FORT COLLINS, Colo.
Get used to conference realignment talk. It’s going to be hanging around Boise for a while.
That much was clear from multiple conversations Saturday with Boise State President Bob Kustra, who believes the Broncos have options, power and time when it comes to deciding their future conference affiliation.
“It’s one of those things that I didn’t even completely appreciate until the end of this week. No matter who I talked to this week and that’s a long list … I didn’t completely know how Boise State was absolutely critical to whatever kind of configuration was coming out of this,” he told the Statesman after Boise State’s 63-13 rout of Colorado State in its first Mountain West football game.
No, the Broncos don’t have an invitation to the Big East. And Kustra says he has “no idea” if or when that invitation is coming. No, he has not told the Mountain West that the Broncos are definitely staying.
Kustra is, rightfully, keeping all options on the table.
“The one thing I can tell you about all these conversations I’ve had this week is that Boise State is the team of the hour, the team of the day, the team of the week. We are the ones that people are really interested in when it comes to how these conferences are going to align and that’s really exciting,” Kustra said on KBOI before the game, one of many interviews he did Saturday.
My, how times have changed. This is an athletic department, remember, that tried for nearly a decade to secure an invitation to the Mountain West before it finally came in June of 2010.
So the Broncos have some power — and, perhaps more importantly, some time.
Time to decide if the rebuilding Big East — which reportedly plans to extend football-only invitations to Boise State, Air Force and Navy and all-sport invites to Central Florida, Houston and SMU as soon as Monday — makes sense as the Broncos’ new conference home. Time to see if the current Big East members are willing to raise their exit fee. Time to let the conference realignment shuffle play out and see what other members the Big East will lose.
Which is precisely what Kustra and Boise State should do. They’ve already jumped to one conference only to see it disintegrate in a year. No need to do it again. Stability is not a word often associated with the Big East.
“If by some strange chance somebody came to us and said we’d like to invite you to join our conference, I’d have to say, ‘Well, you’ll have to give us time to do our due diligence and really spend the time on it.’ We’re not ready,” Kustra said. “I have no idea how fast or slow this whole process is going to move.”
We’re talking possibly up to six weeks. Media reports tend to get ahead of actual decision-making in these cases. Witness Missouri, which continues to deliberate between committing to the Big 12 and joining the SEC. The Broncos have two primary objectives: making sure television revenues increase to fund the Broncos’ athletic department and securing BCS AQ status.
The Big East might have both. Stress might.
The Mountain West definitely has neither.
“I don’t think anybody in the Mountain West thinks the TV deal is what it should be,” said Kustra, who added that “as of now” he is not talking with the Big 12.
Kustra has not had formal talks with any other conference about housing the Broncos’ other sports programs. Nor has he had in-person meetings with Big East officials.
“I’d think if there was going to be any future conference discussions, you need face-to-face meetings instead of all this stuff over the phone. You want to get a look at these folks and shake hands and have agreements. Those are the kinds of things that would slow down the process of doing this overnight,” Kustra said.
“We know so little about how this would really work.”
It’s going to take time — perhaps a lot — to figure it out.
Brian Murphy: 377-6444
