At the beginning of this decade the late Jim Wacker was Athletics Director at Texas State (nee Southwest Texas State).

Wacker had returned to the scene of his greatest success as a coach, where he had previously won two D-II football titles, and he had a vision for his school. Wacker was convinced that another downsizing at the D-1 level was only a matter of time, and he wanted to position Texas State to be able to take advantage of it by being ready to move up to D-1 from 1-AA.

He believed that D-1 would eventually look like an expanded NFL -- 64 teams at the top in four 16-team conferences with another tier for the other D-1 programs. He wanted Texas State to be a part of what he envisioned as a "new" Southwest Conference. Today there are some other folks who think the SWC is ready to make a comeback.

Wacker thought a league consisting of  SMU, Rice, TCU, Houston, Baylor, Texas Tech, UTEP and Texas State would be a logical start to a league that could thrive with built-in rivalries and reasonable travel.

Some of these family members from the old days might welcome a return to a different SWC.

The league suggested in the linked story has a West division of TCU, Tulsa, SMU, UTEP, New Mexico and New Mexico State, while the East would consist of Baylor, North Texas, Houston, Rice, Tulane and Louisiana Tech.

Personally,  I think the league that Coach Wacker envisioned would be...

UNBELIEEEEEVABLE