Commissioner Karl Benson, who proposed the extension, said the WAC's Board of Directors passed the rule at its annual meeting.

ESPN Regional Television, which owns and operates the game matching a WAC representative versus a team from Conference USA, had been granted the exemption for the first two years of the bowl with the possibility that other WAC members could be invited after that.

But heading into 2004, the third year of the game, some conference members had questioned whether the practice should continue.

Reportedly some schools wanted their teams to be considered while at least one school wanted its own exemption for another bowl.

The new rule "eliminates the doubt that could occur if we go into early December with several teams vying for bowls," Benson said. "The league recognizes that this bowl still needs Hawai'i in the game."

WAC policy has guaranteed the top two bowl-eligible teams in the conference standings berths in two of the three bowls — the Silicon Valley Classic and Humanitarian Bowl are the others — the conference has contracts with.

Last year the WAC placed teams in four bowls — Hawai'i, Fort Worth, Humanitarian and Silicon Valley — and won three.

To be bowl-eligible this year, UH must win seven of its final 11 games. The Warriors play 12 games but the NCAA said Florida Atlantic, the Sept. 4 season-opening opponent, counts as Division I-AA and can't be counted toward the seven wins UH must have.

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

Benson addresses WAC's future

Karl Benson recently marked his 10th anniversary as commissioner of the Western Athletic Conference, a period that has seen wide changes for a conference that has been home of University of Hawai'i-Manoa athletics for a quarter-century.

UH will become the senior member of the WAC July 1, 2005 when Rice, Southern Methodist, Texas-El Paso and Tulsa move to the more geographically friendly Conference USA and Idaho, New Mexico State and Utah State replace them.

In Honolulu for meetings with the Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl, Benson, who last week received a contract extension through 2007, addressed questions surrounding the UH and the WAC.

Q: How stable is the WAC's immediate future?

A: "I think this (addition of Idaho) puts us at a juncture where we have a chance to have a five-year window to build upon and to, hopefully, concentrate on growing the nine-team WAC and not looking in the rear-view mirror all the time.

"The threat of the Mountain West is over and the schools under the WAC umbrella can go forward and concentrate on being the best they can be and making the WAC the best it can be. We haven't had this type of environment in the last six years."

Q: What will the changes mean for the WAC in 2005 and beyond?

A: "For our remaining members of the WAC, this arrangement will (mean) a more efficient, more productive group of schools. With the anticipation of our teams delivering on the field and court, the WAC will continue to have the name recognition we have had. Obviously, the (member) names have changed but the WAC still has tremendous name recognition and tremendous value in the marketplace."

Q: Some people put the blame for the changing membership on the commissioner. How would you answer that?

"People are entitled to their opinions. But the WAC is not an organization that has binding authority. Institutions historically do what they believe to be in their best interests. My job is to create and provide an environment that allows a school to reach for its maximum potential under this organization called the WAC. If another opportunity comes along and some schools decide they want to be somewhere else, there's not a whole lot I can do."

Q: Before tendering an invitation to Idaho, did the WAC consider pursuing former members Nevada-Las Vegas or San Diego State?

A: "There are some things I can't comment upon, but I can say we evaluated all of our options and what was realistic and attainable. This (the 2005-06 WAC) is the group that makes the most sense, for now."

Q: With the new alignment for 2005, how do you see the new WAC being perceived?

A: "Leagues are largely defined by how they do in non-conference football, bowl games and the NCAA basketball tournament. That's how the WAC is going to be defined, too.

"I think that the league that is able to place a team in the new (expanded 2006) Bowl Championship Series structure will be viewed well. That's my goal for the WAC: Have our champion in contention for a BCS spot that eventually has our team playing in the Fiesta Bowl, Sugar Bowl etc. I think the continuing schools we have have just as good a shot as anybody to be that team.

"That holds true, also, for the NCAA basketball tournament. We need to have multiple teams in the tournament, which we've had, and we need those teams to have success. Success helps us not just from a financial standpoint but also a prestige standpoint."

Q: Given the perspective of your decade as commissioner, has the job been what you thought it would be?

A: "It has certainly gone by quickly. It has been challenging and much harder than I expected. But we've been able to overcome membership changes and our teams have been successful to the point that allows me to be out front putting the WAC in a spot for greater attention."

Q: After going on the road the first two years, what are the chances of UH hosting a "Bracket Buster" basketball game this season?

A: Hawai'i has definitely had its travel demands stretched, and ESPN recognizes it is an important part of the package. We're doing everything we can to make it possible for (Hawai'i) to host a game."