Posted on: Sunday, July 27, 2003
WAC football still struggling for respect
By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer
BOISE, Idaho — Timing is everything in sports, and bad timing, it seems, is haunting the Western Athletic Conference.
In May, the Bowl Championship Series — four lucrative bowl games with berths all but reserved for college football's six power conferences — warmly greeted the WAC's proposal to add a fifth BCS game. But that plan now is on the back burner because of recent events that could lead to conference realignments across the country.
The realignment concerns also led the WAC to postpone negotiations with ESPN, even though the cable network offered a multi-year extension to a contract that expires in March.
And last week in Boise, the league staged its annual Football Media Preview, a three-day event that advertises all that is good about the WAC. But then — fizzle to the sizzle — one of rap's most prominent figures, Snoop Dogg, upstaged the WAC.
For his show (along with Jay-Z and 50 Cent) 10 miles from downtown Boise, Snoop Dogg and his very large entourage stayed in the Grove Hotel, where the WAC event also was held. According to a desk clerk, Snoop's party single-occupied every room on two floors, including more than a dozen suites.
The lobby bustled every time Snoop's thick-armed, small-necked bodyguards cleared a path to the awaiting limos.
Some of the WAC players, invited here to promote the league, sneaked into the lobby during breaks, hoping to meet the star of the MTV reality show, "Doggy Fizzle Televizzle." Before his 30-minute speech to reporters, Southern Methodist coach Phil Bennett spent five minutes regaling tales of his encounter with the rapper.
One thing was clear: a two-party system in this city does not favor the WAC, at least publicity wise.
Still, the WAC coaches remained undaunted, and Karl Benson, beginning his 10th year as commissioner, proclaimed the WAC to be in better health today than three or four years ago.
Benson is hopeful of negotiating a better deal with ESPN. (Each team receives about $20,000 annually from the current contract.) He expects to add two teams from the Central time zone, possibly as early as next year.
It also appears the WAC has at least three elite teams. Hawai'i was selected No. 1 in the preseason WAC media poll, based largely on the return of quarterback Tim Chang and the league's deepest defensive line, but Fresno State and Boise State — in the opinion of the WAC players attending the event — also belong in the league's top class. Last year, those three were the only WAC teams with winning records.
Here's a team-by-team look at the WAC, in order of predicted finish, according to the WAC media poll:
1. HAWAI'I WARRIORS
• 2002 record: 10-4/7-1 WAC. • Head coach: June Jones. • Quick look: While the run-and-shoot offense and its quarterback get the hype — the Tim Chang-inspired "TC for Heisman" DVD is available at press boxes everywhere — it is an imposing defensive line that could boost the Warriors to their first outright WAC title in school history. Led by pocket crushers Isaac Sopoaga and Lance Samuseva and speed ends Houston Ala and Travis Laboy, the Warriors have assembled their best defensive line since the trifecta of Maa Tanuvasa, Taase Faumui and Junior Tagoai in 1992. The coaches believe middle linebacker Chad Kalilimoku is an upgrade from last year's starter, Chris Brown, now with the Baltimore Ravens. UH expects to start two second-year freshmen — Samson Satele and Dane Uperesa — at tackle on an offensive line that graduated three starters to the NFL.
• Introducing ...: Defensive end Mel Purcell, whom Jones said has a body made for leading the team off buses. • Key figure: Since Jones became head coach in 1999, UH is 3-1 in away games against the four WAC teams it will play on the road this year.
• Fun fact: Safety Hyrum Peters is the only returning player from last year's All-WAC first team. His award, however, is misprinted as "All-WAC First Place."
2. BOISE STATE BRONCOS
• 2002 record: 12-1/8-0 WAC. • Head coach: Dan Hawkins.
• Quick look: Last year, the Broncos became the first team to go undefeated in the WAC's regular season since Brigham Young in 1996. That led Hawkins to introduce this year's theme: "Prove it!" He borrowed the phrase from the basketball game of H-O-R-S-E, in which the winner reshoots the decisive shot to prove it wasn't a fluke. BSU might lack the horsepower of '02 — eight offensive starters have departed, including running back Brock Forsey (NCAA-leading 32 TDs) — but as Hawkins said, "I'm willing to take the prove-it shot." His optimism begins with quarterback Ryan Dinwiddie, who was chosen as the WAC's preseason Player of the Year, despite being suspended for spring practice after violating an unspecified team rule. Dinwiddie has rebounded to lead his teammates during unsupervised workouts this summer. Hawkins hopes speedy David Mikell, who split time with Forsey last year, can adjust to a featured role.
• Introducing ...: Duran Cooley, a lightning-and-thunder safety who is the cousin of former UH wideout Ashley Lelie and was named after boxing legend Roberto Duran.
• Key figure: There are 14 receivers competing for two starting jobs.
• Fun fact: Boise has more museums (15) than movie theaters (9). The Old Idaho Penitentiary offers "self-guided tours" of death row and solitary confinement.
3. FRESNO STATE
• 2002 record: 9-5/6-2 WAC. • Head coach: Pat Hill. • Quick look: Plan B turned out to be A-OK last year. The original blueprint called for quarterback Jeff Grady, who redshirted as a junior in 2001, to steer the offense and running back Rodney Davis to provide depth. But Paul Pinegar started the final 11 games, throwing for 2,929 yards and amassing a 129.5 efficiency rating, best of all Division I-A freshmen. Davis broke into the lineup in the third game, then broke the Bulldogs' single-season record with 1,586 rushing yards. The key is wideout/kick returner Bernard Berrian, the league's most exciting player when he's healthy — which he is not, at the moment. Berrian is recovering from toe surgery last month and might not be at full strength for the season opener. On defense, even with cornerback Kendall Edwards recovering from knee surgery, the Bulldogs are three deep at the corner positions, allowing more planned man-to-man schemes. • Introducing ...: Left tackle Logan Mankins, who is powerful enough to require collision insurance. Mankins can clean-lift 400 pounds. "He's a rodeo guy whose hands can cover your whole body," Hill said. • Key figure: Each year, Hill raises $800,000 for the football program through various functions. His next goals are to expand Bulldog Stadium's seating capacity from 41,031 to 70,000 and to buy 35 computers for the academic center.
• Fun fact: Linebacker Marc Dailey started dipping tobacco to help overcome his uneasiness during airplane flights.
4. NEVADA WOLF PACK • 2002 record: 5-7/4-4 WAC • Head coach: Chris Tormey • Quick look: With the departure of the WAC's leader in pass efficiency (Zack Threadgill) and receiving (Nate Burleson), the Pack will turn to Chance Kretschmer, the nation's rushing champ as a freshman in 2001. Kretschmer missed all but one game last season after suffering a torn knee ligament. His rehabilitation included running on a treadmill and track, biking and "everything you think you can do with your leg," he said. He claims to be healthy, proving it with a 470-pound squat-lift. "I'll be ready," Kretschmer vowed. "This is my job, and when you have a job, you shouldn't call in sick." He won't have a proven backup. Last year's rushing leader Matt Milton withdrew from school. Kretschmer's return will help ease the burden on Jeff Rowe, who threw 26 passes last season. Nevada's building program might pay off this year. The top defender is Jorge Cordova, who agreed to move from linebacker to defensive end. Cordova, who led the WAC with 8.5 sacks, will attempt to move back to linebacker when he auditions for pro scouts at the end of the season. • Introducing ...: Nichiren Flowers, a skywalking receiver who also is expected to play for the Pack's basketball team.
• Key figure: There are nine fourth-year starters, and 10 school weightlifting records were set during the offseason. • Fun fact: Wideout Tim Fleming, whose family owns a helicopter fliming business, has two movie-filming credits.
5. LOUISIANA TECH BULLDOGS • 2002 record: 4-8/3-5 WAC. • Head coach: Jack Bicknell. • Quick look: Even the coaching staff was puzzled by the once cool-hand Luke McCown's regression into a hot-and-cold quarterback last season. The last of the Throwin' McCown brothers — two older siblings were college standouts — threw as many interceptions (19) as touchdowns last year. Part of the blame falls on the offensive line, shell-shocked by consecutive games against Penn State and Texas A&M the rest on McCown, who often forced passes into coverage. "That's not what we want to do," Bicknell said. Then again, "none of us have gone against Penn State. You're under extreme stress when you're making some of these decisions." The Bulldogs' pass defense should be better prepared than last year, when co-coordinator Rick Smith joined two days before the 2002 spring practice. The Bulldogs will be tested in the opener against Miami, which agreed to play in Shreveport, an hour's drive from the Louisiana Tech campus in Ruston. "We'll play anybody anytime, any place," Bicknell said. "It's not necessarily my motto, but since we do it, I'll say it is." • Introducing ...: Freshman wideout Jonathan Holland, described by Bicknell as "a stud receiver." Holland was the Louisiana high school state champion in the 400 meters (49.98 seconds) in 2001. • Key figure: In the past 20 years, the Bulldogs have had only one season in which the majority of their games were at home. This year, the Bulldogs do not play in Ruston until Oct. 4.
• Fun fact: Smoking and alcohol are allowed when the Bulldogs play at Shreveport's Independence Stadium but not at Joe Aillet Stadium in Ruston. They average 3,092 more fans for games played at Independence Stadium.
6. SAN JOSE STATE SPARTANS • 2002 record: 6-7/4-4 WAC. • Head coach: Fitz Hill. • Quick look: Last year, the Spartans had 61 players on scholarship, the fewest in Division I-A. This year, the tally is up to 73, and Hill is hopeful the Spartans will reach the NCAA maximum of 85 next year. Most impressive is 83 of the 87 players on the spring roster stuck around the pricey Silicon Valley area this summer, even though the Spartans could not offer housing or meals. Those working out this summer are making a "deposit on a WAC championship," said Hill, whose team fell three points shy of earning a berth in last year's Silicon Bowl. The next step begins by boosting a defense that, despite a plus-6 turnover margin, ranked 115th nationally in total defense (493.4 yards per game). "Hopefully, we're going to turn off the water faucet that has been running for two years," he said of the defensive woes. "That pipe has been leaking." Chris Wilkerson, who coaches the secondary, is the new defensive coordinator. He is expected to develop his new schemes around defensive end Philip Perry, who used the grab-and-strip technique — the so-called "Perry Pull" — to force seven fumbles last year, and safety Gerald Jones, who made eight interceptions.
• Introducing ...: Barry Lunney, a record-setting quarterback at Arkansas, who will coach the Spartan quarterbacks. In past years, Hill gave his offensive players Lunney's college tapes as study guides. Now reel life meets real world.
• Key figure: This summer 37 Spartans squat-lifted 550 pounds and 68 had vertical jumps of at least 30 inches, a stark improvement from the winter of 2001, when the totals were five and 18, respectively.
• Fun fact: Fullback Ezekiel Staples is a member of the school's Juggling Club.
7. SOUTHERN METHODIST MUSTANGS • 2002 record: 3-9/3-5 WAC. • Head coach: Phil Bennett. • Quick look: After carrying 110 times in his first two years, Keylon Kincade had 327 attempts last year, an average of 27.2 per game. While Kincade's 1,279 rushing yards were the most by a Mustang since Eric Dickerson's 1,617 in 1982, Bennett wants to ease Kincade's workload. "I would like to see Keylon get a third less carries," Bennett said. That would mean quick development from quarterback Richard Bartel, who started the final five games in 2002. Bartel, who canceled his contract as a pitcher in the Cincinnati Reds' organization to accept an SMU football scholarship, is expected to cut down on turnovers. Last year, opposing defensive ends scored three touchdowns after intercepting screen passes. • Introducing ...: Receiver Matt Rushbrook, a junior who moved from defensive back in the middle of last season. He had more than 100 receiving yards in each of the two scrimmages and the Red-Blue Game during the spring.
• Key figure: There are 51 freshmen and 10 seniors on the roster. • Fun fact: Kicker/punter Ryan Wolcott is the grandson of Doak Walker, SMU's only Heisman Trophy winner.
8. RICE OWLS • 2002 record: 4-7/3-5 WAC. • Head coach: Ken Hatfield. • Quick look: In 1999, Hatfield signed three quarterbacks, with Jeremy Hurd considered the most athletic and Jeff Vanover the toughest. As it turned out, Hurd moved to wideout, Vanover switched to linebacker and Kyle Herm, the shortest at 5 feet 8, won the quarterback job. Herm has a decent arm, but his strength is decoding defenses while running the wishbone. Herm is exceptionally good on the mid-line option, a sort of quarterback draw, which has become the Owls' signature play. Vanover, a pre-med student who worked for a Fortune 500 company this summer, is the defense's signal-caller. Vanover is petitioning the NCAA for an extra year because of a knee injury that kept him from playing in 2001.
• Introducing ...: Drew Clardy, a freshman who was signed for the sole duty of deep snapping. • Key figure: The Owls have not been to a bowl since 1961.
• Fun fact: It was in Rice Stadium in 1962 where President John F. Kennedy announced plans for the United States to send manned missions to the moon before the end of the 1960s.
9. TEXAS-EL PASO MINERS • 2002 record: 2-10/1-7. • Head coach: Gary Nord. • Quick look: After much debate and consultation with area high school officials, the Miners have decided to lift their ban on playing Friday night games. ESPN is considering moving one of the games to a Friday this season. "I think it would be good for the city to see how it went," Nord said. "I think it's going to come to that sooner or later." If only the Miners could decide on a quarterback. Nord narrowed the candidates to two, but won't name them until training camp, which is closed to the public except for the first 15 minutes of every practice. Since playing in Boise's Humanitarian Bowl in 2000, Nord's first season as head coach, the Miners have won four of 23 games. But the youth movement will receive a boost with seven home games this season, the most since 1983.
• Introducing ...: Aaron "Freaky" Francis, a second-year freshman who is expected to start at left cornerback. He is the nephew of NFL players James Francis and Ron Francis.
• Key figure: The Miners have had one winning season since 1988. • Fun fact: Quarterback Jordan Palmer is the brother 2002 Heisman Trophy winner Carson Palmer.
10. TULSA HURRICANE • 2002 record: 1-11/1-7 WAC. • Head coach: Steve Kragthorpe. • Quick look: Kragthorpe, who resigned as the Buffalo Bills' quarterback coach to return to college football, has wasted little time redesigning a program whose last winning season was in 1991. He implemented a 3-3-5 defensive scheme, hired his former boss, Charlie Stubbs, to run the West Coast offense, and revised the recruiting strategy. Of Stubbs, who will craft the game plan and call the plays, Kragthorpe joked, "You'd better be nice to your (graduate assistants) because they may hire you one day." Kragthorpe said he will add talent by recruiting heavily in a 250-mile radius of the school. "Their parents can see them play for the cost of a tank of gas," he said. For the present, Kragthorpe will turn to quarterback James Kllian, a junior who played eight-man football in high school. • Introducing ...: James Clancy, a 253-pound fullback who will double as a backfield blocker.
• Key figure: Kragthorpe is Tulsa's third head coach in five years.
• Fun fact: Kragthorpe's brother, Kurt, is a sportswriter for the Salt Lake City Tribune. "My father said, 'Where did I go wrong in life? I raised a sportswriter and a coach,' " Kragthorpe recalled.
