Craig Thompson was minding his business as Sun Belt commissioner in the summer of 1998 when eight WAC presidents, led by former Colorado State leader Al Yates, voted to create the Mountain West. From borrowing office furniture during the first season to the recent completion of a deal with satellite TV for the league’s network, Thompson has remained at the helm.
DP: Ten years after the split, would you say you have two leagues doing quite well?
CT: Yes. Both leagues have survived. We’ve done different things — we have the first-ever conference TV network, which certainly has had its challenges, the ever changing landscape of bowls. Two things I work a little bit on every day are television and bowls. The TV package allows us to play football on Saturdays and attendance has been sustained. We play at convenient times for our fans who still attend the games. The backbone of any college athletic program is fans in the stands.
DP: There’s still confusion outside the two league footprints who is in the Mountain West, who is in the WAC. Is that sometimes frustrating?
CT: It doesn’t bother me. It’s just ignorance. People haven’t kept up. I would go to my alma matter at Minnesota and my classmates may not be able to tell you who is in the ACC. You can probably name the Big Ten. You can probably name the Pac-10. My issue is how do we do a better job of brand recognition. BYU, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico were charter members of the WAC in 1962. They played 35 years in the WAC. There’s a whole generation under the WAC umbrella.
DP: There were hard feelings between the sides on and off the playing field in 1998 when you were getting the office set up. How difficult was that first year?
CT: It wasn’t challenging for me personally because I didn’t know the history. I’d never lived in Colorado. I’d never stepped on most of the campuses. Whatever lingering hard feelings between coaching staffs, I never got involved in that because practically for me it was irrelevant. I understand why they formed the Mountain West, basically it was over partners and playing opportunities and past history and scheduling.
DP: The two leagues still have common goals as far as BCS bowl access. Are there more common goals now than the ego and pride at stake in the beginning?
CT: We both want to be successful at the national level, and the BCS plays a major part in that. How do we get better and have people recognize and become aware of us?
DP: Do you think some of the bitter history is still there when most of the presidents are far removed from the charter presidents?
CT: I think it dissipates yearly. Life’s moved on. Maybe it’s good analogy, maybe it’s bad but it was a divorce. We split our assets and we started new lives. In the league meetings, the MWC has had the last near-decade, we have been very comfortable with the administration of the championships, the scheduling he work we’re doing to advance the conference. We’re associated with the people we want to be associated with.
DP: You look at football and in some years basketball and the WAC has some really great programs at the top, but not at the bottom. The MWC coaches say top to bottom, at least in football, the MWC is such a difficult conference. Do you see that as the biggest difference between the leagues now?
CT: That is a difference. We’ve had eight of the nine institutions in bowl games. We won the ESPN Challenge (best overall league bowl record). It is a very balanced league. If you look long term, you want to have balance. You want to have parity. You want a history of not knowing every Saturday definitively who’s going to win a football game. There are advantages to having one or two dominant teams as opposed to a solid nine. One of the biggest surprises in the history is five times the league champ has gone undefeated. The first year we had Colorado State, Utah and BYU all tied for the title and that’s the way I thought this league would be forever and ever.
DP: Are you and Karl on good terms?
CT: I don’t think we’ve ever been unfriendly. My relationship with Karl might have been expedited and smoother than it might have been with other individuals. There’s a lot of occasions we go to meetings and often we’re on the same flight. It gives us a change to talk if we want to challenge the BCS on some matter jointly. There’s been occasions I’ve literally picked him up at the WAC office and we’ve driven to DIA together. He’s got to work with nine institutions that have an agenda, and I have to work with nine institutions that have an agenda. Sometimes those aren’t the same.
DP: What’s the next challenge of the Mountain West now that you have the satellite deal? Isn’t it time to take a breath?
CT: I don’t know that you ever take a breath. One of the immediate challenges is we’re working toward a strategic plan. It’s been on hold because of television issues the last couple of years. We need to focus not just the athletic prowess but we need to look at some of the academic standing, the Academic Progress Report and graduation rates — are we doing the right things to give our student-athletes a chance to be successful?
