Pac12 Affiliates/Future

[ScottishSteel]

Northern Illinois announced today they'll be a Pac affiliate starting 26-27 season.  Pac needs at least 1 more to maintain AQ status for wrestling.  I imagine they'll pry some of the Big12 affiliates away . . .

[bnwtwg]

Glad this has been approved... I was waiting until it was officially announced, and honestly even now I am skeptical until after the conference meet has wrapped up. NCAA realignment by way of *TV deals and NIL is wreaking so much havoc that everything is up in the air. We are not out of the woods yet regarding if the Pac 8-10-12 goes the way of the dodo bird.

Edited 3 hours ago by bnwtwg

[ionel]

56 minutes ago, ScottishSteel said:

 I imagine they'll pry some of the Big12 affiliates away . . .

Why would you think that? 

[No BS Fan]

6-PAC?

[MPhillips]

Tu-Pac

[Gantry]

Some of my fondest memories when I went to NIU was surfing in the Pacific Ocean. Dekalb is a beach town through and through 

[ionel]

13 minutes ago, Gantry said:

Some of my fondest memories when I went to NIU was surfing in the Pacific Ocean. Dekalb is a beach town through and through 

Illinois is part of the USA so ...

[Gantry]

Fun fact - all our surfboards in Dekalb were made of corn cobs

[ionel]

4 minutes ago, Gantry said:

Fun fact - all our surfboards in Dekalb were made of corn cobs

Not exactly but close.

[MPhillips]

Thankfully, we are going to have a surplus of soy in the USA to make surfboards...

[NotThatDave]

38 minutes ago, ionel said:

Why would you think that? 

Utah Valley, Cal Baptist, and Wyoming make more sense if you're worried about travel. I say if you're the Big 12, trade them those for UALR. Just for my sanity.

[ionel]

1 minute ago, NotThatDave said:

Utah Valley, Cal Baptist, and Wyoming make more sense if you're worried about travel. I say if you're the Big 12, trade them those for UALR. Just for my sanity.

Cal B yes but prob easier to travel east from Wyoming than west over the mountains in the winter.  Utah V maybe depends on airline connections.  

[flyingcement]

I think the PAC did not take Cal Baptist before because they require conference schools to have no religious affiliation.  Don't quote me on that

[ScottishSteel]

49 minutes ago, ionel said:

Why would you think that? 

Well 2 reasons mainly

1. The conference needs to add another school to have an AQ for NCAAs

2. Cal Baptist and Utah Valley just switched their primary conference affiliation to the same conference as Bakersfield and Cal Poly so that doesn't seem like a crazy leap to get them into the same wrestling conference

[ionel]

13 minutes ago, ScottishSteel said:

Well 2 reasons mainly

1. The conference needs to add another school to have an AQ for NCAAs

2. Cal Baptist and Utah Valley just switched their primary conference affiliation to the same conference as Bakersfield and Cal Poly so that doesn't seem like a crazy leap to get them into the same wrestling conference

But why would you switch from a thriving conference to a dying conference?  

[ScottishSteel]

3 minutes ago, ionel said:

But why would you switch from a thriving conference to a dying conference?  

No idea if it's true but I've heard affiliates in the Big 12 get no seat at the table per say; I also think the flip would stabilize the Pac 12 for wrestling and provide a potentially easier path to NCAAs for those schools (like how splitting off from the EIWA allowed more Ivy qualifiers this past year)

[killdozer]

Tarleton State?????

[ScottishSteel]

1 minute ago, killdozer said:

Tarleton State?????

Is there any update on them becoming official?

[bnwtwg]

1 hour ago, flyingcement said:

I think the PAC did not take Cal Baptist before because they require conference schools to have no religious affiliation.  Don't quote me on that

That's not true, only an urban legend on par with all B1G Ten schools must have a wrestling program. And honestly even if it were true, PAC 2 doesn't have much wiggle room with regards to negotiations. And I would assume they would accept as many affiliate members as possible in any sport for the sake of NCAA relevancy. The current principal members and their NCAA wrestling status:

Oregon State: Active

Washington State: No NCAA team ever

Boise State: Cut in 2017 for a baseball team which was then cut because karma's a bitch

Colorado State: Cut in 1985

Fresno State: Cut in 2021

San Diego State: Cut in 1981

Texas State: No NCAA program ever

Utah State: Cut in 1989

[nhs67]

18 minutes ago, bnwtwg said:

That's not true, only an urban legend on par with all B1G Ten schools must have a wrestling program. And honestly even if it were true, PAC 2 doesn't have much wiggle room with regards to negotiations. And I would assume they would accept as many affiliate members as possible in any sport for the sake of NCAA relevancy. The current principal members and their NCAA wrestling status:

Oregon State: Active

Washington State: No NCAA team ever

Boise State: Cut in 2017 for a baseball team which was then cut because karma's a bitch

Colorado State: Cut in 1985

Fresno State: Cut in 2021

San Diego State: Cut in 1981

Texas State: No NCAA program ever

Utah State: Cut in 1989

Doesn't USC have a Methodist background, as it were?