“There are only three of us playing football in the West – the Pac-12, Mountain West and Big Sky,” said the former Army helicopter pilot. “Our access to quality student athletes will continue to go up.”

Fullerton would love for the University of Idaho to join the Big Sky football ranks. He talks with school officials all the time and he’s not real impressed with the Vandals’ Sun Belt Conference affiliation.

He expects a new NCAA governance structure to give the top five FBS conferences more freedom to pay athletes beyond full-ride scholarships. Leagues like the Sun Belt will have a terrible time keeping up financially, leaving them in a precarious position.

“Our athletic budgets right now are not only bigger, they’re healthier,” Fullerton said in comparing the Big Sky to the Sun Belt. “We built our budgets on success. They built their budgets on getting beat by the bigger schools.

“They need the money and the big FBS schools need the win to support their bowl (hopes).”