This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The Denver Post reported last week that BYU officials had been contacted by the Big East about possible inclusion into that conference, and BYU football coach Bronco Mendenhall confirmed that the school is listening on Monday during his weekly football news conference. "There is a push [from the Big East]," Mendenhall said. "There are conversations that are in place for the Big East to convince, or to have BYU join the conference." Mendenhall said BYU is listening because the Big East has something the independent Cougars want — automatic-qualifying access to the Bowl Championship Series (BCS). "I trust our athletic director [Tom Holmoe] and President [Cecil] Samuelson to deal with all that. I have been informed along the way. At some point there will be a decision of what our intentions will be," Mendenhall said. The Big East is also looking at western schools Boise State and Air Force as football-only members as it seeks to form a western division that could also include all-sports invitees SMU and Houston. BYU is also being looked at to be a football-only member. Most of its other sports are in the West Coast Conference. "I don't know how fast or nor do I think the timeframe is relevant at this point. Certainly, plenty of questions on our part that are in place," Mendenhall said. "But with the [college sports] landscape changing, the main benefit that I could see on a short-term scale would be inclusion into the BCS system. That is up in two years. If the Big East is able to hold that spot, with the new teams going in, my guess would be yes. But I can't speak as to what we are going to do. I can just verify that those conversations — we have been approached. But I wasn't involved in anything else."