![]() Slive - the former SEC commissioner who died last week - had been in charge of the league's expansion through its most successful era. Gerber, a former ESPN executive and media rights consultant, had guided the SEC through expansion to 14 teams. Their work was largely done for the moment. And by the way, you're in the same league, you're not going to play for eight years." Where are they now? Mountain DivisionĪ few years ago, Chuck Gerber and Mike Slive each quietly enjoyed a cigar near poolside at the Hilton Sandestin Beach Golf Resort & Spa during the SEC spring meetings. "I don't think they really dove in on what the schedule models would look like. I'm thinking they though the Dallas Metroplex would have been. You had some very major markets in the West. "They thought, 'Boy, this is phenomenal.' … San Jose State brought the Bay Area, Oakland and San Francisco markets. "I think it was a vision of spreading to four time zones," Thompson said. It was still hard to explain why the WAC had expanded beyond belief. ESPN followed up with a seven-year, $48 million deal. Thompson was named the new Mountain West commissioner in October 1998. They had until noon the next day to agree. One prominent NCAA executive told Benson, "I can't wait for you to explain how Rice University and San Jose State are going to be in the same league." When it asked for reimbursement from the conference, the WAC refused. Thankfully, the rivalry continued uninterrupted.īYU lost $200,000 on that Cotton Bowl trip. ![]() The rivals are 66 miles apart and have played 109 times going back to 1899. In a 16-team WAC, it initially wasn't assured Colorado State and Wyoming would play each year. The league eventually collapsed in on itself. It was a league that had to account for the basketball antics and egos and failings of Rick Majerus (Utah), Billy Tubbs (TCU) and Dave Bliss (New Mexico). There was the unique aloha culture of Hawaii. The league's cultural and geographical diversity was both a blessing and curse. "I was becoming the commissioner of one of the power conferences." The WAC was at the table," Benson recalled. "At the time, the WAC was above the line, there was no BCS. ![]() When the BCS began in 1998, a demarcation line became clear between what was then the Power Six conferences (ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-10, SEC) and everyone else. "The BYU snub demonstrated that they weren't a full-fledged member. "That was really the market resetting itself," Benson said. 20 Texas (an 8-4 team) to match against Penn State after the 1996 season. The Fiesta Bowl had ignored the Cougars for No. Despite the Cotton Bowl win, BYU officials were bitterly disappointed. Slowly, BYU was on its way out as a power-conference program. But that access was short-lived because the WAC was short-lived. College football has no room for the underdog."Īs a result of those hearings, the WAC received better access to the major bowls. College football has no place for Cinderella stories. McConnell, a Republican Senator from Kentucky since 1985, put the situation in perspective during the meetings: "The basic message is, if David wants to slay Goliath, he better do it during the basketball season. He looked at me and said, 'You know something, you're right. "I said, 'Jim, if our roles had been reversed, and you were commissioner of the WAC today, you would have been a much bigger prick than I was. "They said, 'You were pretty tough on us.' "Roy and Jim were waiting for me - these guys were both good friends, good colleagues," Benson continued. ![]() Also in attendance were SEC commissioner Roy Kramer and Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany, two high-powered figures themselves. "I'm sitting there under oath and my career is about ready to get short-circuited," Benson said.īenson had just turned against the college football empire at the hearings. The word "collusion" was even tossed around. Mitch McConnell, Jeff Sessions among them - had their say. When it was over, some of the most powerful figures in Washington, D.C. Anti-trust threats were thrown around like nickels. The outrage was such that Senate hearings were convened. It defeated Kansas State in the Cotton Bowl, thinking the whole time it should have been in the new Bowl Alliance, the precursor to the Bowl Championship Series (BCS). That same 1996 season, BYU became the first Division I-A team to win 14 games (14-1). In the first expanded WAC game ever played, BYU beat No. Undeterred, the WAC went ahead and invited Rice, SMU, TCU, Tulsa, San Jose State and UNLV, beginning in 1996. Literally at that point, I said, 'Hey, I'm not your guy. "When we went to the extreme, 16, I couldn't come up with 16. "Then, they said, 'Let's go to 14,'" Thompson recalled.
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