Post by IdahoBoy on Oct 12, 2006 14:27:01 GMT -5
While this isn't exactly about volleyball, it does have some reference to the sport. Note how they did not mention the Big Ten when referring to other conferences in the article?
This article does not mention the recent major improvements at the University of Idaho, who I believe has nicer training facilities than what I see here at Hawaii. Little mention is made of Fresno State, which I find amusing since it was written in Fresno.
Hawaii, Boise State, and New Mexico State are definitely going to be strong anchors for the WAC. I think that Idaho can make a case to expand on their facilities and with the new highway in the northwest, should be able to expand the fan base a little. Of course, Dennis Erickson is already turning heads on the Palouse and will have Idaho at the top of the football standings in two years.
Looking at volleyball, Debbie Buchanan's volleyball squad will be much improved next year. The biggest question mark they'll have is at the setter position, I think. Idaho will be able to challenge for second place in volleyball.
WAC presidents unveil comprehensive strategy to bring league to prominence
By George Hostetter
The Fresno Bee
The chief executives at the nine universities in the Western Athletic Conference have embraced a precedent-setting strategic plan that promises to transform the troubled alliance into a worthy rival to the nation’s top intercollegiate powers.
But if all or a critical number of the eight presidents and one chancellor fail to follow through as promised at their universities, the result could be chaos in a conference that has seen little stability since 1991.
The plan has no authority to force the schools to comply. But one of the presidents who voted for the plan in June said no such hammer is necessary — market forces will determine whether the current WAC survives.
“If you can’t keep up with the competition, you stop belonging and you go somewhere else,’’ said Joe Crowley, president at Nevada from 1978 to 2001, who recently completed a brief stint as the university’s interim president.
Two years in the making, the strategic plan, a 479-page document, is breathtaking in its ambitions. WAC commissioner Karl Benson provided the Idaho Statesman and the Fresno Bee with the plan’s 42-page executive summary.
“The WAC will be a premier Division I-A conference’’ in five years, the plan states in its introduction. “… All nine institutions must improve their athletic programs and take on characteristics that ‘look’ more like Pac-10 and Big 12 institutions.’’
The Pac-10 Conference is home to USC, UCLA, Washington and Oregon, among others. The Big 12 Conference includes Texas, Oklahoma and Nebraska.
Denise Eby Konan, chancellor of the University of Hawaii, called the plan “historic’’ because the conference has never before made a public declaration of its aims and the steps necessary to achieve them.
OUTLINING THE FUTURE
The plan is notable for four reasons:
Æ It sets high goals (with suggested dates for meeting them) for on-field performance, academics, budgets and equity for women’s sports.
The plan calls for increases in home attendance, more home games against major non-conference opponents, and dramatic jumps in poll rankings for football, men’s and women’s basketball, and volleyball.
One thing missing is an estimated price for these improvements.
Æ It leaves no doubt the current WAC is far from “premier.’’
The plan describes a conference of haves and have-nots. Fresno State’s budget is the largest with expenditures of more than $25 million in 2004-2005. BSU spent $16.6 million, while Idaho spent $11.8 million. At the bottom are Louisiana Tech and Utah State at slightly less than $11 million.
These expenditures were compared to those at Oregon State and Washington State of the Pac-10, Iowa State and Colorado of the Big 12, Utah of the Mountain West, Memphis of Conference-USA and Toledo of the Mid-American — dubbed the “Comparative 7’’ in the plan. The first four were chosen because they are generally considered to be mid- or lower-level schools in their conferences, while the other three were chosen because they’re considered “premier’’ programs in their conferences.
The Pac-10 and Big 12 schools, for example, spend considerably more than the WAC average of about $16 million: Oregon State ($36.1 million), Washington State ($27.9 million), Colorado ($36.6 million) and Iowa State ($28.2 million).
According to the plan, WAC teams also largely fail to meet NCAA-mandated academic requirements, go to bowls and postseason tournaments less often than mid-level schools in bigger conferences and generally have smaller stadiums and arenas than those other schools.
Æ It asks WAC schools to enhance the conference’s image throughout the United States.
Æ It has the full support of the most powerful person on each campus.
“This wasn’t a plan created by athletic directors,’’ Konan said. “It’s a plan that calls for commitment at the highest levels — the presidents and chancellors of the universities. That will be a key part of its success.’’
The plan was approved unanimously by the WAC Board of Directors in June. The board’s members are Konan (board president) plus the presidents of Fresno State, Boise State, Idaho, Louisiana Tech, Nevada, New Mexico State, San Jose State and Utah State.
NEED TO DO SOMETHING
The WAC strategic plan was born in part from desperation.
The conference was founded in 1962 by schools sprinkled throughout the wide-open spaces of the Southwest and Rocky Mountains — New Mexico, Wyoming, Utah and Brigham Young among them.
But stability has been a problem. The WAC expanded to 16 teams in 1996, only to have eight schools bolt three years later and form the Mountain West Conference. Schools have come and gone ever since.
The WAC went through its latest realignment when Tulsa, SMU, UTEP and Rice left after the 2004-05 season and were replaced by Idaho, New Mexico State and Utah State. The WAC board held a summit in Salt Lake City in September 2004 to determine whether the conference had a future.
SECOND-CLASS CITIZENS
The constant membership changes — along with modestly funded programs, limited success against “premier’’ conference schools and generally small television markets — combined to make the WAC a second-class citizen in the multibillion-dollar-a-year Division I intercollegiate athletics industry.
There are six major or “premier’’ conferences: Pac-10, Big 12, Southeastern, Big Ten, Big East and Atlantic Coast. Everyone else, except for independent Notre Dame, hustles to catch up.
The WAC’s second-class status is frustrating but not fatal in many sports because the conference has guaranteed paths to postseason playoffs or events. For example, Fresno State won the NCAA softball title in 1998.
But it has been crushing in the big-money sport — football. In theory, a WAC team can qualify for one of the five Bowl Championship Series bowls and the multimillion-dollar paydays that go with them.
But it’s difficult. Undefeated Boise State is not guaranteed a spot in the BCS this year. Since the BCS was started in the 1998 regular season, Utah is the only school from outside the six “premier’’ conferences and Notre Dame to play in a BCS bowl. This affects recruiting, scheduling and fundraising for schools on the outside.
Fresno State football coach Pat Hill said he’s a strong WAC advocate, but added, “League affiliation is the hardest thing to overcome.’’
What happens if a handful of schools pay the price to get better, but the others don’t?
“I don’t know,’’ Hawaii’s Konan said. “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.’’
Yet, this question looms over the executive summary. After all, a fundamental purpose of any conference is to give members the best showcase for their teams.
If, in five or 10 years, there is “an incredible disparity’’ in the budgets and efforts of WAC schools, BSU president Bob Kustra said, “I would certainly think it would cause a university to wonder if it was in the right conference.’’
Kustra said officials at schools in the nine-member Mountain West have told him the conference might consider expanding to 12 schools in several years. Potential candidates, he said, “certainly would be Boise State and Fresno State.’’
MAKING PROGRESS
Some WAC schools already are acting on the plan: Kustra said Boise State is making plans to expand its football stadium from 30,000 to 45,000 seats.
Benson pointed to New Mexico State as a school getting the message. It is spending $23 million to expand the Pan American Center, the Aggies’ basketball arena, and hired former Kentucky coach Hal Mumme and former NBA star Reggie Theus before the 2005-06 season to head the football and men’s basketball programs, respectively.
“They have truly stepped up to the plate and made a commitment to be a player in the WAC,’’ Benson said.
Idaho, however, faces some major hurdles. Idaho is located in one of the WAC’s smallest cities — Moscow’s population barely tops 20,000 — and the Vandals’ football stadium is the conference’s smallest, with a 16,000 capacity. The basketball arena holds only 7,000.
Idaho athletic director Rob Spear said the university is studying how to improve its facilities.
Spear said: “As long as the schools commit to getting better, the WAC will be fine.”
That’s the plan — and the league is counting on it.
This article does not mention the recent major improvements at the University of Idaho, who I believe has nicer training facilities than what I see here at Hawaii. Little mention is made of Fresno State, which I find amusing since it was written in Fresno.
Hawaii, Boise State, and New Mexico State are definitely going to be strong anchors for the WAC. I think that Idaho can make a case to expand on their facilities and with the new highway in the northwest, should be able to expand the fan base a little. Of course, Dennis Erickson is already turning heads on the Palouse and will have Idaho at the top of the football standings in two years.
Looking at volleyball, Debbie Buchanan's volleyball squad will be much improved next year. The biggest question mark they'll have is at the setter position, I think. Idaho will be able to challenge for second place in volleyball.
WAC presidents unveil comprehensive strategy to bring league to prominence
By George Hostetter
The Fresno Bee
The chief executives at the nine universities in the Western Athletic Conference have embraced a precedent-setting strategic plan that promises to transform the troubled alliance into a worthy rival to the nation’s top intercollegiate powers.
But if all or a critical number of the eight presidents and one chancellor fail to follow through as promised at their universities, the result could be chaos in a conference that has seen little stability since 1991.
The plan has no authority to force the schools to comply. But one of the presidents who voted for the plan in June said no such hammer is necessary — market forces will determine whether the current WAC survives.
“If you can’t keep up with the competition, you stop belonging and you go somewhere else,’’ said Joe Crowley, president at Nevada from 1978 to 2001, who recently completed a brief stint as the university’s interim president.
Two years in the making, the strategic plan, a 479-page document, is breathtaking in its ambitions. WAC commissioner Karl Benson provided the Idaho Statesman and the Fresno Bee with the plan’s 42-page executive summary.
“The WAC will be a premier Division I-A conference’’ in five years, the plan states in its introduction. “… All nine institutions must improve their athletic programs and take on characteristics that ‘look’ more like Pac-10 and Big 12 institutions.’’
The Pac-10 Conference is home to USC, UCLA, Washington and Oregon, among others. The Big 12 Conference includes Texas, Oklahoma and Nebraska.
Denise Eby Konan, chancellor of the University of Hawaii, called the plan “historic’’ because the conference has never before made a public declaration of its aims and the steps necessary to achieve them.
OUTLINING THE FUTURE
The plan is notable for four reasons:
Æ It sets high goals (with suggested dates for meeting them) for on-field performance, academics, budgets and equity for women’s sports.
The plan calls for increases in home attendance, more home games against major non-conference opponents, and dramatic jumps in poll rankings for football, men’s and women’s basketball, and volleyball.
One thing missing is an estimated price for these improvements.
Æ It leaves no doubt the current WAC is far from “premier.’’
The plan describes a conference of haves and have-nots. Fresno State’s budget is the largest with expenditures of more than $25 million in 2004-2005. BSU spent $16.6 million, while Idaho spent $11.8 million. At the bottom are Louisiana Tech and Utah State at slightly less than $11 million.
These expenditures were compared to those at Oregon State and Washington State of the Pac-10, Iowa State and Colorado of the Big 12, Utah of the Mountain West, Memphis of Conference-USA and Toledo of the Mid-American — dubbed the “Comparative 7’’ in the plan. The first four were chosen because they are generally considered to be mid- or lower-level schools in their conferences, while the other three were chosen because they’re considered “premier’’ programs in their conferences.
The Pac-10 and Big 12 schools, for example, spend considerably more than the WAC average of about $16 million: Oregon State ($36.1 million), Washington State ($27.9 million), Colorado ($36.6 million) and Iowa State ($28.2 million).
According to the plan, WAC teams also largely fail to meet NCAA-mandated academic requirements, go to bowls and postseason tournaments less often than mid-level schools in bigger conferences and generally have smaller stadiums and arenas than those other schools.
Æ It asks WAC schools to enhance the conference’s image throughout the United States.
Æ It has the full support of the most powerful person on each campus.
“This wasn’t a plan created by athletic directors,’’ Konan said. “It’s a plan that calls for commitment at the highest levels — the presidents and chancellors of the universities. That will be a key part of its success.’’
The plan was approved unanimously by the WAC Board of Directors in June. The board’s members are Konan (board president) plus the presidents of Fresno State, Boise State, Idaho, Louisiana Tech, Nevada, New Mexico State, San Jose State and Utah State.
NEED TO DO SOMETHING
The WAC strategic plan was born in part from desperation.
The conference was founded in 1962 by schools sprinkled throughout the wide-open spaces of the Southwest and Rocky Mountains — New Mexico, Wyoming, Utah and Brigham Young among them.
But stability has been a problem. The WAC expanded to 16 teams in 1996, only to have eight schools bolt three years later and form the Mountain West Conference. Schools have come and gone ever since.
The WAC went through its latest realignment when Tulsa, SMU, UTEP and Rice left after the 2004-05 season and were replaced by Idaho, New Mexico State and Utah State. The WAC board held a summit in Salt Lake City in September 2004 to determine whether the conference had a future.
SECOND-CLASS CITIZENS
The constant membership changes — along with modestly funded programs, limited success against “premier’’ conference schools and generally small television markets — combined to make the WAC a second-class citizen in the multibillion-dollar-a-year Division I intercollegiate athletics industry.
There are six major or “premier’’ conferences: Pac-10, Big 12, Southeastern, Big Ten, Big East and Atlantic Coast. Everyone else, except for independent Notre Dame, hustles to catch up.
The WAC’s second-class status is frustrating but not fatal in many sports because the conference has guaranteed paths to postseason playoffs or events. For example, Fresno State won the NCAA softball title in 1998.
But it has been crushing in the big-money sport — football. In theory, a WAC team can qualify for one of the five Bowl Championship Series bowls and the multimillion-dollar paydays that go with them.
But it’s difficult. Undefeated Boise State is not guaranteed a spot in the BCS this year. Since the BCS was started in the 1998 regular season, Utah is the only school from outside the six “premier’’ conferences and Notre Dame to play in a BCS bowl. This affects recruiting, scheduling and fundraising for schools on the outside.
Fresno State football coach Pat Hill said he’s a strong WAC advocate, but added, “League affiliation is the hardest thing to overcome.’’
What happens if a handful of schools pay the price to get better, but the others don’t?
“I don’t know,’’ Hawaii’s Konan said. “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.’’
Yet, this question looms over the executive summary. After all, a fundamental purpose of any conference is to give members the best showcase for their teams.
If, in five or 10 years, there is “an incredible disparity’’ in the budgets and efforts of WAC schools, BSU president Bob Kustra said, “I would certainly think it would cause a university to wonder if it was in the right conference.’’
Kustra said officials at schools in the nine-member Mountain West have told him the conference might consider expanding to 12 schools in several years. Potential candidates, he said, “certainly would be Boise State and Fresno State.’’
MAKING PROGRESS
Some WAC schools already are acting on the plan: Kustra said Boise State is making plans to expand its football stadium from 30,000 to 45,000 seats.
Benson pointed to New Mexico State as a school getting the message. It is spending $23 million to expand the Pan American Center, the Aggies’ basketball arena, and hired former Kentucky coach Hal Mumme and former NBA star Reggie Theus before the 2005-06 season to head the football and men’s basketball programs, respectively.
“They have truly stepped up to the plate and made a commitment to be a player in the WAC,’’ Benson said.
Idaho, however, faces some major hurdles. Idaho is located in one of the WAC’s smallest cities — Moscow’s population barely tops 20,000 — and the Vandals’ football stadium is the conference’s smallest, with a 16,000 capacity. The basketball arena holds only 7,000.
Idaho athletic director Rob Spear said the university is studying how to improve its facilities.
Spear said: “As long as the schools commit to getting better, the WAC will be fine.”
That’s the plan — and the league is counting on it.
