The news probably seemed inconsequential to most Montana Grizzly sports fans.
But it's worth a second look.
Idaho State women's basketball coach Jon Newlee resigned two weeks ago to take the same job at Idaho. It was a big loss for the Bengals because Newlee is a go-getter who didn't take long to become the winningest coach in program history.
Newlee was disappointed with Idaho State's turnover at athletic director and a lack of progress with much-needed facility upgrades. He was also miffed ISU didn't fete his team's success - conference titles and postseason appearances - with banners at aging Reed Gym.
It's easy to understand why he bolted. But why Idaho? We're talking about one of the weakest NCAA Division I football/basketball combinations in the country. And that's saying nothing about living in little Moscow.
Newlee feels he made a move up. He's been awarded a five-year contract and believes Idaho has better facilities and a better athletic director than Idaho State.
Oh yeah, and one more thing: Newlee loves the idea of getting back in the Western Athletic Conference, where he once served as an assistant coach. That's the interesting part if you're a Montana fan.
The WAC is a league sports fans around the country are familiar with. Living in the Midwest almost all my life, I've known about it since I was a teenager. Up until eight months ago, I'd never heard of the Big Sky Conference.
Boise State and Hawaii have made the WAC even more famous the past two years as football powers that played in BCS bowl games. The Broncos took advantage in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl by dispatching Oklahoma in one of the most memorable games ever played. Hawaii was not so fortunate in the Nokia Sugar Bowl last January.
But - repeat after me - a WAC team played in the Sugar Bowl.
Newlee's assessment he's moving up by leaving a Big Sky women's basketball power to take over a 4-25 team that couldn't beat Idaho State on its best day seems ludicrous. But it says something about his vision of the future as it pertains to the Big Sky and WAC.
If you don't think a conference's name makes a difference in recruiting, you're fooling yourself. There's a reason Boise State T-shirts sell all over the Northwest. It's no coincidence Hawaii apparel is sold at Steve & Barry's in Spokane and Madison, Wis. The Warriors are a national success story.
Newlee's jump is more than just a testament to Idaho State's problems. It's one man's way of saying the Big Sky is a stepping stone to the WAC - even if that WAC program happens to be a cellar dweller.
What does that mean to Montana and the recruiting efforts of its top coaches? The Griz are the class of the Big Sky in football and women's basketball and that pretty much makes them the class of Big Sky athletics. What's more, football coach Bobby Hauck and women's basketball coach Robin Selvig are outstanding recruiters of Montana talent.
But you can't help but wonder what Hauck and Selvig might do if they took their winning programs into the higher-profile WAC. The Griz have a solid football program that could weather a transition to the WAC without losing the credibility of the Vandals. The Lady Griz have the kind of program that would fit in nicely with the WAC right now.
I felt that it was extremely interesting that the move up talk is migrating from the football message boards to the local press.
From the article......
So why not strike while the iron is hot? Washington-Grizzly Stadium is expanding and Griz fans are incredible. They're loyal and knowlegable enough to realize there will be growing pains in moving to the WAC.
Is it so inconceivable to think the Montana Griz could be the next Boise State by 2018? I'd say it's more likely than Montana falling into a funk like Idaho, which according to Newlee is no funk at all.
Thanks for not booing. Go Griz! Carpe Diem!
Last edited by ronbo on Sun Apr 27, 2008 11:09 am; edited 2 times in total
I hope the writer was being facetious, but if he honestly hadn't heard of the Big Sky until 8 months ago, how credible can the guy be?
Regardless, until there's an economy in Missoula (read: more than just Dennis Washington) that can support this team financially, no way it's going to happen and we'll be the next Idaho. St. Patrick's can't support the team, the lumber industry sure as hell can't.. who else is left? Boise happens to be home to giants such as Washington Corp, Hewlett Packard, Boise Cascade, Simplot, Micron, etc.. we can't compete with that economy.
Dude I've been a Sports fan my entire life. I was raised in California, lived in Minnesota and Missouri and I had never heard of the Big Sky till I moved to Montana in 1994.
As you guys know I'm a really biased fan for the move to the WAC. It's because I'm a SJSU alum and I'd love to see the Spartans in W/G every other year and the Griz in Spartan Stadium every other year. As a fan of both schools it would be heaven for me and I would need to be neutral on the games as I love both schools. I'd hope for close games and try to have a "may the best team win" attitude.
I hope the writer was being facetious, but if he honestly hadn't heard of the Big Sky until 8 months ago, how credible can the guy be?
Regardless, until there's an economy in Missoula (read: more than just Dennis Washington) that can support this team financially, no way it's going to happen and we'll be the next Idaho. St. Patrick's can't support the team, the lumber industry sure as hell can't.. who else is left? Boise happens to be home to giants such as Washington Corp, Hewlett Packard, Boise Cascade, Simplot, Micron, etc.. we can't compete with that economy.
I found Speltz's claim to be totally credible. I believe he came to MSO from a paper in Iowa. Living at the epicenter of GrizNation some members think every body in the universe, including sports pros, know about the Griz. Not so. We've been called the Montana Bobcats (ouch) and more than once refered to as a DII school. In your travels you may, or may not be surprised to find that the same people who didn't know what 1-AA meant before are now totally confused by the FCS nomenclature.
Speltz may have stretched the truth a bit since he might have made an association between Northern Iowa and the BSC in playoffs. Still, the BSC is way under the radar for most of the country even in some FCS markets where schools rank near zero on the fan Richter Scale.
I'm living "back east" now and in my experience the average fan is as likely to know of the BSC as the WAC. Most around here lump all the Western non-PAC10 schools in the same category- irrelevant.
"What about Boise St?" you might ask. Forgotten- I've had several people refer to that game as Oklahoma vs (insert western state name here) State. The WAC is a regional conference that is ignored for the most part. FWIW most around here think that Montana is in the WAC or Mountain West. I-AA/FCS fans are whole different story though. They all know about the Griz and all think the BSC is a joke.
+1 to MrTitleist: Until there is some real money in Montana ( ) a move to FBS is dicey at best.
I'm living "back east" now and in my experience the average fan is as likely to know of the BSC as the WAC. Most around here lump all the Western non-PAC10 schools in the same category- irrelevant.
"What about Boise St?" you might ask. Forgotten- I've had several people refer to that game as Oklahoma vs (insert western state name here) State. The WAC is a regional conference that is ignored for the most part. FWIW most around here think that Montana is in the WAC or Mountain West. I-AA/FCS fans are whole different story though. They all know about the Griz and all think the BSC is a joke.
+1 to MrTitleist: Until there is some real money in Montana ( ) a move to FBS is dicey at best.
Right, why would any sports fan know anything about the conference affiliation of Boise State, Utah, Fresno State, Hawaii, TCU, BYU, Air Force, UNLV, etc . . . If ignorant East Coast hacks haven't heard of the WAC or MWC then why should anyone care abuot them?
I'm living "back east" now and in my experience the average fan is as likely to know of the BSC as the WAC. Most around here lump all the Western non-PAC10 schools in the same category- irrelevant.
"What about Boise St?" you might ask. Forgotten- I've had several people refer to that game as Oklahoma vs (insert western state name here) State. The WAC is a regional conference that is ignored for the most part. FWIW most around here think that Montana is in the WAC or Mountain West. I-AA/FCS fans are whole different story though. They all know about the Griz and all think the BSC is a joke.
+1 to MrTitleist: Until there is some real money in Montana ( ) a move to FBS is dicey at best.
Right, why would any sports fan know anything about the conference affiliation of Boise State, Utah, Fresno State, Hawaii, TCU, BYU, Air Force, UNLV, etc . . . If ignorant East Coast hacks haven't heard of the WAC or MWC then why should anyone care abuot them?
I did say "average fan". People who are really into sports/football know the difference but they are a minority.
My point was that the WAC might be a step up for the Griz in regional exposure but it will do very little for them on the national level (speaking of football only here). There seems to be an idea in Grizland that Boise St and Nevada are well known east of the Rockies and it just isn't so.
boise state-oklahoma was a classic game. many think that for drama it was the greatest single football game ever played, maybe the greatest sporting event ever. it will played over and over forever and ever on espn classic. that game etched boise state in the national sports consciousness.
i know a bright engaging eight-year-old boy who lives in new york city, right next to the columbia campus. he's a mets fan and a giants football fan, and can recite statistics ad nauseum about both teams. when i asked him where he wanted to go to college, he said, "columbia or boise state."
a few facts to consider about a move to the wac:
1. it'd be more expensive but it would open us to additonal revenue sources--gate receipts, tv money, shares of bowl games, and a much greater shot at big dance money. there is not ONE revenue source in the big sky conference save for washington-grizzly stadium or the once-in-a-decade possiblity that a big sky team wins a first-round game at the big dance.
2. it would bring instant rivalries against traditional opponents idaho, boise state, nevada and utah state, all former conference foes.
3. it would give montana fans a chance to see higher caliber competition, and us a chance to attract some attractive non-conference teams to washington griz, an impossiblity now given our lower division stigma.
4. it woud mean our men's and women's basketball teams would not necessarily have to win the conference tournament to qualify for the big dance.
5. it would end the second-rate dumps our athletes have to play in, especially in football and basketball inasmuch as the purple palace at weber state is the only facility in the entire conference worthy of today's big-time college facilities.
6. it would be a huge aid in recruiting good kids who have the nutty idea that they want to test themselves against the very best.
7. it'd fall into the natural progression of life, where one outgrows his or her present station in life and moves on to bigger and better things, a la sixth graders, as montana by any standard imaginable has outgrown the big sky conference.
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) a move to FBS is dicey at best.
