MOUNT USA is dead. Or at least almost dead. The grand idea that was the merger between the Mountain West and Conference USA, thereby creating a single league of two dozen teams, “probably” is not going to happen, MWC commissioner Craig Thompson said during Mountain West Media Days on Wednesday.
Mountain West Expansion: No Idaho, No Conference USA, No Nothin’
It’s just too complicated to make it work, Thompson said, and let’s just imagine what would’ve happened if somebody had said the Louisiana Purchase was too complicated. This is America. It probably is really complicated, though. Combine that with the suspended scheduling deal between the Pac-12 and Big Ten, and it’s clear everybody got just a little bit carried away with grand ideas during the last phase of realignment fever.
In further sadness, the conference prefers to sit tight at 10 teams for the time being, meaning:
Idaho and New Mexico State have been told they will not be members of the Mountain West. "Go on to Plan B"
— Brian Murphy (@murphsturph) July 25, 2012
That Plan B probably won’t include the Sun Belt, and the WAC is basically dead, so just about the only option left is to drop down a level. Or try out independence, and it’s hard to imagine that would go well.
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