Late last week, a report from CBSSports said Boise State had reaffirmed to the Mountain West its desire to move to the Big East as a football-only member. Given that Boise State has been represented at Big East meetings this week, there isn’t much reason to believe that isn’t true.
But things got interesting with the Broncos on Day 2.
Speaking with media Monday, Boise athletic director Mark Coyle denied any previous conversations with the MWC about staying. Coyle only added that he attended the Mountain West meetings “a few weeks ago.”
Mountain West commissioner Craig Thompson, in response to Coyle’s remarks, begged to differ.
“We had in-depth discussions with Boise State and made a very favorable proposal,” Thompson said Monday. “But Boise State has decided to continue with its plan to move to various other conferences. We are excited about the continued development of our membership configuration going forward and will proceed aggressively with our plans for future success.”
Boise reportedly was reconsidering a move to the Big East earlier this month, but it all looks like a go now. Still, the fact that Coyle and Thompson are sending mixed messages is a bit head-scratching. If the Broncos are reconsidering the Big East, I’m not sure it’s something worth hiding.
“We continue to explore all options,” Coyle said. “We’ve got ... 19 sports, we want to make sure we find a good home for all our sports and we continue to examine all of our options and continue to gather information in the changing landscape.”
