Mountain West desperately attempts to keep credibility

The Mountain West Conference is known for having the “Cinderella” teams. It was the home to the first BCS buster with the 2004 Utah Utes who won the Fiesta Bowl that year. In 2005, TCU joined and has averaged less than two losses per season since. Finally, in 2011 it seemed as if they might make the big step toward becoming a respected conference by adding Boise State. However, now it all seems to be crumbling apart. Utah left last year in order to become a part of the PAC-12. TCU followed suit the next year and they plan on joining the Big XII next season. And as a finishing blow it appears as if Boise State will be leaving their temporary home to join the Big East. John Henderson showcases the fear of Mountain West commissioner Craig Thompson in his article “Mountain West commissioner fights again for conference’s respect‘”. Thompson’s quotes from the article show that he is desperately trying to perform damage control before it is too late for his conference. He tries to be optimistic for his conference’s future, but it does not look good.

I can’t blame Thompson for his optimism, but I also can’t blame Boise State or Air Force for jumping to the Big East. The Big East is far from being stable as well, but they are still an automatic qualifier for the BCS and that’s far more than what the Mountain West can say. And it is much easier to keep your status as a non-qualifier than become one. Thompson did his best, though, and by adding Boise State and TCU it was looking like the MWC had a chance but in the end tradition won out (albeit little tradition). Now, the MWC is looking at being a lower tier conference for a very long time.

I would like to know what plans Thompson has for the future now in order to keep his conference in the mainstream. I would like to have heard from the Big East’s commissioner, too, it would’ve been interesting to hear his take on conference expansion’s effect on the lower tier conferences.