The WAC gets whacked.

Looks like BYU's pondering of independence is having effects all over. The Mountain West Conference has officially extended invitations to Western Athletic Conference members Fresno State and Nevada. If BYU bolts it leaves the MWC with 10 members and a little bit less prestige than having Utah and BYU. Boise State should remain a top program and if Fresno can get back up to speed then maybe at some point the conference can have a resurgence. This would leave the WAC in pretty bad shape though with only Hawaii, Idaho, Louisiana Tech, New Mexico State, San Jose State, and Utah State.

Green is the new black.

After several years of being "back in black" PSU football has unveiled their new Nike uniforms. They are pretty simple but pretty nice with green and white tops and pants as well as black pants. I can't quite tell what the helmet design is but it is still black.

Along with new unis first time head coach Nigel Burton is bringing the pistol offense with him from Nevada. Hopefully he can inspire the team to an improved year and build some momentum before the 2011 return to PGE Park.

BYU independent? Mountain West's future

Since the Pac 10/12 has no interest in bringing in Brigham Young University it looks like they are seriously considering a move out of the MWC. If this happens they would become independent in football and all other sports would join the WAC or possibly the WCC. According to the article they were the only people in the world shocked that the Pac 10 didn't ask them to join.

If they can get a Notre Dame like agreement with the BCS then this could work out very well. Over the last five years Notre Dame went 36-27 while BYU went 46-15, winning 10+ games the last four seasons. Assuming a decent independent schedule, I would hope the BCS would let BYU have the same bowl privileges as an inferior team.

Google image search!


The Mountain West Conference looked almost like it could become a BCS automatic qualifier for a second there. Utah, TCU, BYU, and Boise State coming in would make them more top heavy than a few BCS conferences. Unfortunately for them, Utah is joining the Pac 12 and if BYU bolts then things aren't looking so bright for the MWC's future.

Husky Stadium needs improvement

I finally got around to seeing a game at Husky Stadium in Seattle last year. My timing was perfect because it was the rivalry game with Oregon. The Ducks throttled the Huskies 43-19. Aside from needing improvement on the offensive line and just about every other position, I noticed UW was in need of major stadium renovations. For a school with a campus that nice it didn't seem fitting that Husky Stadium looked so crappy.

It looks pretty decent in this picture I took when I was drunk:


A couple weeks ago the University of Washington picked a developer to begin an overhaul of the facilities. It sounds pretty nice with demolition and reconstruction of the lower bowl slated, including the elimination of that pesky track. Of course any renovation isn't complete without a brand new state of the art football operations facility. The whole package comes in at a reasonable sounding $250 million.

Too bad they can't use helicopters for recruiting.


Rendering of renovation. Not too shabby

Cal's Memorial Stadium renovation

Pretty sure it still looks like this.

I've never been to Cal's Memorial Stadium, but from what I've seen on TV its a big piece of shit. There is a fault line running through it, the stadium has huge cracks, the visitors locker room is awful, etc. On the bright side at least the University has finally approved a $321 million face lift. The Golden Crisp Bears will play the upcoming season at Memorial Stadium and play the 2011 season at San Francisco's AT&T Park.


Retarded sloth, cereal mascot, or Golden Bear? You decide.

The renovation is much needed but during the 2011 season in San Fran the Bears will lose about 25,000 in seating capacity. Its all worthwhile though since Phase 1 of the renovation includes a new 142,000 Student Athlete High Performance Center. The concept sketches don't include the hippies in the trees. Personally I think they add some charm.

Portland State football's new old home

Remember back in 2000 when PSU played that season at Hillsboro Stadium? No? Oh, thats right, its Portland State football. People would have to go to games to remember them. Well anyways, PGE park is up for its latest remodel for when the Timbers join MLS next year and the Viks are getting sent to Hillsboro again for a year. I played there in high school and its not a bad stadium, especially for a small college. PSU however is Oregon's largest university boasting over 24,000 students. Its only temporary and the stadium did get a $1 million makeover. Here is Hillsboro Stadium before the remodel.



Its not bad, but here is PGE.

Ok, Phil Knight has mad money

Have you seen the University of Oregon's new John E. Jaqua Center for Student Athletes? Its the most expensive building per square foot in the state probably with a final price tag of just under $42 million. Uncle Phil engineered and built it to the exact specifications for championship athletes around Eugene. He then gifted it to the university. Not a bad deal.



Here is the full story from Rachel Bachman of the Oregonian.



Is he watching the athletes pee?

What is the point?

The purpose of the tour is to survey at least 15,000 students about their schools athletic programs and programming. From these surveys we hope to find out what drives student involvement and attendance at athletic events. The goal is to compare the survey results with how each school runs their athletic department. After analyzing the data we will be able to see general themes and also more specific information. Hopefully we can use this data as evidence to compel universities to work with us on changing their program structure.

It sounds like a really simple problem to figure out. Maybe it is, but I'm pretty sure its not. There are only a handful of NCAA Division 1 athletic programs that even make a profit. Oregon State runs a very good athletic program but does not make a profit. The University of Oregon usually does however. Surely the only difference can't be Phil Knight having more money than Al Reeser?

The National Observation Tour

I'm working with my friend Matt on his new business venture. It is a collegiate athletic consulting firm called Academics Thru Athletics. Matt has been working on the business for 5 years now and is finally ready to kick things off.

The first thing we have going on is the National Observation Tour. We are going to be taking a 27 foot RV across the country and surveying 15,000+ college students about their school's athletic programs and programming. The tour is officially set to kick off at Boise State University on September 11, 2010.

The first leg of the tour is as follows:
Boise State University, ID
University of Colorado - Boulder, CO
University of Iowa - Iowa City, Iowa
University of Wisconsin - Madison, WI
Northern Illinois University - Dekalb, IL
University of Illions - Champaign, IL
University of Indiana - Bloomington, IN
University of Cincinnati, OH
The Ohio State University - Columbus, OH
University of Pittsburgh, PA

After the first leg we will return home (Portland and Seattle) before setting out on the second leg of the journey which will takes us to the south and then back west.