The University of Hawai'i has pledged to raise its $20 million athletic department budget by 4 percent per year, more than double attendance in women's basketball over the next five seasons and undertake other improvements as part of the Western Athletic Conference's ambitious new Strategic Plan.

The details were contained in a nearly 50-page executive summary of the 479-page conference plan. The summary, first reported by the Fresno Bee yesterday and also obtained by The Advertiser, sets forth a series of benchmarks for conference members and the WAC overall in a wide range of areas from athletic performance to academics calculated to make the WAC "a premier conference."

"Premier" is defined as taking on, "... characteristics that 'look' more like the Pac-10 and Big 12 institutions," according to the summary. It compares WAC members with seven schools, including the University of Colorado, Iowa State, Oregon State and Washington State, to establish the benchmarks.

Manoa Chancellor Denise Konan, who is chairwoman of the WAC Board of Directors, which unanimously adopted the plan in June, said, "The thing that we're focused on as a board and as a conference is on raising the stature of our conference and this is a commitment on behalf of the whole institution to really play up on a level of excellence."

For UH, Konan said, "I think it is doable and it is also ambitious. We realize this is a bold plan and we knew that when we took it on, but we're very excited about it." She added, "I think the plan is ambitious for us but it is also very ambitious for our other members."

Commissioner Karl Benson called the plan "a road map for the success of the conference members and the WAC."

The plan is said, by people involved, to be an outgrowth of talks held in 2004 when the conference added Idaho, New Mexico State and Utah State. WAC Board members, at that time, felt a blueprint was needed to encourage the new members to become more competitive in the realigned nine-school conference and advance holdover institutions.

A notable omission is the absence of punitive measures for members that do not meet the benchmarks. Benson and Konan said they expect institutional self-interest and conference peer pressure to drive improvements.

One of the planks of the plan is for schools to average at least 80 percent of capacity of their home football stadiums by the close of the 2010 season. In UH's case, that would mean 40,000 at 50,000-seat Aloha Stadium, while San Jose State would have to raise its average by 242 percent and Utah State 60 percent.

According to the executive summary, UH reports an average of 70 percent (35,000) capacity over the last two years. Schools may use their own formula from among turnstile count, tickets sold or tickets distributed to satisfy the requirement.

UH announced a turnstile count of 22,480 for Saturday's game with Eastern Illinois and 29,358 tickets distributed. UH is averaging 25,327 turnstile and 30,683 tickets distributed through two home games this season.

In men's basketball, schools are expected to reach 70 percent of arena capacity. For UH, no increase would be required since the WAC said UH averaged 72 percent of capacity.

In women's basketball, where schools are asked to reach 20 percent of capacity, UH would be attempting to more than double its attendance average from 980 last year to 2,060 at the end of the 2010-2011 season.

In addition, UH is called upon to improve its placing in the Director's Cup standings, a measure of overall athletic performance, from its three-year average of 90th to 63rd.

In gender equity, UH would need to improve in five of six targeted areas — participation, scholarships, operational expense, coaching salaries and overall — by June 2011. It lists UH as already meeting standards for recruiting budget.

Seven UH sports are called on to raise their NCAA-calculated Academic Progress Rating while six others must maintain their standing.

UH is to file its strategic plan with the conference and hold a public hearing by April 2007.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com.