Unity is best strategy for WAC
By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Columnist
Normally for the week that marks the conclusion of the College World Series and the end of the NCAA calendar, this would be the quietest period of the year for college athletics.
But not this year, not when rumors have reached a roar and all the back-channel scurrying has raised a din and threat of lawsuits.
This is the week that figures to say a lot about the athletic landscape for a while. If the Atlantic Coast Conference succeeds in luring Miami, Boston College, Syracuse and, possibly even Virginia Tech, away from the Big East, then a frantic game of musical chairs ensues.
The ACC has set Monday, June 30, as the deadline to either make its move or back off ambitious expansion plans. If the choice is expansion by a handful, it would send shock waves from the suddenly Little East through Conference USA to the Western Athletic Conference.
If the WAC membership can hold its ground and be a little resourceful, it could emerge from realignment a stronger entity.
But that would be to suppose the disparate geographic elements that make up the nation's most far-flung I-A conference could trust one another a while. No small leap of faith given their flirtations.
If the western portion — Boise State, Fresno State, Hawai'i and Nevada — could pledge their allegiance and stop throwing themselves at the feet of the Mountain West for a while, then they might be able to count on the support from the central time zone.
It was an unmistakable sign of the unease and distrust in the central time zone schools that Rice, Southern Methodist and Tulsa attended meetings with Army, Navy, Tulane and the Patriot League two weeks ago about a possible collaboration.
If, in the face of ACC expansion, the WAC's two halves could stay together long enough to implement one of the two blueprints being passed around, they would find they could have a stronger conference without leaving.
The "Benson Plan," advanced by commissioner Karl Benson at this month's conference meetings, calls for the addition of two teams from CUSA — probably Texas Christian and Houston — to form a 12-team WAC.
The so-called "Yoda Plan" (www.westsports.com/yodaplan.pdf) proposes adding two members in the central time zone while making overtures to San Diego State and Nevada-Las Vegas of the MWC for a 14-team league.
Either could offer the considerable benefits of divisional play, reduced travel and potential for an enhanced television package, all the while assuring a stronger league than WAC members either have now or would likely be able to forge elsewhere.
Now, we wait to see what the WAC membership will make of the opportunities that could come its way as soon as this week.
