How Lamar's WAC tenure turned into one big mess

[Jonnyeagle]

Lamar University’s tenure in the Western Athletic Conference started with bold moves and big promises.

A year and six months later, Lamar is finally on its way to cleaning up what turned into one big mess.

In January of 2021, four Texas schools announced they would be leaving the Southland Conference. One of them was Lamar, which entered the new-look WAC alongside Sam Houston, Stephen F. Austin and Abilene Christian.

During a press conference inside NRG Park in Houston, WAC leaders gloated about the lofty goals of their league. They praised the potential of WAC basketball, citing the possibility of putting two WAC teams into the NCAA tournament on an annual basis. There was even talk of WAC football one day soon stepping up to the FBS level as a league.

read more:  https://www.beaumontenterprise.com/sports/lamar/article/FAYE-How-Lamar-s-WAC-tenure-turned-into-one-big-17300678.php

[NT80]

Interesting article about Lamar and the WAC football mess.

UTA is now back in the WAC as they were in 2012.  They were booted out of the SunBelt for not having football. 

Edited July 13, 2022 by NT80

[DeepGreen]

Lamar’s problem is that in SE Texas, high school football is much more important than Lamar football.  It would not surprise me if they dropped football again.

[untbowler]

rumblings that some of the teams that left the Southland may go back. 

Sam Houston screwed them by jumping to CUSA, much like what Jacksonville St did to ASUN by joining and then jumping to CUSA as well. 

 

[edcollopy]

increasing travel costs in leagues that draw flies to games, have no tv deals, and have very little alumni support is a bad recipe.

[El Paso Eagle]

1 hour ago, untbowler said:

rumblings that some of the teams that left the Southland may go back. 

Sam Houston screwed them by jumping to CUSA, much like what Jacksonville St did to ASUN by joining and then jumping to CUSA as well. 

 

It seems when the Southland started hitting rough waters a couple of years back teams thought it was going to dissolve and looked for the fastest way out. Now the Southland/McNeese conference 😇 is rebounding and some of these schools are probably taking a look at the cost/benefits of the move.

The Southland Conference very nearly split apart last fall as part of those moves, but remained viable thanks to a deal it struck with McNeese to play basically all its conference tournaments on the Cowboys' campus.

https://footballscoop.com/news/conference-realignment-continues-to-spin-at-the-fcs-level-lamar-southland-wac

[Dannymacfan]

I tell you with Sam Houston moving up to C-USA we better watch out -- they could be on a fast track up the ladder.  And now they get to add more scholarships and better scheduling.

 

[Mean Green 93-98]

1 hour ago, Dannymacfan said:

I tell you with Sam Houston moving up to C-USA we better watch out -- they could be on a fast track up the ladder.  And now they get to add more scholarships and better scheduling.

 

Better scheduling?  A bodybag away game against UCF?  Color me unimpressed.

[edcollopy]

1 hour ago, Dannymacfan said:

I tell you with Sam Houston moving up to C-USA we better watch out -- they could be on a fast track up the ladder.  And now they get to add more scholarships and better scheduling.

Facts still remain they won't have the money to get any bigger.  They get almost no TV revenue. They drew few fans despite being great. They have a ton of apathy all the way around. They also don't have the student body that can supply the fee revenue that you can get at UNT. It will not end well.

 

1 hour ago, Dannymacfan said:

 

 

[UNTLifer]

32 minutes ago, edcollopy said:

Facts still remain they won't have the money to get any bigger.  They get almost no TV revenue. They drew few fans despite being great. They have a ton of apathy all the way around. They also don't have the student body that can supply the fee revenue that you can get at UNT. It will not end well.

 

 

Their students also recently voted down a fee increase.

https://www.itemonline.com/sports/sam_houston_state_university_bearkats/students-vote-no-on-athletics-fee-increase/article_38920133-2d4d-5719-9b0b-f6838a02f235.html

[El Paso Eagle]

32 minutes ago, edcollopy said:

Facts still remain they won't have the money to get any bigger.  They get almost no TV revenue. They drew few fans despite being great. They have a ton of apathy all the way around. They also don't have the student body that can supply the fee revenue that you can get at UNT. It will not end well.

 

 

This was a concern ampong a lot of people. They rushed a move to FBS because there was/is thinking that that option could go away soon.

[greenminer]

SHSU just voted against an increase in the student athletics fee.  Not a good look.

What is their endowment? How do athletics donations compare to other similar schools?

[NT80]

6 hours ago, edcollopy said:

Facts still remain they won't have the money to get any bigger.  They get almost no TV revenue. They drew few fans despite being great. They have a ton of apathy all the way around. They also don't have the student body that can supply the fee revenue that you can get at UNT. It will not end well.

 

More like a Texas 6A high school program

 

Edited July 14, 2022 by NT80