Benson confident
of WAC’s unityWith league meetings on tap
next week, the commissioner sees
the 10 universities staying together
Western Athletic Conference commissioner Karl Benson said yesterday he remains confident the league's 10 universities will stay in the WAC, despite increasing speculation that expansion by the Mountain West Conference could lure one to four schools away to what is now an eight-team MWC.
Hawaii, Fresno State, Nevada and Boise State are the schools in question as both conferences prepare for their annual board of directors meetings next week.
The possible defection of Miami, Boston College and Syracuse from the Big East to the Atlantic Coast Conference and the nationwide trickle-down effect it could have add to the what-ifs. The ACC has invited the three schools to join its league; ACC officials are visiting the Miami campus today and tomorrow, according to a report yesterday in the Miami Herald.
"The ACC and Big East question has everybody watching, listening and waiting. We won't know what that will entail unless something happens. Everyone's trying to speculate what's going to happen, but I still believe the Mountain West doesn't offer more than what our schools are getting from the WAC," Benson said yesterday in a telephone interview. "I'm hoping our schools look at how valuable it is for them to be in the WAC. The Mountain West can only take schools from the WAC if they are willing to say yes to an invitation."
MWC commissioner Craig Thompson has said his league -- which is comprised of schools that broke away from a 16-team WAC in 1998 -- will discuss expansion this weekend at its meetings in Carlsbad, Calif.
Benson said he plans to have phone conversations with UH-Manoa Chancellor Peter Englert and the board members from the other nine WAC schools to go over the agenda of the meetings, which run Sunday through Tuesday at Half Moon Bay, Calif.
Benson said he had not spoken with UH president Evan Dobelle since Dobelle's statement on a local radio show last week that the WAC "doesn't make sense" for UH and that there are better rivalries for UH in the Mountain West.
"Evan Dobelle is not on the WAC board of directors, Peter Englert is. My communication is with Peter Englert," Benson said.
While much informal discussion is expected on conference affiliation, Benson said he expects the actual meetings to be "routine and non-controversial."
The board is expected to approve a recommendation from the WAC council of athletic directors and other officials to drop the six-credit rule.
The rule was designed to guarantee that athletes participating in postseason competition earned passing grades during the just-completed semester. But the rule was difficult to enforce because some schools' semesters ended too close to the postseason events. Hawaii's football team faced that situation before the Con- Agra Foods Hawaii Bowl. The Warriors players' grades were not certified, and UH was fined $5,000 by the WAC.