WSU in the league?

[Dr. Jason Stockton]

Guys,

It's real simple.

I've never stepped foot in the great state of Washington, but I could spend about 90 minutes on the phone tomorrow from here in Georgia making a few calls and determine with a high degree of probability if Washington State (or any other new applicant team) is ready for the obligations and travel rigors associated with the PNCLL/MCLA.

Sonny, this is exactly what we did last year. . .

Frankly, I think the national MCLA board should evaluate new teams in a formal written process that includes multiple phone interviews with student leaders, adult coaches, sports club & faculty advisor leadership on campus, conference executives, officials, etc.

Here, I can certainly understand why you would suggest this. . .history suggests this might be the answer. . .

In my tenure as a board member of the PNCLL, I have seen teams come and go, and I feel we have learned from our mistakes. . . much as the USLIA/MCLA has done.

The only team to gain admittance to our league since I took over as president is Boise State University. And yes, I made the "90 minute phone call" and spoke with player reps, coaches, and school administrators from the University. I even made a point to visit the campus to make sure their facilities were sufficient.

I had similar conversations with Jake and other WSU representatives, and as Dan commented earlier I convinced WSU that they just weren't ready and that they should get it together and prepare for a fall 2007 "pitch" to the league when they were truly ready to join. WSU reps attended last year's meeting so they could learn and also show their commitment to doing things the right way. I have been in private conversations with representatives of WSU and I do believe they are on the right track, but they have much work to do yet.

We asked far more of Boise State than any other team we've admitted to the PNCLL, including some of the schools that also have a short history of the league. Boise State was NOT given any sort of blind faith. They paid their entire league fees for their inaugural season at our fall meeting, they agreed to play EVERY LEAGUE GAME on the road during their first season in order to display their commitment to the PNCLL. They were incredibly well organized and they are the model program for any team looking to join the PNCLL. I'm not suggesting WSU play every game on the road, or that it is required, I am only commenting on how joining our league requires much more due diligence in 2007 than it did in 2000 or even 2004.

Again, our past is riddled with mistakes. We will certainly make sure that any team we admit to this league is capable of meeting its requirements for many years to come. I know it's easy to just say "come on, give 'em a chance. . ." That won't fly any more.

Much like BSU, the Executive Board will demand significant proof that WSU is ready for this league. . .in every imaginable way.

[Sonny]

Good to hear Dr. Stockton. IT sounds like things are progressing nicely, off the field, for the PNCLL.

[Dr. Jason Stockton]

. . . and with the performances of Oregon and Montana. . . things are also progressing nicely for the PNCLL ON the field. . .

Good to hear from you as well Sonny. . .as always. . .

[TheBearcatHimself]

Just for clarification so we're not comparing apples and oranges, wasn't Boise State already a member of the RMLC B? A transfer of conferences is a little different than starting over. Not correcting just clarifying for everyone else cause I believe that was the case.

As for WSU I don't know if they should commit to playing all road games but clearly BSU has set the precedent for proving a team's commitment to not only the league but themselves as well. As a leader of a team that was close to shambles some 18 months ago I can say from experience that it is extremely important to have more than 5-7 guys on board and pumped up for games. I have to warn you but I'm about to toot my own horn here really badly: This season I set up Willamette's 12 hour 650 mile road trip to Stockton and Santa Cruz to play two WCLL teams to prove not only to the league, but TO OURSELVES that we were a club that was serious about competing and representing our university as a solid team (we just happen to win a game too, now do bad teams win games 650 miles from home??? just a thought). Now some may snicker about how solid a team we were, but we made a trip with 10 freshmen and 20 kids total to California and we grew as a team exponentially and no talking to Jason or Berggren or any other big wig at the team meetings could have shown how much we have grown because of the new found commitment we exhibited to our school and our league. It was not a walk in the park setting the trip up and WSU better damn well be ready to have a long season and have kids willing to be on the phones setting up everything they need for road trips, getting funding, schmoozing with school administrators so you're not playing home games in a mud pit local park, you need commitment for a season to work.

Ok I went off there but basically I am for WSU being readmitted if they pledge something, I don't know what, but give the league something to prove just how committed they are. I saw four guys at the league meeting but in all honesty I was not sold. I heard good things from game reports but I'm still not sold. I hope they can figure it out because our A division really deserves more teams than it has, Montana and Western Washington can both play with those guys and so can WSU. I can't wait to see what our A division produces in the coming years and if WSU is a part of it I know they can foster a higher level of competition. Good luck

[Ryan Hanavan]

I have to warn you but I'm about to toot my own horn here really badly

Just don't do it too many times or you'll go blind, at least that's what my mother told me.

There has been a lot of talk about BSU's commitment to playing their entire first season of PNCLL league games on the road. If this will be the case for WSU I'm curious what this will mean for Idaho seeing is we are only 8 miles away from the WSU campus? If Idaho has 4-5 home games would WSU be disallowed to host on alternate days? Or would Idaho indirectly have to sacrifice more home games and go out on the road with WSU? Just some food for thought as we continue this discussion.

Good luck to WSU putting everything together. It would be pretty sweet to have GU/WSU/UI all within about 80 miles of each other. My offer for assistance still stands and I will get the summer pick-up action going in the next 2 weeks.

[nlyon02]

Quick shoot out to Ryan, Dan Wish, and Jason. All of you have been very helpful so far and we at WSU appreciate it. We have two good assistant coaches lined up, but we are still looking for a "head coach." I just talked to Matt Kushin from U of Miami/VT and he said he is staying here another three years, however we are hoping when we come to the league meeting we can have someone else who lives in the area and is staying.

[Dr. Jason Stockton]

There has been a lot of talk about BSU's commitment to playing their entire first season of PNCLL league games on the road. If this will be the case for WSU I'm curious what this will mean for Idaho seeing is we are only 8 miles away from the WSU campus? If Idaho has 4-5 home games would WSU be disallowed to host on alternate days? Or would Idaho indirectly have to sacrifice more home games and go out on the road with WSU? Just some food for thought as we continue this discussion.

Ryan, every situation is different. . .By admitting BSU to our league, we were stretching it's boundaries geographically, and we needed to be certain that BSU was truly committed to be a part of our league - and they have done an amazing job proving the critics wrong. It was THEIR suggestion, not ours, that they play every game on the road. They wanted to prove that this jump to the PNCLL was for all of the right reasons, and that they were committed to the move. They have been a model program since joining our league.

It would make no sense to force WSU to play every game on the road when they have an obvious travel partner 8 miles away. It's hard to know right now how things will be laid out for 2008. . .We know Oregon, OSU, Washington, SFU, GU, BSU and Idaho are all going to be in our A division again in 2008. If WSU gets in, we have an even 8 teams. . .but what if Montana and/or Western petition to join the A division? It will all be clearer in a few months, and so we're just going to have to hurry up and wait.

[TheNino57]

Since we've been given the apples (WSU), I'll give you the oranges (BSU):

To comment on BSU opting to play every game on the road during their probationary year, it would only be fair to point out some facts-as I remember them- this means if I'm wrong, please correct.

1. BSU, having an NCAA D1 Football program on campus, qualified them to play in the RMLC Div. A. They were relegated down to the B Division because the big boys didn't want to have to make long trips or have BSU make long trips for a game that might not be as competitive as they would like (BSU, this is not a slam, this is just what I remember reading in past posts from the RMLC teams). Let's face it- the RMLC A division is a "lion's den." Those programs are tough. BSU, playing in the B division, would be ineligible for Nationals and wouldn't be able to receive any All-American awards or any other post-season honors.

2. I'm no mathematician, but according to the numbers I crunched, BSU, playing every PNCLL Conference game on the road was just a little more expensive than playing half their games on the road in the RMLC (according to their schedule in '05, their last season in the RMLC), 8 hours more travel time to be precise. One more road game in the RMLC would have bumped them well over that margin. In the PNCLL, for BSU, the farthest distance to travel is SFU at ~10 hours, 9 min. The shortest is UI at ~5:58. Average travel distance for BSU in the PNCLL A division is ~7:57. Farthest travel distance in the RMLC B division is University of New Mexico at ~15:32. The shortest distance is UVSC at ~5:28 (true, UVSC is about a half hour shorter travel time than UI). But the average travel distance for BSU in the RMLC B Division is ~11:08, which is an hour more than a trip to SFU!

3. The RMLC had nothing but good things to say about BSU, They weren't trying to pass BSU off on us, it just made more sense for BSU to be in our conference, competitively and geographically. BSU was an established program that was in good standing with the RMLC.

(there goes an hour of my life I'll never get back)