Six California schools lay patiently in weeds
Like an animal waiting for its prey to make
a fatal mistake before springing to attack, the presidents representing
all six California schools of the Big West Conference are waiting patiently.
They are waiting for movement from the
four remaining Eastern Division schools of the conference before joining
forces to create a new, all-California conference.
Eric Boyum
Cal State Long Beach President Robert
Maxson stressed the six California members of the conference are taking
a wait-and-see position because they are concerned about the change being
positive for all conference members.
"I think it is necessary that we let them
make a decision, before we do" he said, referring
to the possibility of the Western non-Division I football schools such
as LBSU, Cal State Fullerton, UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara, Cal Poly and
Pacific leaving the conference to form their own.
Big
West
Conference
may crumble
|
"It is a matter of knowledge that they
(Eastern schools) are all looking for other football opportunities outside
the conference," Maxson said. "We all know they can't
compete in a football conference with only four football playing schools."
These four schools in the Eastern Division
are Idaho, Utah State, New Mexico and North Texas.
"I would think we will know our timetable
in the next six months as to what the football schools will decide,"
Maxson said. "The decision is really up to them as to what their
own fate is."
Maxson said the presidents and athletic
directors discussed the possibility of adding other California schools
to a new conference.
The likely number of teams an all-California
conference would have is eight members, representing two divisions.
It makes sense to create two divisions separated by geography to maintain
traditional rivalries and to keep travel expenses down.
A potential division from the South would
include current conference members LBSU, Cal State Fullerton, UC Irvine
and the likely addition of UC Riverside, which is beginning Division I
play next year.
Current conference members UC Santa Barbara
and Cal Poly would lead the possibility of creating a division in the North.
However, then things get confusing depending
on whether Pacific -- the only private institution
in the conference -- would remain with the Big West
Conference schools or join the all-private-school conference, the West
Coast Conference.
This conference is made up entirely of
private schools such as Pepperdine, Loyola Marymount, Santa Clara, etc
Ö
Maxson said other schools are in the mix
including Northridge, Sacramento State and "possibly some others."
The others under consideration he is referring
to could come from smaller institutions that are currently participating
at a Division II or III level.
However, Maxson said these schools would
need to make the commitment to Division I athletics before being considered.
Eric Boyum is the sports editor of the
Daily Forty-Niner. |
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