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Big East Conference honchos paid a visit to Boise State on Thursday, giving the university's president an informational pitch on the beleaguered conference and its plans to add more teams.
University President Bob Kustra said he appreciated the visit, but emphasized he's in no hurry to make a decision on Boise State's future conference membership.
Kustra made it clear he views Boise State and its incredibly successful football team as a valuable asset to any conference and that he intends to consider all viable options in the latest round of conference shake-ups.
''As we have indicated consistently, we will take our time in evaluating conference affiliation options,'' Kustra said in a prepared statement. ''Boise State is a quality institution with an elite football program and a significant brand identity. As a result, we are an extremely valuable partner when it comes to conference affiliation.''
Kustra met on campus with Big East Commissioner John Marinatto and Nick Carperelli, the league's senior associate commissioner. Marinatto made a presentation on expanding the Big East and the role a team like Boise State would have as a football-only member.
The No. 5 Broncos are off to a 7-0 start in their first year as a member of the Mountain West Conference.
The meeting in Idaho's capital city came one day after Marinatto and Carperelli courted Air Force officials in Colorado Springs, Colo., in a bid to reach out to western schools to bolster a conference weakened in recent weeks by some key defections.
The Big East is considering adding teams like Houston, SMU and Central Florida for all sports, along with Boise State, Air Force and Navy in football only.
Those schools would make up for the losses of Pittsburgh and Syracuse, which are bolting for the ACC. Last month, TCU, which had agreed to join the Big East, changed course, deciding instead to join the Big 12 and reunite with former Southwest Conference rivals Texas, Baylor and Texas Tech.
To prepare for the possibility of losing Air Force and Boise State, the Mountain West recently announced plans to combine forces in football with Conference USA and form one mega-league that will probably have between 20 and 24 teams when it finally gets going in 2013.
