PCAA BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT : Haney Says a New Name Won’t Create a New Image

Jim Haney was introduced as the new commissioner of the Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. at a news conference Thursday and said that a new name, such as Big West or even Wild West, would not necessarily mean a new image for the conference.

“Changing the name won’t change the image,” Haney said. “Hard work and diligence can, though . . . whether the name changes or stays the same. It is the responsibility of the conference office to spread the word about the fine athletics and academics this conference has to offer so the PCAA gets the respect and admiration on a national level that it deserves.”

Haney, who has been commissioner of the Missouri Valley Conference for the last three years, is generally credited with saving that conference from extinction. Two schools--New Mexico State and West Texas State--had withdrawn from the conference, and a number of recruiting violations at other member institutions had tarnished the conference’s image when he took over.

Haney got the MVC its first national television exposure and arranged a title sponsorship for the league with a soft-drink company.

“Three years ago, the MVC was dead . . . or at least dying,” Haney, 39, said. “Now it’s considered one of the top 10 basketball conferences in the country. I hope that says something about how excited I am about the new challenges we’ll face here.

“During the interview process for this job, I saw a lot of similarities between the two conferences, especially in terms of the image problem.”

John Caine, UC Irvine athletic director and a member of the selection committee that hired Haney, is convinced they found the perfect man for the job.

“We were very fortunate that he was willing to make the change,” Caine said. “He had everything going for him back there. Now he’s come out here, and he has to go back to work.

“The committee was really impressed with the way he sold himself. He’s articulate, enthusiastic, young and full of energy.”

Haney, who was the youngest head basketball coach in the nation when he took over the program at Oregon in 1978, says he now will be “selling a conference that has a lot to sell.”

But he doesn’t expect to put together a national television package or get a title sponsorship for the PCAA right away. And he understands that the conference faces an uphill battle in trying to improve its image. He said he will start a conference newsletter and do everything possible to get the word out on the virtues of the PCAA.

“When I was an assistant commissioner in the Metro Conference, we were under the shadow of the ACC,” he said. “At the MVC, we were under the shadow of the Big Eight and the Big Ten. Here, we’re under the shadow of the Pac-10 and, to some extent, the WAC.

“There’s no switch you can flip, but you can work your way out of those shadows. You can’t wait for people to come to you, though. You have to carry your message to the people.”

‘Changing the name won’t change the image. Hard work and diligence can, though . . . whether the name changes or stays the same.’