Sports Watch
"Playing in San Diego and Honolulu is a lot more glamorous than Waco or Lubbock," Sullivan said, referring to TCU's forays to Baylor and Texas Tech, respectively, before the demise of the Southwest Conference.
Uh, Pat, don't hold your breath.
Sure, TCU's now a member of the new WAC that expanded to 16 teams for football this season. But it all adds up to a rather bulky number. I almost got a hernia trying to carry all 16 football media guides.
So the WAC divided itself into two eight-team divisions - Pacific and Mountain - and took it a step further by forming four revolving quadrants so that eventually every team will play each other.
Under the setup, TCU isn't scheduled to play Hawaii until the year 2000.
The joke among the football coaches at their meeting last month in Las Vegas was that the new WAC probably would split up before all of the teams get to play each other. In Vegas, that would be even money.
For one thing, the new WAC has geography going against it. It's too far-flung, air-travel costs being what they are these days. And with 16 schools each having a different agenda, finding a compromise that would make everyone happy is almost an impossibility.
You don't think so?
Well, the new WAC - at least the 12-team baseball version of it - found that out yesterday in Las Vegas, where the baseball coaches met to decide on three things:
1) How to determine the three at-large berths to go with the three division winners in the playoffs;
2) Increasing the number of umpires in a game from its current two to four;
3) The site of the WAC playoffs next May.
After a 61/2-hour meeting at the Rio Hotel, none of the above was resolved. "We went over and over and over and couldn't decide on anything," said UH baseball coach Les Murakami.
MOST of the time was spent on trying to come up with a playoff format. The majority of the coaches found unpalatable the athletic directors' recommendation that the three teams be determined on the best won-lost percentage of league games.
"As it is right now, We've got the most to lose under that proposal," said Murakami, whose Rainbows are in the toughest of the three divisions.
They're in the Pacific Division with Fresno State, San Diego State and newcomer San Jose State. Making up the Desert Division are UNLV, Rice, TCU and New Mexico. In the Mountain Division - clearly the weakest of the three - are BYU, Air Force, Utah and Grand Canyon.
Murakami and Fresno State's Bob Bennett feel that even the third- or fourth-place team in their division would be stronger than the Mountain Division's runner-up. Yet, the latter would have a better chance of making the playoffs under the ADs' proposal.
The coaches tabled the matter, telling Bennett and UNLV's Fred Dallimore to try and come up with another plan by Sept. 15, when a decision will be made, most likely by a conference-call vote.
REGARDING the site of the WAC baseball playoffs, Murakami said that only three schools thought they couldn't host. Every other school thought it could, which made Murakami laugh.
"In all reality, us guys (Hawaii) and Fresno are the only two places that can draw," Murakami said. But he and Bennett are willing to see it held in Las Vegas, if Cashman Field is available during the second week of May.
"Vegas is OK with me," Murakami said. "All the other WAC stuff (playoffs) is there - football, basketball and the women's whatever."