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Knudson: For Those Who Chose to Stay, We Salute You

By Mark Knudson, The Mtn. Insider
December 12, 2011
 
When you take your time and give careful thought to a big decision, you usually end up making the right one.

The grass isn’t always greener.
 
So here’s a salute to you, General Michael Gould and the United States Air Force Academy. You didn’t just jump because you heard the initials AQ and you didn’t just say “yes” because you could make a little more money. You gave careful thought to all the ramifications of what it would mean to move your football program into a wobbly conference located on the other side of the country – as well as what it would mean to all your other sports – and you made the right decision to say “no thanks” to the Big East.
 
Air Force is staying home. High-fives and salutes all around.
 
This is significant for many reasons. It may be the first carefully thought out decision where loyalty, rivalries and geography won out over some extra cash and added prestige. Air Force obviously knows who they are and what’s really important, and most notably, what lies ahead for college football - a lot of unknowns.
 
We’ve seen long-time rivalries kicked to the curb in the past two years in the pursuit of the promise of bigger paydays. We’ve seen teams that are justifiably angered by the bogus Bowl Championship Series selection process cave in and join the dark side rather than stay put and fight for what’s right. And we’ve seen programs sacrifice what was in the best interests of all their other sports in the pursuit of extra dollars.
 
Leaving for the Big East would have been the easy route for Air Force. They could make the move and thump their chest and proclaim how they now belonged to a BCS conference. They could take the non-guaranteed promise of extra TV money – the Big East does not have a signed deal that will guarantee additional TV money to any schools at this moment – and boast how they are going to build up the non-football sports that the Big East doesn’t even want.
 
It would be easier, but it still would have been wrong.
 
Instead, Air Force opted to protect its regional rivalries with Colorado State and Wyoming – which would have vanished had they changed conferences – and stay loyal to a conference that they helped form and can now help grow. No conference has taken as many hits as the Mountain West and stayed on its feet and continued to grow. The partnership with Conference USA will make the league bigger and better than before.
 
Who knows? The coveted Automatic Qualifier status that so many are chasing may still land with the winner of the MW – CUSA title game. Or, it may not exist at all. Nothing is guaranteed after 2013. If it does remain in place, it’s not very likely to still be awaiting the winner of the watered down, football poor Big East.
 
And the extra money that is projected to be coming with a move to the Big East – again, nothing is signed and there are only conjecture and empty promises in place at the moment – will probably amount to somewhere around a $2 million-per-year increase. That’s nice, but it’s certainly not what the Big Ten, Pac 12 or SEC is giving its schools. Air Force decided that was not worth moving for. And they probably also decided that they could instead work with their current TV partners on an improved deal for the future with the improved conference and go out as an athletic department and drum up some additional financial support on their own.
 
What a novel concept. Stay the course, work a little harder and improve the situation for yourself and your business partners. Wouldn’t it be nice if everyone looked at the future of their programs and the game itself in that way?
 
Congrats, Air Force. We salute you.
See all of Mark Knudson's blog entries HERE.