Sidelines
NOTHING. Nothing happened. Nothing is going to happen. Not for now. Not for a while. Perhaps, not ever. Trust comes hard
in the Mountain WestHawaii and Fresno State jumping to the Mountain West Conference?
No, not according to the Mountain West, not according to MWC commissioner Craig Thompson.
They haven't talked about it. They're not talking about it. They weren't even thinking about it. Promise.
"There is no great interest at this point," Thompson said.
Thompson addressed reporters yesterday in a teleconference to cap the fourth annual meeting of the MWC Board of Directors. There were a few of us on the line. Waiting, breathlessly, to ask about expansion. Waiting to see if there was an announcement to be made.
After all, these were the meetings that a May 19 Fresno Bee column (which was re-run in the Star-Bulletin) indicated could hold a MWC vote on realignment, a vote to include Hawaii and Fresno State.
This, of course, caused a great uproar. The column was based on signs and sources and arcane he-saids, including a former candidate for the Fresno State men's basketball coaching job allegedly closing his eyes and mouthing the letters "Y-E-S" in response to a question.
Very cloak and dagger. Very mysterious. Very "All the President's Men."
The columnist, John Canzano, warned us that MWC officials would deny everything, but added, "this is the same conference that met in an airport and formed itself in secret in May of 1998."
Good point.
And so, even if it seemed unlikely, even if we didn't see the same signs, even if all the dots weren't quite connecting, we were still listening, yesterday, to that conference call, waiting to see what would happen.
Nothing. Nothing happened. Nothing is going to happen, they insisted.
They're not even talking about it.
Promise.
It didn't even come up, Thompson said, except for the "commitment to the continuation of the current eight members, but not expansion specifically."
And there was no discussion "outside the context that we've got our eight institutions and our commitment to each other."
Eight is Enough. Eight is Enough. He sounded like Dick Van Patten. No one new is coming in.
These were world-class denials.
Almost too good.
But if something is cooking, it will have to come down the road. This was the time and this was the place and these were the people, and despite the conspiracy theories, nothing happened.
The moratorium remains -- no MWC expansion until 2004.
And if and when the MWC is looking, we'll know it, Thompson said: "I would say the more likely is we would put out some type of a statement or express some type of sentiment that we are looking to grow the league."
No mysteries, no conspiracies, no third-party leaks. So they say.
But you've got to watch those guys.
The MWC also moved to establish a new policy barring academic non-qualifiers from athletic participation. Thompson was asked if this was a well-placed message to, say, Fresno State?
"No," he said, "I think it was a message that our eight presidents were sending to each other, that we all truly are committed to academics."
Of course.
Kalani Simpson can be reached at ksimpson@starbulletin.com