Posted on: Thursday, June 2, 2005

ANALYSIS
UH plays key role in WAC's future

By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Staff Writer

There is a great deal of symbolism to be found in the Western Athletic Conference Board of Directors annual meetings coming to these shores for the first time this weekend.

When the presidents or chancellors who represent the nine member institutions of the new-look 2005-06 WAC convene in Lahaina Sunday for three days, the University of Hawai'i will be the senior member at the rearranged table.

Soon to enter the 27th year of membership in the only conference that has represented both its men's and women's athletic programs, UH replaces Texas-El Paso, one of four schools leaving for Conference USA, as the senior institution.

Which is altogether fitting since UH has more invested, more riding on the future of the recast conference and more experience to offer toward plotting its future.

Separated by more than 2,500 miles from its nearest Division I-A opponent, UH has come to learn the hard way how the political and financial winds that have swept the nation's most geographically scattered conference can impact its situation here.

Between the time UH joined the WAC on July 1, 1979 and when July 1, 2005 rolls around, UH will have witnessed the comings and goings — mostly goings — of 19 of its brethren and felt every tremor of the movement.

Above and beyond the cost of sending out for new stationary every couple years, that is powerful incentive to become a force in building consensus and setting conference policy.

"The WAC has nearly a half-century of history but this is a new beginning," Board President Robert Kustra of Boise State said in a statement. "The membership is energized and it is vital that we chart our course as a premier Division I-A conference."

No easy task with such a new and disparate membership scattered across five time zones and separated by a difference of nearly $16 million, from top to bottom, in athletic budgets. All are hurdles the WAC, in its incarnations of the previous decade, have been unable to overcome with any consistency.

One thing the WAC will have going for itself for the first time since its founding in 1962 is that all its members will be public institutions. And, with few other affiliation options, they are all in the same boat for the moment.

This is where Manoa Chancellor Peter Englert, athletic director Herman Frazier, senior women's administrator Marilyn Moniz-Kaho'ohanohano and faculty representative Peter Nicholson, all of whom represent UH at some level of conference decision making, come in.

Englert is UH's representative to the board, a role assigned him by former UH president Evan Dobelle and reaffirmed by interim president David McClain. The others represent UH on the WAC Council, which makes recommendations to the board.

All except Nicholson, who replaces Steve Martin, have been in their positions going on three years — in Moniz-Kaho'ohanohano's case with 16 years — or more. That passes for considerable seniority and experience in the revolving door WAC.

Already, in the three-day session on Maui the WAC is poised to take up several important issues beginning with its strategic and marketing plans, which are intended to lift the profile of the conference by setting goals.

Then there is the issue of the so-called six-credit rule, which will be an early indication of how the new conference views its academic mission. The rule, which was enacted three years ago, requires schools to certify that their athletes have passed a minimum of six credit hours in the previous grading period to be eligible to play in the postseason. The council has recommended rescinding the rule in favor of a less rigorous NCAA alternative.

In addition, there is the matter of instant replay review of football officiating. Most Division I-A conferences will have some form of it in place this football season and what the WAC has been wrestling with for months is how much to undertake.

And, as the new WAC settles in, those figure to be some of the easier issues it confronts.

When remaining WAC schools sat down this time last year and took stock of their future, it was reportedly felt that meeting in an established conference city would send a message about the league moving forward. Said commissioner Karl Benson: "Hawai'i was the logical choice."

Beginning this weekend UH needs to follow through by assuming the role of a leader in the new WAC.

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