WAC new and improved

By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Staff Writer

When Rice, Southern Methodist, Texas-El Paso and Tulsa announced they were leaving the Western Athletic Conference, it was probably all University of Hawai'i-Manoa women's volleyball coach Dave Shoji could do to keep from asking: "How soon can you go?"

The reasons: "I think all three (new) teams will upgrade the quality of play in the WAC," Shoji said. "They have all been to the NCAA Tournament in the last two years and you can't say that about the teams that left."

In the new nine-team 2005-'06 WAC that officially emerged from Friday's realignment, women's volleyball looks to be among the biggest winners.

And in a conference that has seen huge change — 13 schools having departed and six having come aboard since 1998 — this latest round figures to be among the least disruptive. Among the four so-called "core" sports — men's and women's basketball, football and women's volleyball that all nine WAC members must participate in — the conference hasn't fared too badly in this latest reshuffling.

Volleyball will improve, men's basketball has a chance to and football and women's basketball should be little changed. Baseball figures to take the biggest hit, losing nine-time champion Rice, but gains a wide-open race. And softball should find its lineup upgraded.

The big question in any conference shakeup is: Will the new members rise up and add to the whole or drag it down? "We're expecting that, under the WAC umbrella, those three (new) programs are going to improve," said Karl Benson, WAC commissioner. "We think they're going to bring value to the conference."

Indeed, the trend in the past two rounds of expansion has been toward bringing something to the party. Louisiana Tech won the WAC football title in its first year (2001), Boise State has dominated football since its second year (2002) and Nevada has won at least a share of the past two regular-season men's basketball titles after joining in 2000-'01.

The most immediate improvement should come this fall in women's volleyball. Rice, SMU, Tulsa and UTEP, who become part of Conference USA on Friday, had but one NCAA Tournament appearance in nine years. Contrast that with New Mexico State (30-3), which won the Sun Belt Conference, and Idaho (17-13), a Big West runner-up, who both went to the NCAA Tournament in 2004. Utah State took UH to five games in a non-conference meeting, as many games as the departing schools combined.

"Obviously, everything remains to be seen, but I just think the ones we are getting are better volleyball programs in general," Shoji said.

That would be good news for UH which, under the old 10-team WAC alignment, often found itself in the position of being Snow White and the Nine Dwarfs and often lacked for competition in the conference season.

Riley Wallace, who, as he enters his 19th season is the dean of WAC basketball coaches, likes the new look in hoops, too. "I look at this league as being as strong as it has been," Wallace said.

"Probably the best of the (departed programs) is UTEP and I think Utah State will fill that void," Wallace said. "They've been to the postseason a lot, been nationally ranked and draw good crowds, so I think that's a wash."

Utah State has made six consecutive postseason appearances and its coach, Stew Morrill, was a veteran of the WAC, having spent a decade at Colorado State.

The big question is if New Mexico State will return to prominence and fill the gap left by Tulsa which was once a power. The Golden Hurricane, however, slid of late going from a leader to also-ran with a 9-20 season.

New Mexico State's Aggies were in the NCAA Tournament six times in the 1990s under Neil McCarthy and Lou Henson and are rebuilding their program under first-year coach Reggie Theus.

"I think they have potential," Wallace said. "They had it going before and they're putting some money in and trying to get back there. I don't think it will take long at all for them to be as good as Tulsa was."

Meanwhile, little is expected to change in football where The Big Three — Boise State, Fresno State and UH have combined for 118 victories since the 2001 season, the third most of any Division I-A conference top trio — remain in place.

The departing teams accounted for but three bowl appearances in nine seasons, and WAC officials are hopeful at least one of the new members will step up as some of their predecessors have.

In softball, the addition of Utah State and New Mexico State (Idaho doesn't field a team) is a good trade for the WAC, gaining two veteran programs in exchange for a decent Tulsa program and fledgling second-year UTEP (Rice and SMU don't play softball).

"We should be somewhat better and more competitive," said UH coach Bob Coolen. "They (the two Aggies) bring a lot to the conference and have the ability to beat a Fresno State, us or anybody else. We know them from our time in the Big West where they were good programs."

The biggest questions loom in baseball which not only lost nine-time champion Rice (the other three departing schools did not have baseball) but adds New Mexico State and affiliate member Sacramento State. Baseball now goes to an unbalanced regular-season schedule and adds a postseason tournament.

While baseball will miss the hefty boost in Ratings Percentage Index points Rice supplied — the equivalent of six games against a top 10 opponent for each team — the setback will be somewhat offset by giving more teams a shot at the title.

"I'm going to miss Rice and the quality team they were, but there could be something of a plus in that they were a team nobody was able to knock off and now, all of a sudden, we've all got a chance (to win the conference)," said Mike Trapasso, UH coach.

"But, really, it is all a big question mark right now. Your guess is as good as mine how this will all play out," Trapasso said.

In that, he could be the spokesman for much of the conference.

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