UH SPORTS
UH would listen to conference options
By Ferd Lewis and Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writers
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Frazier's admission comes as the board of directors from both the Western Athletic Conference, of which UH is a member, and the Mountain West Conference, which has said it will consider expansion, hold their annual meetings tomorrow at separate locations in California.
"Like I have said all along, we're in the WAC and we're just gonna wait and see what happens with the dominoes (once the Atlantic Coast Conference expands)," Frazier said. "I mean, nobody knows the way this landscape is gonna fall when these things take place."
"I would think that our program, where we stand as we sit here today, if we had an options, we would listen," Frazier said.
UH President Evan Dobelle has said, "It doesn't make sense for us to be in the WAC, given the options that may exist."
He said he believes MWC schools such as Brigham Young, Nevada-Las Vegas and San Diego State offer more attractive rivalries than WAC members Boise State and Louisiana Tech.
Other concerns, such as finances and visibility, "might be a close call" between the two conferences, Dobelle has said.
Frazier said, "I haven't sat down in a room with Dobelle and (Manoa chancellor Peter) Englert and talked (conferences)."
Nor, Frazier said, has he talked with the Mountain West about a possible role for UH. Although he described himself and MWC commissioner Craig Thompson as, "old friends," Frazier said, "I'm not gonna compromise him and call him and say, 'Hey, Craig, where are you at?' "
Frazier said he believes the WAC should expand into two divisions and, should some teams defect from the present Conference USA alignment, he thinks the addition of Texas Christian and Houston would be good for the WAC.
"If TCU or some of those other guys come in, the WAC is just as strong," Frazier said. "That is what (WAC commissioner) Karl (Benson) kept saying, so you have to watch that movement as well."
