By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Columnist

The Western Athletic Conference Board of Directors have opened three days of meetings in Lahaina to plot what its president, Boise State's Robert Kustra, has heralded as a "new beginning" for the reshuffled conference.

If those who make up the board, the presidents and chancellors from the nine member schools, really want to make a statement about where this WAC is headed and not just slap a new coat of paint on the conference, this is their chance because the issues await them today and tomorrow.

Let us count the ways: Academics, compliance, overall commitment to excellence, image ...

The first thing the board should do is reject the recommendations of the WAC Council and retain the so-called "six credit rule" to keep some meaning to the term student-athlete.

The rule, which the WAC adopted three years ago on the heels of the Big 12 Conference, Southeastern Conference and others, requires schools to certify their athletes have passed at least six units in the most recent semester in order to be eligible for postseason play.

At Hawai'i, as in most schools in the WAC, that really isn't much to ask. It just means getting a D or better in two of four classes. To abandon the rule and settle for the new NCAA standard that would, in actuality not require any certification until the bowl season had expired, would be a step backward.

Then there is the matter of encouraging excellence on the field. If the WAC is to reach its potential and be anything more than a parking lot for schools without options, it has to reward those who bring the national titles, exposure and money.

The way you do that is by giving the biggest share of the rewards — NCAA and TV money — to those that actually get to the NCAA tournaments and play in TV games.

There's no underestimating the importance of this since it has played a part in much of the turnover the WAC has experienced this past decade. Teams that produce don't want to subsidize bottom feeders.

One item you won't find on the agenda, but should be there, is replacing Fresno State president John Welty as a conference representative on the NCAA Division I Board of Directors.

Welty has done a commendable job at Fresno in several areas, but athletics isn't one of them. Not when the NCAA has repeatedly sanctioned the school and the Office of Civil Rights is back again investigating Title IX complaints.

Also, questions about institutional control have hovered over the school since Welty hired Jerry Tarkanian in 1995 and are still relevant.

In a conference that likes to advertise itself as the W.A.C. — a place "Where Actions Count" — we wait to see by their actions this week just how "new" of a beginning its directors really have in mind.

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