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Hawaii
Nov 13, 2006 9:50:00 GMT -5
Post by vbsandman on Nov 13, 2006 9:50:00 GMT -5
Does anyone know why Hawaii chose to leave the stronger conference of the Big West for the Western Athletic?
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Hawaii
Nov 13, 2006 10:47:42 GMT -5
Post by beachman on Nov 13, 2006 10:47:42 GMT -5
Does anyone know why Hawaii chose to leave the stronger conference of the Big West for the Western Athletic? FOOTBALL!
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Hawaii
Nov 13, 2006 10:48:08 GMT -5
Post by UCSBVball on Nov 13, 2006 10:48:08 GMT -5
FEAR - They knew that with UCSB and LBSU they had no chance to win ;D
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Hawaii
Nov 13, 2006 11:08:07 GMT -5
Post by mahina on Nov 13, 2006 11:08:07 GMT -5
Beachman's right. As part of the negotiations for the UH football team to join the WAC, the WAC wanted all the main UH sports as part of the deal. I believe UH Women's Volleyball was particularly one of the teams they wanted to boost the conference. This was also around the time of the unfair seeding by region when only one Big West team (and one Pac Ten team, I believe) could make the final four regardless of how many of the teams were in the top ten so it may not have seemed like such a bad idea at the time for the Wahine.
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Hawaii
Nov 13, 2006 11:35:59 GMT -5
Post by bunnywailer on Nov 13, 2006 11:35:59 GMT -5
That's not entirely true. It wasn't part of the original agreement when the UH athletic program first joined the WAC in the late 70's/early 80's. The women's volleyball program actually stayed in the Big West for over 15 years, while the rest of the UH athletic programs were playing in the WAC.
When UH Athletics first joined the WAC, women's volleyball wasn't even an NCAA sport. It was being administered by the AIAW.
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Hawaii
Nov 13, 2006 12:03:26 GMT -5
Post by mahina on Nov 13, 2006 12:03:26 GMT -5
You're right, the UH football was in the WAC first, however, in 1996 the conference was completely revamped when 5 schools left and others joined. This is when the Wahine were placed in the WAC as part of a package deal with the conference which directly concerned UH football.
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