Karl Benson Calls Nevada and Fresno State "Selfish", Then Says "Pay Up"

Karl Benson, speaking to members of the media via teleconference on Thursday morning (11:30 MST), said that the "selfish" actions of both Nevada and Fresno State have put the WAC conference in an inconvenient position and he expects them to pay for their transgressions.

Okay, it didn't happen exactly like that, but that's pretty close to how things went down.

Benson was not happy that the other big names in his, suddenly, even more irrelevant conference—remember Boise State has already defected to the MWC as well—decided to jump ship without so much as a heads-up.

So, what's next for the WAC? Well, according to Benson, his conference will look at both FCS and FBS schools—UC Davis, Cal Poly, and Sacramento State have all been targeted as "potential candidates". According to Benson, any one of those schools "have components that would allow them to make the move if they decided". 

At the moment, though, everything is speculative as it was clear from his comments that he was not prepared for the exodus. He stated, "the other six WAC board members were under the belief that the action taken by the eight schools last Friday indicated a willingness to move this forward knowing the potential outcome would have included BYU and would have stabilized the WAC. On Friday, there was expressed solidarity and four days later there was a departure."

Obviously, Benson lives in la-la land. The demise of the WAC began when Boise State, their most prominent member, decided to move on to the greener pastures of the MWC. That was his first sign that the conference was about to undergo some major changes—he should have known from that point that anything was possible.

The fact that he could be blindsided means that he may have placed a little too much faith in the words of some of the conference's members. After all, in college football, money talks—the WAC isn't offering much in the way of the dollar for schools with bigger aspirations.

Furthermore, once Boise flexed their BCS muscle, it became clear that they had outgrown the friendly (schedule) confines of the WAC—although I'm not sure if they made the right choice by leaving—and they used their current national popularity to gain a spot in a more high-profile conference.

Both Nevada and Fresno State obviously feel that traveling on the coattails of Boise makes them more attractive—especially if you consider Fresno's willingness to play anybody, anytime, anywhere. Shoot,  if the Bulldogs actually start winning a few of those big-time OOC games, they could usurp the Broncos at some point.

In case you didn't know, the Broncos athletic director and president have bought into the idea that they are too good to keep playing one-and-done games with teams—they want the respect of return engagements or else they won't entertain the idea of scheduling a BCS caliber team at all—excuse me, must laugh for a moment—I guess if you keep hearing the chant "they're all scared of you" long enough, you actually start to believe it.

Just a little sample of what the Boise State president, Bob Kustra had to say:

"We're doing a study of non-conference scheduling in Division I football. There is a fairly compelling case to be made that the Big Ten, Big 12, SEC and Pac-10 over the years have controlled the scheduling. All the large conferences ... What Gene will tell you, there's an overwhelming number of home games for the big guys but no home-and-home. We've been able to get a home-and-home with Oregon and Oregon State. We want to propose to the NCAA a mandated home-and-home scheduling arrangement for I-A non-conference football games. Why should Boise State go to Georgia, but more than likely they're not going to return it?" (special shout to Get The Picture  for link)

Whatever, Boise.

Get a bigger stadium, sell out more than two home games a season (seating capacity is 32,000) and offer a pot that is worth it to a big school who is likely to spend more to come play you, than they will actually make, then complain about not getting any respect.

Anyway... back to Benson.

He's not going to let Nevada or Fresno get away with their defection without facing a stiff penalty. He expects both teams to play out the 2011 season, since they failed to honor the July 1st deadline for notifying the conference of their intent to leave, as well as pay the $5 million penalty for choosing to depart—a check to the conference is expected to be in the mail within 60 days.

Said Benson, "I wish at this time that I would have made it ( the penalty) $20 million."

Poor, Karl. He's, seemingly, fighting a losing battle and, unfortunately for him, there is little hope that anyone will actually give a darn what happens to the WAC at this point. However, on another note, the University of Hawaii's chances of reaching nine wins just increased substantially—for 2011.

Time to bring back the Haka dance, Warriors. You just reclaimed your spot as the most important program in the WAC:



Related articles by Zemanta

• Karl Benson's Tiny Universe Gets Smaller (everydayshouldbesaturday.com)
• WAC commish calls latest departures 'selfish' (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Western Athletic Conference ready to take hard line against Fresno State, Nevada (sports.espn.go.com)

USC RB Dillon Baxter Should Not Escape Punishment For His Statements

Dillon Baxter (pictured far left), the highly-touted running back out of San Diego, has remained free of any of the negativity surrounding the circus that he is partly responsible for starting.

Just shy of a month ago, the five-star product who was heavily courted by the likes of Florida, Michigan, UCLA, and Oregon stated that he was contacted illegally by some heavy-hitters in the BCS. Those heavy-hitters turned out to, allegedly, be Florida, Fresno State, Alabama, Washington, and Oregon.

The accusation set off a frenzy as many called into question why those schools would have acted so carelessly in going after a kid who was already signed elsewhere. After all, the sanctions that hit USC weren't going to effect their incoming talent, just the juniors and seniors on their roster—by all accounts—Baxter was untouchable.

Of course, the accusations were followed by denials across the board by most every one of the accused schools—all firmly stating that Baxter had not been contacted by anyone inside their program. 

That said, it was already difficult to believe that Nick Saban, Chip Kelly, or Urban Meyer would  blatantly dismiss such a clear violation of the NCAA regulations.

It seemed fishy to me at the time.

True to form, the plot thickened a day or two later when Baxter told ESPN reporter, Joe Schad, that he  lost his cell phone and could not produce any visual proof of contact.

Really? You have a chance to embarrass several big name schools, stick it to a couple of your current school's rivals, and make your head coach look like a choir boy—for a change—and you conveniently lose the one piece of evidence that would have done it?...Okay...sure, I'll buy that.

Not! If I'm Lane Kiffin or Mike Garrett, Baxter's story ends right then and there because there is little hope of a positive ending for USC.

Even still, AD Mike Garrett, took Baxter at his word and wagged a disapproving finger at the five schools that, allegedly, made contact.

Fast forward to the here and now and, again, the Trojans look like the back side of a horse's patoot—sending apologies to those same schools for making false accusations. The immediate consequence has been more calls for AD Mike Garrett to step down or be fired. He was already in hot water after the sanctions but this latest guffaw makes him look incompetent.

Clearly, he should have done more homework before lofting grenades at other programs. He never seemed to even consider the possibility that Baxter was lying. After all, Baxter never met a microphone or a camera he didn't like. He's a flashy young man and could very well have just been doing a bit of posturing for the cameras—unaware of the power of his words at this level.

In any case, Garrett should have known better and the calls for his head are valid.

However, what becomes of Dillon Baxter? Clearly, there needs to be further investigation into his actions as well. Was he outright lying at the time of his statements or was there actually contact? At least one publication, GatorCountry.com, is stating that Baxter was the one who made contact with Florida—not the other way around. If that's true, doesn't that mean that Baxter is in for a little wrist-slapping from the NCAA as well?

Dez Bryant was suspended last season for lying to the NCAA about his relationship with former NFL pro, Deion Sanders—that lie cost him, essentially, his entire year.

Granted, Baxter's actions are different but, a lie is a lie, right?

NCAA Bylaw 10.1 addresses "unethical conduct" and specifically regards ""Knowingly furnishing the NCAA or the individual's institution false or misleading information concerning the individual's involvement in or knowledge of matters relevant to a possible violation of an NCAA regulation." as "unethical". Such an infraction warrants a suspension of said player by the NCAA.

With that in mind, will we see the spotlight turn towards Baxter's statements next?

Somehow, it just doesn't seem like this is the end of the story and that means more scrutiny for the Trojans.