When Bryan Hanstad heard that Boise State had accepted an invitation to join the Mountain West Conference, he immediately became a little happier about his son's decision to play men's basketball for the Broncos.
Joe Hanstad, who will be a senior at Dickinson High School in the fall, has verbally committed to play for Boise State in 2011, the same year the school will move from the Western Athletic Conference to the Mountain West.
"My parents are happy," Joe Hanstad said.
That's because the Hanstads will have a better chance to see their son play his college games. Not only does the Mountain West have a better television deal, the Broncos will be in the same conference as Wyoming, Colorado State and Air Force, schools who are a day's drive or a direct flight away from Dickinson.
Joe Hanstad said Boise State's move to the Mountain West, which became official Friday, will be good for the Broncos' men's basketball program, which has a new coach and is attempting to make a turnaround after a few rough seasons. The Mountain West had four schools invited to the NCAA tournament last season, including third-seeded New Mexico.
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"It's a good thing for us," he said.
Boise State's move to the Mountain West is only one of the many changes being made by some of America's most powerful college athletic programs.
Nebraska announced Friday that it will accept an invitation to join the Big Ten Conference in the 2011-12 school year.
Carol Qvale, the mother of Williston High School graduate Brent Qvale, who will be a redshirt freshman offensive lineman for Nebraska next season, contacted her son about Nebraska's decision and said he was unable to comment to the media about the situation.
Colorado, where Killdeer High School graduate Austin Dufault will be a junior on the men's basketball team next year, has been accepted into the Pac-10 Conference.
While Colorado is tentatively scheduled to join the Pac-10 in 2012 -- after Dufault is done playing -- movement by several schools across the college sports landscape may force the move to happen sooner, maybe even by Dufault's senior year.
The Boulder (Colo.) Daily Camera published a story Friday afternoon citing "A highly placed official from a Big 12 school," who confirmed that "Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State will join the Pac-10 Conference once formal offers are made to them."
"It's something that's definitely exciting," Dufault said. "It could be a good thing to be one of the first guys to play in the new league that's created. But, you know, it's tough to see the Big 12 go."
