UH still being considered for Mountain West

By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Staff Writer

The Mountain West Conference is moving toward adding one or two schools and the University of Hawai'i is among those still under consideration, commissioner Craig Thompson said yesterday.

Thompson said the list of potential candidates "is less than eight," but refused to name the other schools the conference's board of directors discussed during its 1-hour, 15-minute teleconference Monday.

They are believed to be Boise State, Fresno State, Nevada, Texas Christian and Texas-El Paso. TCU is in Conference USA and the remainder, including UH, are currently in the Western Athletic Conference.

Thompson said the board has asked him to gather "some more information from a financial perspective" about what the potential new members would mean in upcoming negotiations with ESPN and the Bowl Championship Series.

Thompson said he expects a decision in "23 to 53 days" and more likely by the end of this month. "I think it could happen very quickly," he said.

Only six of the conference's eight presidents took part in Monday's meeting with two schools represented by a vice president and a faculty representative.

The MWC, which is composed of eight schools — Air Force, Brigham Young, Colorado State, New Mexico, Nevada-Las Vegas, San Diego State, Utah and Wyoming — that broke away from the 16-team WAC in 1999, lifted its four-year moratorium on expansion in May.

"For 4 1/2 years I have felt pretty good about (the original) eight," Thompson said. "I still feel very comfortable about our eight, but I think we can strengthen ourselves with additional members."

Thompson said: "I think we should expand because of renegotiations with ESPN and additional markets. There are some people who can help our RPI (Ratings Percentage Index), not just in football. I think there's some strength for scheduling options. We're at a bare minimum in several sports."

A nine-school conference would allow a balanced four home games, four away games in football while a 10-team conference would allow for travel partners.

While nine-, 10- and 12-member conference models were discussed, Thompson said he, "didn't hear any great sentiment" for a 12-member conference.

Thompson said, "If you're asking me personally, I don't think 12 is the number."

With the MWC in danger of having more teams bowl-eligible this year than it has available bowls (three), Thompson was asked if having a bowl tie-in would be a consideration. "Yes it is and there are potential candidates that would deliver or bring with them bowl berths."

UH (Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl), Boise State (Humanitarian Bowl) and Texas Christian (Forth Worth Bowl) all fit that category. CBS has said the Sun Bowl, in El Paso, Texas, will maintain its Big Ten-Pac-10 tie.

It will take agreement by at least six of the conference's eight members to expand.

Thompson said he has not spoken to any UH officials but confirmed that a board member he would not identify had talked to UH President Evan Dobelle.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.