Wednesday, June 3, 1998

UH looks to
profit from WAC
falling-out

Suddenly, there are
many positives
for Hawaii

By Cindy Luis
Star-Bulletin

Those lemons might not be so sour after all.

In fact, the teams remaining in the Western Athletic Conference have already started making lemonade.

A day after the eight breakaway schools decided against adding a ninth school, WAC members had set aside the bitterness and began concentrating on moving forward.

In the athletic ledger, the WAC appears to have come out ahead of its former members. Barring a legal judgement to retain its share of $3.1 million in NCAA basketball tournament revenues, the Western 8 -- one name being proposed by the defectors -- will have lost more than it gained by leaving.

From the University of Hawaii's standpoint, there are many positives. The UH athletic department has been told that it won't need to pay travel subsidies to remain in the WAC, a savings of $350,000-$500,000.

Nevada-Las Vegas had hosted the past two postseason conference tournaments in women's volleyball and men's and women's basketball. The departure of UNLV has opened the door for Hawaii to host the postseason conference tournaments.

There's also the postseason bowl situation. The WAC champion goes to the Holiday Bowl in San Diego, but with the defection of San Diego State to the new conference, that bowl tie with the WAC might be severed.

Enter the Bowl Games of Hawaii, with its inaugural Aloha Bowl Christmas Football Classic doubleheader at Aloha Stadium. One WAC team, two Pac-10 teams and an at-large team will be involved, with the possibility that the WAC champion would get a berth as early as 1999.

"Our position is that we have a deal with the WAC (for the second- or third-place team) this year, and depending on what UH did, we'd go from there," said Lenny Klompus, president of Bowl Games of Hawaii. "We have a tremendous affinity for Karl (WAC commissioner Karl Benson), and while I can't say we're going to take the No. 1 WAC team next year, we're certainly open to it.

"Our relationship with television is huge. We have ABC (for the first game) and ESPN (for the second game). This doubleheader was created for two reasons -- to have a built-in spot for UH (if the Rainbows win at least seven games) and to have a deal with the WAC."

This also could be the first step toward a college football bowl playoff. Klompus said more than 100 NCAA officials will be in town for the Christmas doubleheader to study the viability for a football playoff.

Yesterday's decision also might affect the scheduling in men's and women's basketball in this, the final year of the 16-team league. This was to be the last year of quadrant play, with Hawaii, Fresno State, San Jose State and San Diego State being paired with BYU, Utah, New Mexico and Texas-El Paso in the Pacific Division.

Now the sentiment from the WAC is to split the two divisions along the lines of the breakup, trading UTEP for San Diego State. This would align Hawaii with Fresno State, San Jose State, UTEP and the four teams the Rainbows played last year: TCU, SMU, Rice and Tulsa.

"I don't think, with the exception of football and (women's) volleyball, that anything is etched in stone," Hawaii athletic director Hugh Yoshida said. "I can't see us scheduling those (breakaway) people. We have no ties anymore.

"We need to be building relationships with the WAC teams. Our preference is to schedule the teams that have remained in the conference. We'll take a strong posture on that."

The breakup creates a precarious situation in men's basketball. There might not be an automatic berth for the league champion from the WAC or the Western 8 after the 1998-99 season.

According to NCAA regulations, a conference of at least six teams must be intact for five years before being granted an automatic berth. Although seven of the breakaway schools have been together for more than 30 years, they are creating a new, uncertified conference.

Of the remaining WAC schools, only three -- Hawaii, Fresno State and UTEP -- have been members longer than three years. The three Texas schools, Tulsa and San Jose State were expansion members in 1996-97, along with UNLV.

"I don't think the automatic berth is an issue, considering the competitiveness of the basketball programs," Yoshida said. "Plus, we're looking at two years before getting that automatic berth and the other group is looking at five.

"I'm sure there will be some interesting discussions when the athletic directors meet this summer."

Having Hawaii in the conference also helps keep the "Midnight Snack in the WAC" portion of ESPN's Big Monday basketball telecast. The Western 8 schools had complained that in order to meet ESPN's broadcast times for the East Coast, they had to start their games at 9 p.m. on a school night.

After this season, that's one less thing they will have to worry about.

"I'm feeling pretty good about the decision," Yoshida said. "At least after today we know what we need to do. We've come to the conclusion that the rest of the league wants us to stay. It will be business as usual for the WAC.

"What is scary is the changing landscape in the NCAA. We know there are changes bound to happen in the next few years. We're determined to be pro-active about our future."

In yesterday's vote, the breakaway schools were deadlocked, 4-4, on whether to add a ninth member. According to one source, a problem arose when the four schools that favored adding another team couldn't decide between Hawaii or Fresno State.