This is the first official statement released since it was confirmed that Texas State had received a verbal offer from the MWC.
In this statement, AD Don Coryell acknowledges the interest by another conference, but states they have “decided not to make a change at this time.”
Fans were quick to point out the “at this time” portion of the statement as a possible indication that if another conference other than the MWC extended an invite, that could change.
This statement was also released just 8 minutes after Texas State President Dr. Kelly Damphousse tweeted this:
This tweet is not the first time Dr. Damphousse has tweeted something similar. On September 22nd, he tweeted this:
Most have come to believe the tweets indicate the extensive work being done by the administration behind the scenes, even if the hard work is not being publicized.
Either way, the Texas State administration is keeping this one close to their vest. Very little information is getting out in regards to the status of realignment conversations between Texas State, MWC, PAC12, AAC, and the Sun Belt.
I’ve reached out on more than one occasion for comment and have received no answer. Leaving only speculation as to where Texas State stands on realignment.
As of the writing of this article, it appears that no offer, verbal or otherwise, was ever extended to Texas State by the PAC12. Multiple sources have confirmed that conversations have taken place, but no one seems to be willing to confirm how those conversations have gone or if they are still ongoing.
Meanwhile, the PAC12 remains one full member from being a viable conference. Despite announcing the addition of Gonzaga on Tuesday October 2nd to bring the total number of PAC schools to 8, Gonzaga does not field a football program and therefore does not meet the NCAA requirement for the PAC.
The PAC 12 now stands at 7 full time members, 8 total.
Needing one more full time member, who do they turn to? Some have speculated they will return to the top 4 targets from the AAC including Memphis, Tulane, USF, and UTSA. With a purported $27.5 million in exit fees, initial negotiations stalled between the top of the AAC and the PAC.
If the PAC returns to the AAC for members to get that magical 8th member, they will likely need to offer significant assistance in covering the exit fees. How much the PAC is willing to cover using their war chest from former PAC member exit fees is to be seen.
It’s possible for the PAC to target only one or two AAC members instead of all 4 this time around. If that happens, I believe it will be Memphis and Tulane headed to the PAC with the other two remaining in the AAC.
Which leads the AAC into a situation where they may be interested in backfilling with additional teams from the Sun Belt including possibly Texas State.
In this scenario, Texas State would need to be cautious and thoroughly consider any offer to join the AAC. This is due in part to the fact that the AAC media deal is not an even distribution amongst members. Certain members receive only partial shares in order to keep the legacy members whole after former members SMU, UCF, UH, and Cincinnati left.
Texas State may need to decide if playing UTSA, UNT, and Rice in conference every year would be worth taking a media share that could be less than the same teams.
So, while Texas State is currently committed to the Sun Belt, this round of realignment isn’t over. Depending on how the dominoes fall, Texas State may be thrust back into the middle of the realignment merry go round.
