WAC Expansion

[50's PONY]

July 25, 2003, 10:07PM


WAC looking to add two teams
Commissioner says conference wants to split in two divisions
By BRIAN McTAGGART
Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle

BOISE, Idaho -- Western Athletic Conference commissioner Karl Benson said Friday during his state of the league address that the conference would like to expand to 12 teams and split into two divisions.

Speaking at the WAC preseason football media gathering, Benson said the league's athletic directors expressed interest during a meeting last fall of adding two teams and splitting into eastern and western divisions.

The WAC has 10 teams, only four of which are in the Central Time Zone -- Rice, SMU, Tulsa and Louisiana Tech. Adding two more schools from the Central Time Zone would allow the conference to have two six-team divisions and reduce travel.

Boise State, Hawaii, Fresno State, San Jose State, Nevada and Texas-El Paso would be in the west, with Rice, Louisiana Tech, SMU, Tulsa and two other schools in the east.

Benson said the conference toyed with the idea of splitting into divisions in 2000 but shelved the idea until last fall. Now that the dominoes have been put in motion for nationwide realignment with Virginia Tech and Miami leaving the Big East for the Atlantic Coast Conference, Benson believes the WAC needs to be proactive.

"From a timing standpoint, everything rests in the Big East's hands, and we're waiting for the Big East to decide what their structure is going to be," he said. "We are prepared that if the Big East goes in the direction they're headed and extends invitations to some Conference USA schools, that we'll be prepared to react in a way to put us in a positive position."

Benson wouldn't identify which schools the WAC would target, but Houston -- which currently competes in C-USA -- is believed to be on the list. TCU, which left the WAC for C-USA following the 2000 season, and Tulane are options.

"We have identified some particular schools we thought could be a good fit," he said. "The six-team Central Time Zone division is still a top priority for us, but I've been able to say as the dominoes fall that there may be schools available to the WAC that weren't available to us in 2000 when we started to go down the division route."

Not surprisingly, the WAC's football coaches would like the league to split into divisions to make travel easier and promote regional rivalries.

"Any time you can play someone close it helps everybody," Rice coach Ken Hatfield said. "You have a better chance for fans of other schools to come to the games and keep an interest. If we were to expand in the WAC and only play two teams from (the west), it would help attendance. Financially, it would make a big difference, too."

By having 12 teams, the WAC would also be eligible for a conference championship game, which it held from 1996-98.

"I'd like to have a playoff game," Fresno State coach Pat Hill said. "When they talk about expanding the league to 12 teams and two divisions so we don't have to fly all across the country, I'm good with that."

Meanwhile, Benson believes the WAC will be able to stay together should other mid-major conferences such as C-USA or the Mountain West target one of its schools for expansion. The Mountain West has formed an expansion subcommittee and could try to pry away a WAC team.

"We want to be able to build our assets to the point that if and when Conference USA or Mountain West extended an invitation to one of our schools those schools would be able to evaluate what they have in the WAC and say `no' to those conferences," he said.

In a plan presented to officials from the six Bowl Championship Series conferences in April, the WAC proposed adding a fifth BCS bowl game. Under the plan, one of the 10 bowl slots would be given to the team that had the best BCS ranking at the end of the year from the non-BCS conferences.

That team would come from the WAC in three of the last four years -- TCU in 1999, Fresno State in 2001 and Boise State last year. Marshall was the highest-ranked non-BCS team in 2000.

"That proposal was favorably received," Benson said. "We have shown the WAC is a conference that needs to be considered."

Benson also said the WAC has postponed renegotiating its contract with ESPN, which expires at the end of this season, until the fallout of conference realignment is over.

"We have proven over the course of the last few years with ESPN that the WAC is a valuable commodity," he said. "And we have shown that our ratings have actually been better than the Conference USA and Mountain West over the last two years."

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[Silk]

I would think that TCU would have to be part of that expansion to make it viable. Not that I like TCU - try being an SMU grad in Frog country, like I am - but TCU would bring a higher-profile team into the league, raise the level of recruiting and would solidify the DFW market for the WAC.

And Houston, as bad as their team is, would solidify the Houston market with Rice already on board. I've been really leery of staying in the WAC, but if TCU and Houston were added, I might re-think my stance.