Big West Considers Options as Realignment Appears Near

Conference USA officials are expected to invite Western Athletic Conference schools Texas Christian and Southern Methodist to join the conference on Monday, which will likely start a chain reaction that could reshape the Big West Conference.

The move would clear the way for WAC officials to offer Boise State a spot, with a slim possibility that other Big West schools will make the jump as well, according to Big West sources. WAC presidents have tentatively scheduled a meeting Oct. 17 to discuss their future.

Dennis Farrell, Big West commissioner, is expected to act accordingly and bring Big West presidents and chancellors together, should the situation require action.

That could lead the Big West to be reformed as a conference of California schools. UC Riverside, currently a Division II school, will be asked to join Cal State Fullerton, Long Beach State, UC Irvine, Pacific, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and UC Santa Barbara, according to sources.

Either Cal State Northridge or Sacramento State, both in the Big Sky Conference, would also be asked to join. Such a conference could be in place as soon as the fall of 2001 and no later than 2002, according to a source in the conference.

Farrell declined to speculate on the makeup of the Big West should Boise State and other schools join the WAC.

“We would not have to make a quick decision,” Farrell said. “There is a lot of time. We would meet just to talk about what direction to take.”

Any school changing conferences must give one year’s notice before July 1. Nevada, which is leaving the Big West for the WAC next season, did so last spring.

Still, events may overtake conference officials.

According to a Big West source, presidents for the conference’s remaining football schools--Utah State, Boise State, New Mexico State, North Texas and Idaho--met in the last month to consider their options.

WAC officials have been interested in all those schools except North Texas. One scenario had Boise State, Utah State, Idaho and New Mexico State joining the WAC. That has since been scaled back, with Boise State and Louisiana Tech topping the WAC’s new short list.

One difficulty is that under current NCAA rules at least six schools must be together for five years for the league to have teams qualify for Division I championship tournaments. Another NCAA rule states that at least six schools in a conference must have been on the Division I level for eight years.

San Luis Obispo has been in the Big West only three seasons and on the Division I level for five seasons. It will meet the five-year requirement by the fall of 2001, but would have another year to go before qualifying under both rules.

California school officials are exploring whether a school must qualify under both rules. They also are investigating whether Northridge, which plays softball in the Big West, or Sacramento State, which plays baseball in the conference, already qualify as conference members.

Those are just details of what appears to be an inevitable breakup. It is a forgone conclusion among Big West officials, sources said, that both sides are seeking separation.

The eastern schools are looking to better their football situations. California schools want to eliminate costly road trips to Las Cruces, N.M., Moscow, Idaho, and Logan, Utah.

“In a couple years, this conference is going to look different,” Utah State Athletic Director Rance Pugmire said. “The California schools will dictate that. From what we’re hearing, they are interested in a cost-containment league and an all-California league.”

So adamant are California school officials that they have even explored the possibility of breaking away from the Big West and forming a new conference. It would be a “last resort,” according to several conference sources, because a new conference would not receive automatic berths into NCAA championship tournaments for at least two years.

The California schools, though, are not the only ones in motion.

Utah State officials footed the bill to bring WAC Commissioner Karl Benson to Logan last week. Benson visited North Texas two weeks ago. All the Big West football schools have spent the last year lobbying the WAC to be accepted.

“Even if the WAC doesn’t take any Big West teams, I think the football schools will just pick up other schools and form their own conference,” an official from a league school said.

They could also remain in the Big West without the Big West continuing as a football conference. Another possibility is the Sun Belt Conference, which may be looking to beef up its football status.

“There are not many [Division I football-playing] schools west of the Mississippi,” Pugmire said. “If you start eliminating or excluding schools, it makes it tough on everyone.

“There are several possibilities. We could be invited to join another league, or do something different with other schools. Still, I don’t think we need to do anything hasty. Whatever happens, we want it to be amiable to the California schools and the football schools as well.”