The History of the Border Conference: College Sports' Wild West
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- čas přidán 11. 09. 2024
- With the eastern chunk of the Pac-12 Set to join BYU in the Big 12 in 2024, it will be a bit of a surprising reunion for Arizona, Arizona State, and Texas Tech. These three schools were once a part of what might be one of the weirdest conferences in NCAA history when viewed through a modern lens: the Border Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, or just the Border Conference.
Not only did this conference feature three eventual Power 5 teams, but it also featured G5 powers like the Mountain West's New Mexico, Conference USA's UTEP and New Mexico State, and an FCS mainstay in Northern Arizona. On top of that, D2 West Texas A&M and D3 Hardin-Simmons also called the short-lived conference home at points during its 30-year run.
In honor of realignment favoring monetary upside over regionality at all costs, I thought it would be a good idea to take a quick little surface level look at the Border, as it showcases what athletic conferences used to be, as a harsh contrast to what they are today. After all, nothing screams "Midwest" quite like Seattle and the beaches of New Jersey.
One must imagine UTEP and NMSU happy
As a red raider, I absolutely love the history of that conference, and can’t wait to have the Arizona schools back with us! Great video , wreck em
From one Red Raider to another I can wait to see how McGuire does with his own recruits
The most fun I've had in the student section against some guy named Mahomes. Playing you guys is about the only thing making the pill a little easier to swallow, fork 'em!
@@bobbymichalowski1081wonder what happened to that guy 🤔. Anyways, super happy to have the zonas. It’s a dream come true.
New Mexico turned down a Big 12 invite in 1996? Gotta be one of the worst decisions in college sports history lol.
Really makes you think.
Hindsight is always 20/20. Definitely looks like a bad decision now but might not have back in the 90s.
They were better off being in a minor conference and they knew it
That comment rocked my world, right there with Tulane and Georgia Tech leaving the SEC
Not true…. The Governor at the time pushed for her alma mater which was Baylor to get added instead of UNM
Fun note: Mary Hardin-Baylor University of D3 & Hardin-Simmons University derive their names from the same Texas philanthropist couple that kept the schools financially viable during the 1930's depression.
The zonas and Tech being in the same Confrence just feels right. With Texas and OU leaving, there is no two schools I’d rather add.
your channel is BEYOND underrated, trust me it’s only a matter of time before you blow up. Keep producing amazing work
Wow! Very interesting video. You know, I never knew the Border Conference even existed. It's amazing what you can learn when you really study sports history, regardless of whether it's collegiate, amateur or professional sports. Very impressive.
That's an interesting story.. Happy to see TT and ASU playing with UA
It's wild that Texas Tech and ASU never played each other in football during their time as conference mates.
Somehow I didn't catch that, but it's true and absolutely WILD.
It was because Tech didn’t choose to desegregate until 1961, by then they were in the SWC.
Fascinating video. I've heard of all the conference as I spent my free time one week tracing back the history of all currently FBS schools and their conferences. It's really fascinating to see where these schools started, moved to and moved up. I just find it so fascinating how the changing landscape of college football has directed all these changes to happen.
I never heard of this conference until this video. Keep up the good work 👍👍
Cool video. Texas Tech and Arizona have a long history.
Wow! When I was attending Tech….we were in the Border Conference ! Graduated 1954 !
6:05 New Mexico Fans: "MAN, We fucked up!"
Big 12 is going to be a downright brawl every year between those 16 schools. It will be very entertaining.
I love these. I had no idea that the Border Conference was a thing besides the name
This was really good! Can you do a video on one of the first super conferences. The SoCon and how it had over 20 teams including many major brands in both ACC and SEC to now. Or maybe the other prominent super conference of the WAC and how it went from a fbs conference, to dead, to now the fcs.
I second this recommendation. I graduated from a SoCon school and it’s history is very interesting
There was also one conference a lot of people don’t know about likely because it dissolved during World War II and that conference was the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association. At one point they had up to 30 teams in the conference all at once. It was created in 1984 and disbanded in 1942 shortly after the US entered the war
@@joshheitman6832how’s that work, did somebody get a hold of Uncle Rico’s time machine and figure out how to jam the crystals in there just right to make it work?
New Mexico has got to feel dumb for turning down being one of the founding members of the big 12 in 1996. I know they aren't much to write home about in athletics but it could've been in a different story had they joined a major conference. Plus this would give the whole state of new Mexico a representative in the power 5 which they don't have
I’ve been watching you for a couple weeks, really good work brother. Eventually you should get into some fcs. Big Sky Conference! Good luck dude.
One of the coolest and lesser known ones, super cool.
This is really interesting, and I'm going to make the bold prediction that we'll all become sick of this bit of trivia after it's inevitably repeated ad nauseum whenever UA or ASU play Texas Tech
We probably will. The current big 12 is really weird if you trace back so if it's members. You have 5 teams that were in the wac, 4 teams that were in the southwest conference, 2 teams from the big east, 3 teams from the border conference, 3 teams from the AAC, 2 teams from the mountain west conference, 5 teams from the big 6/8, and 7 teams from the original big 12. Obviously there is a lot of overlap between the schools. I think the original big 6 and UCF are the only schools that played in one conference before the big 12 at the fbs level
I have never been let down by one of these deep dive videos. They are must see. If you get a patron or something I’m signing up. Also, can you do one of these videos for the SWAC and or the SIAC.
Before West Texas A&M dropped down to D2, they joined the MVC. In 1978, they were 1A, now FBS Independent from 78 to 85 before they dropped down. It has been rumored that they want to move back up to D1, and does have plans for having an on campus stadium to seat more than 22,000.
There were a lot of early conferences like this. Some formed prior to the NCAA and seperation of Divisions and some formed during the world wars when the NCAA combined Divisions before seperating them for the last time in 1973. While diving into older conferences another interesting subject pop ups and that is ND is not the first school to have sports in different conferences. In fact at 1 point in history Iowa and Iowa State played FB in the same conference while Iowa played all other sports in the conference that would become the B1G. There are several schools that have done this throughout the history of college athletics and it's why we still have sport specific conferences to this day.
Great video. I never knew New Mexico and byu were considered during the formation of the big 12. What could’ve been.
I bet New Mexico regrets turning down the Big 12 27 years ago lol
Four straight videos that have been bangers, Let Lucas Cook!
Looking forward to your Big West and WAC Histories
Great work, I didn't know any of this.
Do the history of the Southwest Conference.
HSU could compete with most big 12 teams, D3 teams are actually insane
As always with these videos, it should be noted that smaller private school programs like H-SU were able to compete with the big boys of today before WW2 and the GI Bill.
Great video bro!! Keep it up
Fascinating, I had no idea.
I hope you do a video on the SEC and SoCon
These are the coolest videos
Also NAU is an absolute Cross Country powerhouse
4:03 it was Technological, not Technical, just by the way.
Another banger🔥🔥🔥
Love this content
do the southwest confrence
Interestingly, BYU, Utah, Arizona State, and Arizona were all in the WAC at one time.
Wait, when was NM ever offered a spot in the B12?
MIAA represent 😤😤
Is this the Tak and the power of JUJU sound track?
I'm not sure where you got that donkey logo for utep/college of mines and metallurgy, and it could be a copycat, but that is the Colorado School of Mines (D2) logo. His name is Blaster, and there is even a live mascot who is ironically not as lively as the logo
It is a copycat! Texas School of Mines and Colorado School of Mines both used the burro logo at times, similar to the bulldog logo that Fresno currently has being used by multiple colleges and the many different Pistol Petes.
I guess I learned a few things today. Good video. Go Orediggers! (CSM mascot)
@@lukeontheplainsor like how LSU and Clemson are both Tigers that play in Death Valley?
I'm from eastern washington I have seen Northern Arizona play eastern washington university
Great video, this has tragically low views for the production value
Interesting.
Who would join a pod with Cincinnati, UCF, and West Virginia?
I don't know. Houston, to maximize Texas influence and CTZ exposure? That would be my move.
ISU
What’s an umbrella campus?
Essentially a campus in a university system that covers areas outside the flagship campus
So UT-Austin is the flagship and called just "Texas"
But then theres UT-Dallas, UT-El Paso, UT-San Antonio, UT-Arlington, UT-Rio Grande Valley, UT-Permain Basin, and UT-Tyler
And that's just ones called University of Texas at *fill in blank*
@@madc2004 OK…Thanks.
Do the Acc
By the way, I like these videos visiting the history of each conference
I’ve been watching college football as long as I’ve been following sports. This year however, that’s gonna change. As much as I enjoy college football, I do not like the direction it’s going. I’m absolutely against any of the western teams joining the Big Ten especially those in the Pacific time zone. Do these conferences really need to be in every single time zone? That doesn’t make sense to me. I also don’t like the Big 12 adding teams outside the Missouri Valley/Great Plains region especially if they’re gonna have teams in both the East Coast and the West Coast. That’s gonna create a lot of jet lag as well as negatively affect all the Olympic sports teams save for basketball since those sports get very little exposure if any, and it will also have a very negative impact on the student athletes’ mental health since they’re gonna get very little sleep between games and classes and they’re gonna have to do a lot of travelling too. Did anyone ask them what they wanted? I think everyone knows the reason behind all of this. It’s all about money. That’s what all these universities as well as the big conferences like the SEC, the Big Ten, and the Big 12 care about most. I found a story on Clutch Point about former Notre Dame football head coach Lou Holtz’ proposition and he suggested that conferences be completely done away with since geography along with history and tradition apparently doesn’t matter anymore. It’s all a money grab. Even his proposal makes more sense than what we are seeing right now. Here’s the link to it below;
clutchpoints.com/college-football-must-ditch-conferences-pac-12-big-ten-realignment
New Mexico was never offered Big 12 membership. Really not sure where you're getting that information. They were at one point, with BYU, considered likely candidates. But that is as far as it goes.
The last spot after Texas, A&M and Tech was between Houston, TCU and Baylor. The governor was a Baylor alum, thus they got the spot.
Kids in the comments - 1996 isn't that long ago, look it up yourselves for fucks sake
I made an entire video on it. They were offered membership *tentatively*, but their athletic director turned it down. Fort Worth Tribune had an article on it, and I realize I'm putting a lot of faith in one article from 1995, but still.
@@lukeontheplains I'll check it out. All I could find was that they were considered and ultimately nothing came of it. However, I'm also an idiot, so there's that.
You're not an idiot. Went back to my notes. They were offered the chance at joining the Big 12, figured it would be damaging to their brand, and rescinded themselves from consideration. So technically, yes, they were never officially offered Big 12 membership, because they turned down even really talking to the conference about joining it. Which might be even worse.
@@lukeontheplains thank you for checking for me lol 😂