[NG33]

Note: Grand Canyon is in West Phoenix and nowhere near the Grand Canyon itself.

A couple years back I actually asked a friend who went there about the name and she said that when the school first started it was "closer" to the Grand Canyon than it is today. They had to relocate in like the 50's to Phoenix.

[Chris Lang]

Originally was built in Prescott, which is about 2 1/2 hours south of the GC. Also home of the Prescott Badgers, alma mater of former Flame baseball player Zack Haley.

I haven't been on that campus since '01 (covered a state championship volleyball match and Game 2 of the World Series on the same day), but it appears it has completely blown up. New arena. Lots of money put into campus improvements. Kind of similar to Liberty in that regard.

[NG33]

I haven't been on that campus since '01 (covered a state championship volleyball match and Game 2 of the World Series on the same day)

Haha That had to be interesting

[Blessed1]

More Grand Canyon info (via Twitter).....

Eric Bernal ‏@EBER4
@azc_obert Is their still talk about them adding football?

Richard Obert ‏@azc_obert
@EBER4 As far as Grand Canyon, football stalled while they put resources into men's basketball. That's been the heavy emphasis.

Eric Bernal ‏@EBER4
@azc_obert Well when would they eligible for WAC play if accepted and will you be covering the WAC meetings next week?

Richard Obert ‏@azc_obert
@EBER4 They've just let the WAC presidents know they're out there and would like to be considered for membership. Won't be at meetings.

[LUconn]

I've never heard of them until today I don't think. Sounds like an exciting university. Could be the world's 2nd most exciting university.

[Rooster Cogburn]

I've never heard of them until today I don't think. Sounds like an exciting university. Could be the world's 2nd most exciting university.

And we better keep building excitement! Have they got a Snowflex?

[LUminary]

Grand Canyon has boomed with online-student enrollment. Total enrollment is something like 38,000 I think.

[Humble_Opinion]

Grand Canyon has boomed with online-student enrollment. Total enrollment is something like 38,000 I think.

They're much larger than that now. Still not as large as LU, though I think they would like to be.

[SuperJon]

The only thing I've ever known about it is that Vince Briedis played baseball there.

[rogers3]

Grand Canyon has boomed with online-student enrollment. Total enrollment is something like 38,000 I think.

They're much larger than that now. Still not as large as LU, though I think they would like to be.

I'm surprised their "for profit" stance hasn't created some issues with credibility. Public sentiment doesn't seem to favor for profit institution of higher learning; funny that some accuse Liberty of being a "diploma mill" when most true "diploma mills" have been for profit institutions.

[Sly Fox]

Or they may be getting enough all-sport members together that they could make a WAC- East football league fly with affiliates.

[logic]

Sly, how would that affect us wanting to go in all sports and willing to spend the money to travel?

[ballah09]

I think Liberty could get in all sports if that happened. Teams would have to make one trip east coast rather than multiple trips. I think Appy and GA Southern would rather stay in SOCON esp with good Basketball/Baseball schools in Davidson, CofC, Elon, etc.... I think Liberty is the only school who can afford west coast trips. WAC doesn't sponsor Soccer or Lacrosse so Men's Soccer and Lacrosse would stay in the Big South.

still trying to figure out the 8th team.
Jax State
Appy State
GA Southern
Liberty
NMSU
Idaho
Lamar
NDSU?

non football
Denver
NMSU
Idaho
Boise State
UVU
CSUB
Grand Canyon
Dallas Baptist (baseball only)
Liberty?
NDSU?

[Blessed1]

@ballah09

I think the 8th football team will come from one of these schools - North Dakota St., South Dakota St., Sam Houston St., Youngstown St., or Villanova.

I think if the Dakota schools come up, they will most likely come as a package. I guess the same could be said with Lamar and Sam Houston St., but I'm not too sure about them. I have a feeling Lamar would jump with or without Sam Houston St. because they know teams like Ga. Southern, App St., and Liberty will eventually move to the Sun Belt, thus creating more space for their rivals Sam Houston St. and Stephen F. Austin St. That's just my opinion though.

Youngstown St. currently plays in the Missouri Valley Football conference with the Dakota schools. They may be a prime target for the WAC since the MAC is ignoring them. Even though YSU is past their FCS championship prime, they still a good candidate to make this move now instead of later.

Villanova seems to be focused of expanding the CAA football brand right now. However, that could change if they have an invite in their hand. Nova in many ways felt disrespected by the BE because of PPL Park issue. Right know they feel the FBS ship have already sailed away. However that was with the new BE. Who's to say that they won't jump at the opportunity with the WAC to get their feet wet in FBS? If they were to move up with the WAC, they could look more attractive to the BE by 2015.

In conclusion, I think the WAC should try to invite every team they can at this stage in order to prepare for future raids. I've read they expanded with Seattle last time because they felt they could expand with FCS schools later. That plan obviously backfired and they were left with their pants down. They have no choice but for massive expansion now in order to save their FBS football status.

[From the class of 09]

Liberty and the importance of national scope

When Liberty held its press conference last month to hash out details of its hopeful move to a Football Bowl Subdivision conference, one thing was made abundantly clear: The school wants to be a player on the national scene, academically and athletically.

Athletics director Jeff Barber spoke of the national scope and aspirations of the program, and that’s probably a good thing as the entire conference realignment process continues to play out. Liberty has billboards in Florida and Texas touting its online program and its on-campus university, and both are key to the school’s growth as a national brand...

http://www2.newsadvance.com/sports/2012 ... r-1973819/

[TH Spangler]

Does anyone think the Sun Belt temporarily held up at 10 to wait and see what happens with the WAC If the WAC fails to get enough football members might the SB go ahead and pick up two more

[Humble_Opinion]

Liberty and the importance of national scope

When Liberty held its press conference last month to hash out details of its hopeful move to a Football Bowl Subdivision conference, one thing was made abundantly clear: The school wants to be a player on the national scene, academically and athletically.

Athletics director Jeff Barber spoke of the national scope and aspirations of the program, and that’s probably a good thing as the entire conference realignment process continues to play out. Liberty has billboards in Florida and Texas touting its online program and its on-campus university, and both are key to the school’s growth as a national brand...

http://www2.newsadvance.com/sports/2012 ... r-1973819/

Thanks for the boost Lang - well said.

[rogers3]

I think Liberty could get in all sports if that happened. Teams would have to make one trip east coast rather than multiple trips. I think Appy and GA Southern would rather stay in SOCON esp with good Basketball/Baseball schools in Davidson, CofC, Elon, etc.... I think Liberty is the only school who can afford west coast trips. WAC doesn't sponsor Soccer or Lacrosse so Men's Soccer and Lacrosse would stay in the Big South.

still trying to figure out the 8th team.
Jax State
Appy State
GA Southern
Liberty
NMSU
Idaho
Lamar
NDSU?

non football
Denver
NMSU
Idaho
Boise State
UVU
CSUB
Grand Canyon
Dallas Baptist (baseball only)
Liberty?
NDSU?

That kind of travel for all teams seems untenable, not to mention the toll it would take on players. WAC-East as an all-sports division would be great, but if it was football only, and the rest of our sports were to be WAC only, it wouldn't be worth it. I hope nobody wants FBS that badly!

[NotAJerry]

That kind of travel for all teams seems untenable, not to mention the toll it would take on players. WAC-East as an all-sports division would be great, but if it was football only, and the rest of our sports were to be WAC only, it wouldn't be worth it. I hope nobody wants FBS that badly!

With the money our athletics program is bringing in, and the boost it would get from being FBS, we could pull off the move to Wacky Football and Wack everything else. Look at it as a 5 year investment on getting enough teams ready to move up and save the western region for the WAC while giving ourselves, and a few other eastern based teams the chance to get established, find a few more schools prepping themselves for the move up, and then creating a new conference based in the east. I have no doubts our program can afford to do that fairly comfortably.

[alabama24]

Does anyone think the Sun Belt temporarily held up at 10 to wait and see what happens with the WAC If the WAC fails to get enough football members might the SB go ahead and pick up two more

What sense does that make? "Hey kids, come here and eat what you want. Chew on the food and spit out what you don't want. I'll take whats left over."

[Purple Haize]

With the money our athletics program is bringing in,

Is this a serious statement? LUO is doing the funding not the Athletic Department. Certainly not the Flames Club.

[NotAJerry]

With the money our athletics program is bringing in,

Is this a serious statement? LUO is doing the funding not the Athletic Department. Certainly not the Flames Club.

Make that, "With the money in our athletics budget." There's no financial reason, even some crazy travel for our olympic sports, that should be able to keep us from accepting a WAC-East type of scenario for a few years.

[TH Spangler]

IDAHO ATHLETICS DIRECTOR ROB SPEAR INTERVIEW, THOUGHTS ON WAC

http://idaho.scout.com/2/1188434.html

[Sly Fox]

The Sun Belt will expand if they get raided by CUSA in the coming months. Otherwise they will sit at ten until further notice. The WAC has no impact on their plans. Otherwise they would have taken NM State to kill any hope for WAC rebuild.

[rogers3]

With the money our athletics program is bringing in,

Is this a serious statement? LUO is doing the funding not the Athletic Department. Certainly not the Flames Club.

Make that, "With the money in our athletics budget." There's no financial reason, even some crazy travel for our olympic sports, that should be able to keep us from accepting a WAC-East type of scenario for a few years.

Spoken like a fan... but I'd be surprised if administrators are so quick to come upon the same conclusion.