By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Columnist

It will be the new-look nine-school Western Athletic Conference that gathers around the table for three days of annual athletic director's meetings in Arizona beginning today.

Idaho, New Mexico State and Utah State will pull up chairs where Rice, Southern Methodist, Texas-El Paso and Tulsa once sat, previewing what the WAC will officially look like come July 1.

How collegial and forward-thinking the new lineup might be figures to get an early test, before the first round of hors d'oeuvres, when bowl policy comes up for discussion.

At issue, with just two guaranteed bowl berths for WAC teams and a structure built for three teams, is what to do with the University of Hawai'i's "understanding" with the Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl.

How the reshaped WAC handles this potentially sticky issue is likely to say a lot about how the nation's most geographically spread conference goes about remaking itself.

The hope and, indeed, the necessity is that it will find a common ground to work from instead of an issue that quickly divides.

It was, in part, failure to work together that helped force two of the last WAC breakups. And, with the challenges this conference already faces, the last thing it needs is to get off to a rocky start.

The potential rub is the WAC has had a policy of guaranteeing bowls to its top two teams and assuring UH a berth in the hometown Hawai'i Bowl provided the Warriors were bowl eligible. But that was hammered out when there were three bowls — the Silicon Valley Football Classic (San Jose, Calif.), MPC Computers Bowl (Boise, Idaho) and Hawai'i Bowl — reserved for the WAC. It is a tougher fit now.

With the NCAA having refused to relicense Silicon Valley, there are but two bowls locked in and the fear in several quarters is that if the Hawai'i deal is preserved a team that finishes higher than the Warriors in the standings could be left out.

Meanwhile, there is also the possibility the Warriors could be bowl-eligible and shut out of their backyard bowl if the WAC changes its policy.

So, it will be interesting to see how reports of a compromise proposal pushed by commissioner Karl Benson are welcomed. While Benson works to pick up a berth elsewhere there may be a way to cover all the bases and keep everybody happy.

If, for example, the WAC is able to place one or more of its top two finishers in another bowl — as it has done the past two years — that could open up the Hawai'i Bowl for UH, should the Warriors be bowl-eligible.

You've got to figure that either — or both — Boise State and Fresno State will finish with a record suitable to place them in any number of bowls. Coming off 11-1 and 9-3 seasons respectively, both could begin the year in the Top 25, where they finished 2004.

With a little luck, there may be a way out of the bowl pickle for the WAC if the membership is willing to work at it. The question is: How will the new WAC react?

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