For those asking about Air Force being a football independent, here’s the answer

August 19th, 2010, 9:22 pm · 15 Comments · posted by Frank Schwab

A few people have contacted me on email, Twitter, the blog, and all were curious about the possibility of Air Force ever going the independent route in football, like Army and Navy. Most of that curiosity came when it appeared the Mountain West was crumbling, but people remember football coach Troy Calhoun saying there were benefits to being an independent back in 2007.

Calhoun wouldn’t say anything about it, but I asked athletics director Hans Mueh not about the philosophy behind being in a conference vs. doing it solo, as BYU as examined doing in football. Here’s what he had to say:

“What’s interesting about that is when you look at our history, we were independent until 1980. Almost 25 years as an independent. The reason John Clune took the academy to a conference is that conferences have a whole lot going for them. It’s an automatic schedule, first of all. It’s an association of people that share a mutual interest in a lot of things, like academics. It’s an association way beyond just the athletics. Right now, the conference is a lifeline for us. It allows us entry into the NCAA for scholastic awards – it’s easier to go through the conference for recognition for our athletes, for example. So there are a lot of subtleties built into a conference membership that are tougher to do as an independent.

“Army and Navy – Notre Dame is unique, I won’t even throw them in the mix – but Army and Navy can do it because of where they are. Being on the East Coast allows a lot of bus trips to run an independent schedule. It’s a little easier for them to run an independent schedule, but even then, they’re independent in football but they’re in the Patriot League for everything else. You have to be. You can’t schedule 27 different sports as an independent. Can you imagine a baseball team trying to schedule 56 games as an independent?

“The quick answer to that is I have no interest in going independent.”

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About this blog …

I'm Frank Schwab, Air Force beat reporter for The Gazette. I've been at the paper since 2003, and covered the Broncos for seven seasons. I covered the University of Wisconsin in the late 1990s, so I'm well versed in running football teams (Ron Dayne) and defensive basketball teams (Dick Bennett). I love to chat on www.twitter.com/GazetteAirForce, and will respond to comments and emails at frank.schwab@gazette.com.

For more coverage, visit The Gazette's Air Force Academy Sports page

timmy says:

August 20, 2010 at 11:38 am

oh come on – that’s a bunch of bull and you know it frank.

AF is currently in a conference that includes teams in texas and california…one about 700 miles away and the other well over 1000 miles away. thrown in east coast trips to play army and navy and AF doesn’t seem to have any problem traveling all over the country as it stands now in the MWC.

even theor OOC games they do schedule away from home are a good hike – 700+ miles to minnesota last yearand norman is a solid 600 miles for the oklahoma game this year

meuh is spinning this like a top – just like his conference spun how “great” it is to add a couple of small market teams that never get ranked even though they play inferior competition every year. the quick answer is meuh and air force don’t have the stones or the following to make it as an independent

but I bet the air force women would love to get out of the MWC and join, say, the MVC, sun belt, big sky, etc conference for their non revenue sports

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Frederic N Halstrom says:

August 21, 2010 at 11:53 pm

AFA cannot be usma or usma in football. Each of those academies receive $4.5M for the Army Navy game. They raise 3 to over 6 times more funds from donations from alumni and friends than does AFA. Travel costs for non football games are far less.

Navy’s three year old so-called field house cost almost $ 70 M. Army alumni Foley gave the mules $ 13 M for it’s Foley field house. By design, each play football schedules ranked as the 105/106 weakess out of 120 colleges playing BCS football. AFA’s 2010 schedule within the MWC
Is in the top 60th.

Like all MWC schools, AFA gets $ 1.5 M from it’s TV revenue – each BIG TEN school gets over $ 20 M (hello Nebraska) and each PAC gets a little south of $10 M(hello Colorado and Utah ).

AFA does a great job with what it has for resources and location. MWC and AFA must get the MTN network into the East and the West Coast – hello FSU.

Frederich

Frank Schwab says:

August 22, 2010 at 10:51 am

Well said on all that Frederic.

frank says:

September 2, 2010 at 1:37 pm

howabout going independent in football and WCC in all other sports like BYU did?

September 2, 2010 at 2:27 pm

Just don’t see that happening. They’re committed to the Mountain West. Now, if the conference starts to break apart at some point, who knows what will happen.

Aaron says:

May 26, 2011 at 1:40 pm

Hi Schwab,

I realize I’ve stumbled across this article a little late, but I believe football independence could be more advantageous to Air Force than people think. Like timmy says, Air Force already plays all over the country for OOC, and the geographical spread of the MWC is very large. I don’t think an independent schedule would have much impact on travel for the athletic program as a whole.

As for Frederic’s comments, I don’t see how Navy and Army having better facilities or greater proximity to opponents affects the comparison between Air Force’s situation in the MWC vs. independence. That’s more of an arguement about why Navy and Army would have a competitive advantage over Air Force.

Also, consider the possibility of Air Force, Army, and Navy collaborating, not as conference members, but as partners in a Service Academy television network. I would expect it to be similar to the Mtn. but the benefit is splitting the revenue among three schools–not nine. They may even be able to combine that with an ESPN deal, similar to what BYU has done with BYUtv.

Air Force is only committed to the MWC as long as it is the best option for the school. I would be shocked, though, if the Academy weren’t weighing its options behind closed doors.

May 31, 2011 at 9:11 am

Aaron, interesting points, but one thing that has to be considered is this isn’t just a football issue. When Mueh talks about the issue, he understands that being an independent in, say, baseball is a tough challenge, as far as scheduling. Football is football – it would be fine, it would survive. But what benefits do you really get out of that? BYU is already locked into the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl in 2013, is that really worth making every other sport you have pretty much obsolete? And while the service academy television thing sounds good, that’s almost impossible to market. Very limited audience for that – and the revenue would be quite small I think.

I’m not saying AFA wouldn’t weigh options as the MWC continues to change, but from all I’ve heard it’s not something they want right now.

June 4, 2011 at 7:12 pm

Frank, I respectfully disagree. A tv package including the Service Academy Network would be marketable to every veteran nationwide. The Mtn. currently operates in most areas as a component of an additional cable package that must be purchased, and I would wager there are more fans of the three service academies nationwide than collective MWC fans.

As for other sports, the recent expansion activity in college football has shown that football drives the bus. Even men’s basketball takes a back seat. The idea is this would be a move that strengthens football, as opposed to just providing another platform where football can be decent. How about joining the Big West or the WCC with BYU for other sports?

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