Posted on: Friday, October 24, 2003

Schools romancing MWC

By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Columnist

So, what is it like being the college football version of Joe Millionaire? We tried to ask the suddenly popular Mountain West Conference, an object of determined courtship and considerable sucking up by many college presidents and athletic directors these days. But with so many administrators lining up to offer proposals, it was take-a-number time at MWC headquarters, where the entry hall carpet is being worn thin by the parade of prostrating suitors.

With the University of Hawai'i, Boise State, Fresno State, Nevada and Texas-El Paso (are we leaving anybody out?) all pleading by phone, fax, e-mail, back channels and, perhaps soon, even the Goodyear blimp, to be taken in as members, everyday is Valentine's Day at the MWC.

While the Western Athletic Conference was trying to put a happy face on the arrival of New Mexico State and Utah State yesterday to replace defecting Rice, Southern Methodist and Tulsa, half the remaining schools were knocking on the MWC's door, beseeching it to take them, soon, please.

It can't be a pretty sight watching so many grown men and women, university officials all, beg, cajole and back-stab.

We are told, for instance, that Boise State president Bob Kustra has already talked to seven of the eight MWC presidents while his athletic director has made the rounds of fellow ADs. Also that Fresno State's president has been out playing golf with some folks from the MWC.

And they haven't even entered the negotiation phase of the competition, the point where school officials are invited to bring their checkbooks and submit seven-figure letters of credit.

For UH and UTEP, who were for decades aligned with the very same MWC members under the banner of the old WAC, this has to be a little like burglars ripping off your house and then having to buy back your furniture from them.

The funny thing is that the romancing could all be for naught, a frenzied exercise in futility for most of the suitors. If MWC athletic directors have their wish — and, remember, it is the very conservative presidents who ultimately make the call — the No. 1 and possibly only pick on the list might be none of the above.

The buzz is that if an offer were tendered today, the MWC's choice would be Texas Christian of Conference USA. And that, should TCU stay put, Boise State would be the safe, compromise choice.

Without assurances that a vastly-expanded conference would mean a heftier TV package or an invitation from the Bowl Championship Series, the betting is that the MWC may take one and, at most, two.

The one sure thing is that there figure to be several broken hearts.

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