MSU AD Peter Fields: Realignment Coming, But No One Knows How It Will Look

We may be entering the ‘quiet time’ of the college sports year in the northern Rockies, but the buzz in intercollegiate athletics surrounding the possible and anticipated shift in conference alignment is deafening.

The shift in league alliances in the 1990s was significant, to be sure, and it affected the Big Sky Conference and Division I-AA (now the Football Championship Subdivision) in major ways. The events looming on the horizon now appear just as seismic. The key player appears to be the Big 10 Conference, which initiated the current frenzy a few months ago by simply stating that it would entertain expansion. Some sort of formal announcement appears imminent, and once that occurs the wheels should really begin spinning.

A lot of ink and air time have been devoted to sorting that information out without much clarity, so I won’t spend time on that. But the very real question for those of us in Big Sky Country remains: how will this affect us, and what are we doing?

Because this process is centered in the Midwest and East, many dominoes will fall before schools in the West are affected, and even more before FCS schools enter the decision-making process. Adding FCS (or I-AA) schools has always been a last-resort proposition for FBS (or I-A) conferences, and it is highly likely to remain so. But, it remains a very real possibility.

Any movement in our regional FBS leagues – the Mountain West, Pac 10 and WAC – would almost certainly precipitate meaningful discussions of current Big Sky members. University of Montana officials have indicated that they have undertaken an internal feasibility study to determine their level of preparedness.

Since my arrival at MSU in 2002, I’ve built and maintained a strong working knowledge of how our resources fit into the national scale of Division I. My background in the MAC and Big 12, along with my recent work on the NCAA Management Council, have added context.

From our position, a move ‘up’ would involve the addition of 22 football scholarships, and the corresponding addition of the same number of scholarships in women’s programs. Any serious analysis begins with this component: how do you fund these additions, and where do they happen?

There is a hidden side to this element of an upgrade, however. More student-athletes need more support, so our staffing levels would increase in all areas of the department. More student-athletes mean increased staffing in the equipment room, more athletic trainers to facilitate their care, more assistance in the Academic Center to maintain our standards of excellence in that area. Those moves must all be met with increased revenue to match the extra expenditures.

This is a tremendously simplified look at a complex issue, but it gives you a taste of the ideas competing when evaluating the concept of moving to a new league and a new level of competition. Boise State, a Big Sky member as recently as 15 years ago, is the poster child for such a move, particularly BSU’s football program. But for every success story there are many schools that have struggled with such a move.

We have enjoyed considerable success at Montana historically, and over the past decade. Would a move enhance that success, or threaten it?

These discussions are taking place throughout our conference – and throughout our subdivision – with various levels of seriousness. I can assure you we take the impending shift in conferences very seriously. President Cruzado and Vice President Yarnell understand the issues and how they apply to Montana State.

We are in an interesting and volatile period in the continuing timeline of college athletics. Uncertainty is the only real certainty, but we know that Montana State’s rich athletic heritage is something we all cherish and work every day to protect and enhance.

--Peter Fields, MSU Director of Athletics