SilverandBlueSports has learned that the Wolf Pack Administration has sent a notice of intent to the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) that will detail their intentions to leave their former conference in time for the 2011-12 athletic calendar.  At that point, Nevada, which was invited to the Mountain West Conference (MWC), will join the MWC.

At the moment we announced Nevada was officially accepting the MWC invitation, it appeared that the program’s leadership was clearly making the move in accordance with the WAC handbook, which can be read here, with the intention of departing in time for the 2011-12 season.  On page 7 of that handbook, item 3: Withdrawal, it states the following;

“Each member reserves the right to withdraw from the Conference by written notice given to every other member and to the Commissioner of the Conference on or before September 1 of any year, in which event the withdrawal shall be effective the following June 30. Any withdrawing member shall, however, play all approved athletics competitions scheduled with the other members in accordance with the governing contracts unless such competitions are waived by written consent of the parties affected. Any member withdrawing from the Conference will forfeit its entire share of year-end conference revenues in its final year as a member.”

However, the WAC office, which was obviously extremely upset at the departure of Nevada (and Fresno State, which joined Nevada in its decision to join the MWC) as it appeared to be on the verge of landing all BYU sports with the exception of the Cougar football program, seemed to put a freeze on Nevada’s scheduled departure. The WAC Commissioner, Karl Benson, made a number of direct statements during his press conference about the decisions made by Fresno State and Nevada, and made it clear that he did not intend to led the Wolf Pack or the Bulldogs leave the conference until the 2011-12 season was completed.

“Only if the WAC believes that it would be in the WAC’s best interest that there would be an early out, would there be an early out,” Benson said.

WAC Commissioner Karl Benson

Why did Benson believe he could not only hold Nevada till 2011-12, but also a pair of $5 million dollar exit fees, one each for Fresno State and Nevada, due within 60-days?

“It’s payable within 60 days and we expect payment within 60 days,” Benson said, obviously referring to a “Memorandum of Understanding” he fully believed was in effect that was hastily put together by the WAC office due to a solidarity request made by BYU.

However, as most media outlets began to dig deeper into the story, Benson’s claims are based only on one major stipulation in this much talked about “Memorandum of Understanding” document.  Clearly, it has a number of issues, with one of the most obvious being the fact that Nevada never signed the document.  Furthermore, the “Memorandum of Understanding” is void if BYU does not officially join the WAC by September 1, 2010.

That’s a significant stipulation, and claiming that Nevada and Fresno State would be held accountable to a document that one school never signed, and wasn’t even finalized, is shifty to say the least.

As a number of sources have now indicated, BYU is more than likely to stay in the MWC now due to the decisions made by Nevada and Fresno State, plus the fact that they are hoping to resolve some of the issues they’ve had with the conference, including TV revenue, soon.

If BYU does what everyone expects them to do now and stay in the MWC, next year’s slated conference looks robust to say the least.  Boise State, TCU, UNLV, Nevada, Wyoming, Colorado State, San Diego State, BYU, Fresno State, Air Force and New Mexico would make-up the current 11 program, 2011-12 MWC athletic calendar.  With just one program short of a full, 12-team, perhaps two-division MWC, the immediate thought is again to expansion.

Like BYU’s final decision, that’s undecided at this time. But if it does happen, look for it to happen very quickly.

Two programs appear to be the front runners for that invitation, with BYU perhaps urging Utah State, and other current MWC programs and fans pulling for Houston.  The Cougars offer a much more dynamic and sizable market area, plus a solid football program that continues to rise.  Utah State can’t match Houston in market area, and considering their football program won four games last year for the first time since 2002, the Aggies are still a ways away from climbing to anywhere near bowl consideration.  Since everyone knows that football is what all the conference expansion is maneuvering is about anyway, Houston would appear to be the obvious choice. However, don’t count out the Aggies, who clearly have a working relationship with BYU.