WAC goes fishing

Western Athltic Conference commissioner says the league will look to Sun Belt Conference to replace bolting teams

By Joshua D.Scroggin

To counter the expected departure of three member schools, the Western Athletic Conference will look to the Sun Belt Conference for possible replacements, WAC commissioner Karl Benson said.

SMU, Rice and Tulsa are expected to leave the WAC and join Conference-USA for the 2005-06 academic year, and Benson said the WAC will try to find at least one school to fill the void—most likely from the Sun Belt.

“ The existing I-A schools that are within our boundaries are members of the Big 12, the Pac-10 the Mountain West or the Sun Belt,” Benson said.

Since it is unlikely major-conference teams would bolt for the WAC, Benson’s initial list of possible candidates include New Mexico State, Utah State, Idaho, North Texas, Louisiana-Monroe, Louisiana-Lafayette and Arkansas State—all members of the Sun Belt.

Benson said the WAC is looking to select the schools that will round out the conference before the first of the year.

When the three teams leave, the WAC would be left with seven—one below the minimum needed to field a conference. Benson said he’d prefer to have a nine- or 10-team conference, which means the WAC may be looking to add two more teams.

“ We obviously need to replace at least one of the schools to get to the required number,” Benson said. “I would think that nine or more would be the final number.”

But Benson didn’t rule out the possibility of adding only one more and functioning as an 8-team conference or bumping up the membership to 12 teams.

“ The reason we would even entertain a 12-team league is geography,” Benson said.

Benson said the WAC will take into consideration member-school Louis-iana Tech’s location. With the loss of the three teams in the central time zone, Louisiana Tech is isolated geographically from the rest of the conference.

Another consideration, Benson said, is baseball.

The WAC will lose 2003 baseball national champion Rice, dropping the total number of baseball schools in the league from six to five.

New Mexico State was one of three Sun Belt baseball schools to make the NCAA regionals last season.