Rick Chryst Leaving MAC

The MAC has announced that Rick Chryst will leave the Commissioner's office at the end of his current term. He apparently does not have another job lined up, and feels the time is right.

I have no way of knowing if this is really what was going on, or if Chryst is being moved out somehow.

If you click above, you can read what Mr. Chryst feels are his accomplishments. Undoubtedly, these things are pluses. However, numerous times I have written about what I feel about the current state of MAC sports....which is not good.

In football, which I would guess Chryst feels is his calling card, because the press release from the league doesn't even mention basketball beyond Bracketbusters and TV coverage, I contend that the league is no farther ahead than it was when he arrived in 1999. He claims I-A status was in doubt, and I suppose it was, but it always is, even now.

Since the Meyer/Hoeppner/Pruitt/Pinkel teams left the MAC, football has steadily fallen. The conference has lost its last eight bowl games, is routinely ranked down with the Sun Belt conference, and is a sad imitation of what it was only a few years ago.

Meanwhile, in the name of being on TV, we have strained ties with our already tenuous fan base by playing November weekday games, often to get a game onto ESPNU, a less than national channel.

We are told that you have to be on TV to compete, but during the "TV years" we've only seen the quality of play fall.

Further, when asked about this Chryst was condascending and arrogant.

As for basketball, the story is even worse. Gone are the years of the MAC making runs in the tourney, and where we even got teams into the bubble for a second bid. We've been eclipsed by the MVC, and even the Horizon conference, based on this year's play.

Once again, in basketball, if the TV exposure was so important, why aren't the teams better?

This sounds pretty negative, and I guess I don't think the conference is looking very good right now. I do understand that TV exposure is important. But, I think when it comes to ESPNU, we should just say, no thanks, we'll play on Saturday.

A new Commissioner has the opportunity to try and turn all this around, though he will be saddled with the TV deal that Chryst just inked.

That's my opinion.