EWU is on the verge of imploding. New president, new AD, exodus of coaches. Great place to be if you’re not a male however.

Very discouraging to learn.

It seemed like there was a similar mindset with the administration when WWU unexpectedly dropped football in 2009.

What an absolute joke that was.

I had a couple of buddies who played for the Vikings and are adamant they'll never set foot on Western's campus unless football returns.

 

[CPtheCoug]

What is going on there?

I am interested in this as well. Last time I looked (which was awhile ago) they had plans to renovate one side of their stadium (the non-press box side)?

 

[Cougzz]

Eastern will figure things out, but they still have a high quality football program. Their league sold them down the river when Idaho and EWU were not designated as the natural rivals. Just stupid.

 

[SDCoug]

... sold them down the river when Idaho and EWU were not designated as the natural rivals. Just stupid.

That is not the case. They are designated rivals with Idaho per The Spokesman and Wikipedia.

EWU is no longer a designated rival with Montana. That sucks for both schools as that rivalry is pretty intense. More intense than any of our rivalries other than udump.

 

[Loyal Coug]

That is not the case. They are designated rivals with Idaho per The Spokesman and Wikipedia.

EWU is no longer a designated rival with Montana. That sucks for both schools as that rivalry is pretty intense. More intense than any of our rivalries other than udump.

Uh, who was Montana State's rival?

I would suppose that EWU and Montana became rivals recently because they were the top 2 teams in the Big Sky of late. As Montana and MSU (along with Idaho and Gonzaga!) were charter members is 1963 and EWU didn't come along until 1987, I would think the MSU/Montana rivalry would be more "intense". And big brother UM vs little brother MSU, although MSU is actually quite a bit larger, student-wise and research dollar-wise.

As I recall, Idaho and Montana were pretty rivalrous back in the day.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Sky_Conference

Edit: SD I just noticed that you are in Hamilton. You know all this stuff then.

 

[ttowncoug]

My question: could the Big Sky, as a conference, jump to Division 1 FBS?

I have been curious if they could pull this off. They'd have to have a ton of Tuesday and Wednesday night games to get ESPN to buy them. I tend to think they might be able to pull this off.

 

[Loyal Coug]

My question: could the Big Sky, as a conference, jump to Division 1 FBS?

I have been curious if they could pull this off. They'd have to have a ton of Tuesday and Wednesday night games to get ESPN to buy them. I tend to think they might be able to pull this off.

Why in the world would you think they could pull it off, or would even want to? And who would watch them on ESPN? The Pac-12 can't even convince Directv that people want to watch our league. Who wants to watch Weber State-Montana or Idaho State-Montana State? The Big Sky has 3 stadiums that hold less than 10,000, including EWU at 8,600, and only 2 that hold 20,000 or more (Montana is the biggest at 25,200). I guess the one potential redeeming advantage for the Big Sky is that they could schedule a lot more money-making body bag games as D-1 teams. Oregon would love it. Idaho, Idaho State and Weber State.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_NCAA_Division_I_FCS_football_stadiums

 

[SDCoug]

Uh, who was Montana State's rival?

I would suppose that EWU and Montana became rivals recently because they were the top 2 teams in the Big Sky of late. As Montana and MSU (along with Idaho and Gonzaga!) were charter members is 1963 and EWU didn't come along until 1987, I would think the MSU/Montana rivalry would be more "intense". And big brother UM vs little brother MSU, although MSU is actually quite a bit larger, student-wise and research dollar-wise.

As I recall, Idaho and Montana were pretty rivalrous back in the day.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Sky_Conference

Edit: SD I just noticed that you are in Hamilton. You know all this stuff then.

Yes. Brawl of the Wild is more intense than the rivalry with EWU. But I know a lot of Griz fans, boosters, etc. They are all pissed that EWU is no longer a designated rivalry.

I’ve only been to two Griz games. Both against the Eagles. And it was intense.

 

[grahamcoug]

Very discouraging to learn.

It seemed like there was a similar mindset with the administration when WWU unexpectedly dropped football in 2009.

What an absolute joke that was.

I had a couple of buddies who played for the Vikings and are adamant they'll never set foot on Western's campus unless football returns.

I don’t know much about the WWU situation. Was the football team profitable? I thought I heard something about them investing the football money into a new science building?

 

[cr8zyncalif]

My memory is that the WWU leadership had to decide how to make their budget work, and ultimately took the view that football was not a core student experience on par with various academic needs. You could certainly argue that either way, but that was my understanding of the deciding argument. Certainly there were many alums, students and student athletes who felt differently, but without enough gate revenue they had to decide the money priorities, and football lost.