Corrigan's role as consultant begins

Having officially brought former NCAA president Gene Corrigan on board as a consultant and notified the Western Athletic Conference of their intention to form a new conference, the eight schools breaking away from the 16-team WAC take a major step today in plotting their future.

The transition committee will have Corrigan on hand for its latest face-to-face meeting at the MGM Grand hotel-casino's convention center. The new league will try to get closer to coming up with a name, a headquarters and a plan to tie itself in with bowl games and television contracts.

"This is an important step," UNLV athletic director Charles Cavagnaro said. "This is the first real meeting with someone outside the proposed conference.

"We're going to bring Gene up to speed on what we've done and we'll be looking to him for his advice on matters. It's a full day of picking brains on top of dealing with all the issues."

Corrigan will serve as a day-to-day consultant for the yet-to-be-named league, which will begin operations July 1, 1999. He has said he is not interested in being the first commissioner. But the former head of the Atlantic Coast Conference likely will have some input on who the commissioner should be.

Last Friday, the presidents of the breakaway eight confirmed their intention to officially leave the WAC. The letters of withdrawal are being prepared and should go out to the WAC office by the beginning of next week, at the latest. The deadline to officially notify the conference office is Sept. 1.

Other issues, including the 33 NCAA basketball tournament "units" the WAC owns (worth $2.6 million for next year), will be dealt with at a later date.

"There's still some uncertainty in that area," Cavagnaro said. "But the presidents have made their intentions clear. We're going forward and getting on with business."

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