BYU bids farewell to the MWC, hello to the WCC and independence School Community

BYU bids farewell to the MWC, hello to the WCC and independence

Written by Hamish Costello on June 29, 2011 – 1:40 pm

And just like that…it’s over. And also just starting.

Goodbye, MWC. Hello, WCC. Just three letters, yet with huge implications.

Mountain West Conference commissioner Craig Thompson said he’s going to miss the view of the Wasatch Mountain range from the press-box perch at LaVell Edwards Stadium. Also, a couple of popular taco shops.

BYU, meanwhile, felt like it had to go searching for a better menu for its athletic department. That quest completed in essence last fall is official as of Friday when the league shifted out of the MWC in a contractual sense, though the intent was revealed exactly seven months ago in a hotly debated press conference that had fans from all over the country chiming in on the large, faith-based private school’s intentions.

Could BYU really be somewhat of a Notre Dame of the West in football, even though the Cougars are the first to say that’s not the case?

Is this a big step down for BYU’s so-called No. 2 (in profile) sport, men’s basketball, which now will play in much smaller arenas in the West Coast Conference?

Questions have been batted around for months, with many experts being added along the way – kind of like when figure skating pops up during the Olympics, and all of a sudden everyone watching understands every move.

Answers may not be totally known for a couple of years, as the biggest factor in this change – BYU football – tries its version of manifest destiny. There are already games with big-name opponents, and the school has been able to announce that the first six are on the highly visible ESPN family of networks. That’s a far cry in visibility from The Mtn, the good-try network of the MWC that just didn’t offer enough bang the Cougars were seeking. Especially after Utah sought a much more lucrative profile with the likes of UCLA, USC and Oregon.

Now, BYU has its high-tech broadcasting center to give due to all of its sports, when ESPN isn’t in play.

Utah made its move to the Pac-12 (along with Colorado) during the summer of realignment, and the Cougars felt like their hand was forced. Brother gone, BYU had to make a splash, too. Even Utah fans are mixed about how to view BYU’s move, some saying arrogant and others venturing to say prudent.

Where’s the MWC go from here?

Well, it lands Boise State starting this fall. So there’s a marquee team like BYU that travels well and has a wide net of a name brand. There’s still TCU for the 2011 season, before it makes a bold and jet-lagged move to the Big East for the sake of landing an automatic chance at a BCS bowl bid.

Just imagine what the MWC could have been: BYU, Utah, TCU, Boise State.

Alas, it’s not happening. The most successful football schools from the shuffled league decided that they were stronger to find separate ways.

Though BYU will still keep relationships with MWC schools. MWC officials it’s up to each individual school to decide whether or not to schedule BYU in any given sport.

BYU’s former conference partner declares that its television distribution continues to grow, recently adding more than four million homes in the last couple of months for its line of network possibilities.

It will not include the state of Utah these days, however, as for the second time in a little more than a decade BYU looked for something better by way of affiliation.

For the first time in over thirty years, the West Coast Conference has a new member, it announced in a press release Friday. BYU officially joined the WCC, now comprised of 10 schools, and BYU will field a team in 11 of the Conference’s 13 sponsored sports. With the change in membership, the West Coast Conference has launched its new brand identity. The new logo is the WCC’s first visual change since 1995.

“The West Coast Conference is excited to officially welcome Brigham Young University as our ninth member institution,” University of Portland President and WCC Presidents’ Council Chair Rev. E. William Beauchamp said. “In BYU, we have added a private, faith-based institution with a strong academic reputation and tradition of excellence in athletics. They are a good athletic fit with our programs that are annually challenging for post-season appearances and national championships. We are looking forward to a strong relationship with BYU organizationally and athletically.”

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