Posted on: Friday, May 28, 2004
Idaho lobbying to join WAC
By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Staff Writer
When the Western Athletic Conference Board of Directors meet next week to discuss expansion, their choices seem cut and dried: invite Idaho in some form or stay at eight members.
The options of adding anybody else or going to 10 schools are evaporating with presidents of North Texas and Louisiana-Lafayette saying they plan to remain in the Sun Belt Conference.
The WAC board, comprised of conference presidents and chancellors, opens meetings Thursday at Half Moon Bay, Calif., where expansion tops the agenda following the announced departures of Texas-El Paso, Rice, Southern Methodist and Tulsa for July 2005.
The WAC hoped to add at least one new member to New Mexico State and Utah State, who come aboard in 2005 so that Louisiana Tech, which would otherwise be left without a "partner" in the central time zone, would not be stranded 800 miles from the nearest member.
The other members for 2005-'06 will be Hawai'i, Boise State, Fresno State, Nevada and San Jose State.
North Texas, which is 30 miles north of Dallas, had been viewed as the best fit for the WAC. But president Norval Pohl said, "we just think that after everything we analyzed, the Sun Belt was best for us right now."
Pohl said, "we really want to move to more of a regional-type conference, but there just isn't an opportunity right now for us. The Sun Belt comes as close to that as we think we can accomplish, so we're going to stay with the Sun Belt."
Louisiana-Lafayette president Ray Authement said, "we're staying with the Sun Belt for geographic reasons, which translates into financial reasons."
Despite efforts by the Sun Belt to bring the school back and the prospect of continuing without a time zone "partner," Louisiana Tech still "plans on remaining a member of the WAC," athletic director Jim Oakes said.
Meanwhile, Idaho, another Sun Belt member, has lobbied hard for an invitation from the WAC. The school spent more than an hour on a conference call with WAC athletic directors Tuesday and will video conference with the Board of Directors next week. WAC commissioner Karl Benson visited the Moscow, Idaho, campus last week.
"We feel positive about (the) interactions," said Robert Spear, Idaho athletic director. "We feel positive about what we could bring to the WAC."
Benson declined comment, "until after the board is prepared to make an announcement."
Idaho's campus and facilities are about "three football fields" from the Washington state border, a spokesman said, and 300 miles north of WAC member Boise State.
The Vandals' inclusion would give the conference balanced (four home, four away games) scheduling in football and provide a travel partner for the Broncos. In addition, all 16 sports (nine women and seven men) the school has are also WAC offerings.
If the issue of membership for Idaho bogs down, one option reportedly being floated is to offer Idaho a football-only membership. It isn't clear if Idaho would accept on those terms.
At the Sun Belt meetings, Pohl said Idaho officials, "explained their interest in the WAC was pretty much the same reason we didn't have interest in the WAC and that was travel costs. With the Sun Belt (Idaho) has to go to Florida and that doesn't make any more sense for them than it does for us to go to San Jose (State) or Hawai'i."
Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.
