FiliUTEP said:

That's for when they join as basketball as well. Are the Mac going to let them stay just for basketball?? I bet they kick them out, and where do they go now? That's where MWC comes in invite them for basketball and send invite to Loyola Chicago.

Click to expand...

nattybry said:

How would it give N. Illinois a travel partner Fili can you answer that for us??? N. Illinois is coming in as a Football Member only!

Click to expand...

nattybry said:

Well it’s basically official as of this morning that N. Illinois Football is joining. I say the MTN West should stay put for now. Perfect number for both sports and the TV Money split will be higher. Let’s see what Utep does with the Quadruple or more income boost! Hopefully donors like the Hunts keep donating to help Utep get to the next level. I know many don’t believe in Walden, but I believe we will see dividends as early as next year and the true pay off the year after of his recruiting efforts! I know the shine has worn off a little after the announcement, but be happy Miner Fans we are where most of us wanted for be albeit a watered down version.

MWC Football:
UTEP, UNM, SJSU, Nevada, UNLV, Wyoming, Air Force, Hawaii, N. Illinois

MWC Basketball:
UTEP, UNM, SJSU, Nevada, UNLV, Wyoming, Air Force, Hawaii, GCU, UC Davis

Click to expand...

utep2step said:

Bingo. I understand UTEP has a long standing policy to not try to schedule games during finals week (Something Teich has stressed on pre and post game talk for some years), however, this is the one thing I wish UTEP would stop doing.

Click to expand...

utep2step said:

UTEP did compete. Mike Price blew a late season game sending Tulsa to the CUSA championship and Kragthorpe career skyrocketing off to Louisville. Anyways, they were competing because they were in the hunt in the division and fell short. It was gut punching.....no heart wrenching. UTEP lost their great defensive coordinator and never could recover that mojo that Price captured with Nord recruits. Those were some of the best players I have seen in thirty years. They did compete.

I know, I know, you're rebuttal will be, "but they lost". You said they "didn't compete". That is false.

Click to expand...

Roy_Bigwood_05 said:

Stephenville State is terrible.

Interesting opening wagering numbers. My book (decently sharp this year) opened at -16, I cap it UTEP -20.5 looks like odds makers are pricing a UTEP let down after the Louisville game and few day layoff plus Billy return?

Click to expand...

KaneFan29 said:

.... keeping them way too long, driving away fans.

Click to expand...

KaneFan29 said:

I strongly disagree about that. When UTEP joined CUSA; Memphis, Houston, SMU, Rice, Tulsa, Tulane, UAB, and Southern Miss were there. UCF, ECU, and Marshall too, but I couldn’t care less if they were there.

The problem was, UTEP couldn’t compete, especially in football and most of them moved on within 10 years. If we had remained in the WAC, it’s possible we may have been in the MWC earlier, but chances are we would still be in the MWC in 2026. If we can’t compete in watered down CUSA, we would have been at the bottom in the MWC all these years too.

Click to expand...

LTMiner61 said:

The reason it wasn't a good fit was because we've NEVER had a solid financial commitment from the students, administration, alumni and donors, much less the geographic challenges that were there from the very beginning, even with those other programs.

Click to expand...

KaneFan29 said:

I strongly disagree about that. When UTEP joined CUSA; Memphis, Houston, SMU, Rice, Tulsa, Tulane, UAB, and Southern Miss were there. UCF, ECU, and Marshall too, but I couldn’t care less if they were there.

The problem was, UTEP couldn’t compete, especially in football and most of them moved on within 10 years. If we had remained in the WAC, it’s possible we may have been in the MWC earlier, but chances are we would still be in the MWC in 2026. If we can’t compete in watered down CUSA, we would have been at the bottom in the MWC all these years too.

Click to expand...

LTMiner61 said:

It's clearly a watered down MWC, but it's not the C-USA, which has never been a good fit.

Click to expand...

LTMiner61 said:

It's clearly a watered down MWC, but it's not the C-USA, which has never been a good fit. My hope is that we hear more news about additional gifts like the Hunt Family Foundation. It's been a long time since we've seen a strong commitment by major donors publicly. Heck, we had trouble drumming up enough support for a proper training table. Let's hope those days are in the rear-view mirror.

Click to expand...

nattybry said:

Well it’s basically official as of this morning that N. Illinois Football is joining. I say the MTN West should stay put for now. Perfect number for both sports and the TV Money split will be higher. Let’s see what Utep does with the Quadruple or more income boost! Hopefully donors like the Hunts keep donating to help Utep get to the next level. I know many don’t believe in Walden, but I believe we will see dividends as early as next year and the true pay off the year after of his recruiting efforts! I know the shine has worn off a little after the announcement, but be happy Miner Fans we are where most of us wanted for be albeit a watered down version.

MWC Football:
UTEP, UNM, SJSU, Nevada, UNLV, Wyoming, Air Force, Hawaii, N. Illinois

MWC Basketball:
UTEP, UNM, SJSU, Nevada, UNLV, Wyoming, Air Force, Hawaii, GCU, UC Davis

Click to expand...