Dec. 10, 2010
With recent developments in conference alignment and the Quest for Excellence campaign, I thought this would be a good time to provide all of our fans, alumni and supporters with an update.
This past week, we received approval from the University of Louisiana System's Board of Supervisors to proceed with the next phase of the Quest for Excellence project.
This approval authorizes us to request proposals for final design and construction documents for the new facility. This next phase may take up to nine months to complete, but will provide us an accurate cost estimate for the building project.
We have secured the necessary private funding for this phase of the building project and, as the final design and construction documents are developed, we'll continue raising funds and outlining our financing plan.
Regarding conference re-alignment, a number of significant changes to the Division I landscape have occurred over the past couple of months. Here's a quick summary:
- TCU will depart the Mountain West Conference for the Big East Conference.
- Utah and BYU will leave the Mountain West Conference. Utah will join the Pac 10 and BYU will compete as an independent.
- Boise State, Fresno State, Nevada and Hawaii will all depart the WAC to join the Mountain West. Boise State will join the Mountain West in 2011 with Fresno State, Nevada and Hawaii following in 2012.
- The WAC has invited UT-San Antonio, Texas State and the University of Denver (non-football) to join the WAC starting in 2012.
- With the aforementioned changes, in 2012, the WAC will have 7 football members and 8 members for all other sports.
This would leave the Mountain West with 10 schools. They will have to decide whether to remain at 10 or expand to 12 members or further. If they choose to expand, it is believed that the schools they will most consider are Utah State (current member of the WAC) and UTEP, Houston and SMU (current members of Conference USA). Mountain West presidents will meet on Friday, December 10 to discuss further conference expansion. Conference USA presidents meet in February and are expected to react to whatever decisions are made within the Mountain West regarding conference re-alignment.
Louisiana Tech has had on-going communications with Conference USA over the course of the last two years. We have sent them updated copies of our strategic plan for intercollegiate athletics and I have been speaking to the CUSA office on a regular basis. This past summer, President Reneau, Steve Davison and I traveled to Dallas to meet with Conference USA officials. During our meeting, we outlined the recent progress we have made in our athletic programs including our commitment to advancing and completing the Quest for Excellence facility project.
We have also developed a presentation highlighting our achievements and sent it to all of the Conference USA presidents and athletics directors. We have developed printed materials to market our programs, our geographic proximity to CUSA members, and our traditions, academic and athletic excellence. We have negotiated numerous game contracts for basketball and football with several members of CUSA including SMU, Houston and Southern Mississippi. We have also worked closely with CUSA membership in scheduling alliances and bowl negotiations.
Despite all our tireless efforts and proactive communications, it's important for our fans, alumni and supporters to understand that we have no way of knowing, with certainty, what will happen. There are many things that are simply beyond our control. That being said, we believe that there will be further re-alignment and we will continue our regular communications with CUSA officials and their membership.
Our focus has been and will continue to be on advancing Louisiana Tech Athletics and putting our program and our student-athletes in the best position to be successful.
If you have any questions about this issue or any other matter, please feel free to call on me. We appreciate all your support and look forward to great success now and in the future.
We wish you joy and peace this coming holiday.
