This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2010, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
By now, you've probably read our story on how the BYU-WAC deal fell apart, as told through a string of e-mails between the key engineers of "The Project," as it came to be called. Be sure to check out Gordon Monson's column on the matter. And here's a good list of the key e-mails that went between Utah State president Stan Albrecht, WAC commissioner Karl Benson, Fresno State president John Welty, and others. One e-mail that we haven't published yet, but that will interest MWC and UNLV followers, is this one from Nevada athletic director Cary Groth (she's the woman who asked reporters what they thought of the news during the Wednesday evening teleconference that Nevada held to accept the MWC's invitation). Anyway, here's the text of an e-mail that Groth sent to USU athletic director Scott Barnes at 4:11 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon, just shortly before Nevada accepted the invitation. Scott, Thought I would give you an update. Shortly after you and I spoke this morning, Nevada and Fresno were issued an invite to the MWC. Our President met with our chancellor and we are giving this opportunity serious thought. It would mean that Nevada and UNLV would finally be in the same conference. We were hopeful that when Karl met with UNLV, they would consider joining the WAC. They were not interested. As you know, our board has a resolution that was put in place a few years ago that states that both state schools would work towards a common conference. So much has happened in the past 6 hours — I wanted you to know what has been going on as I told you that I would keep you posted. Cary S. Groth Director of Athletics University of Nevada