Shock smiles abound in WAC

As expected, the reaction to the bombshell news that the Western Athletic Conference had been severed in half ranged from shock and anger to joy and confidence to numbness and confusion.

Commissioner Karl Benson, who had eye surgery late last week after a conference golf outing in Las Vegas, never saw the move by eight schools (including UNLV) to leave the WAC coming.

"The timing was more surprising than what actually occurred," Benson said from the WAC offices in suburban Denver. "Obviously, we had our growing pains since going to 16 teams, but I'm obviously disappointed we didn't have more time to make it work."

New Mexico athletic director Rudy Davalos said time wasn't the issue, it was the unwieldy number of teams in the mega-conference.

"The 16-team was not going to work," Davalos said. "It wasn't the fault of the commissioner or any school. It was just one of those unmanageable type numbers."

Colorado State President Al Yates, whose school was headed toward a split away from traditional foe Air Force in the upcoming realignment process to permanent divisions, said the numbers simply didn't work.

"We've spent most of our time in conversation trying to respond to the question, 'Is there a way to make a 16-team conference work?'" Yates said. "Our conclusion in all that was that there was not."

San Diego State President Stephen Weber, which along with UNLV and New Mexico was invited to join CSU, Wyoming, Air Force, Utah and Brigham Young to form a new league last Friday, said it was an easy decision for his institution.

"Certainly from our point of view, the choice between whether we would like to play with these folks or the other folks, these are the people that our fans have more interest in," Weber said.

The split seemed to please some coaches, while miffing others.

"Any league that involves us playing Utah and BYU is attractive," New Mexico basketball coach Dave Bliss said.

Texas Christian's Billy Tubbs said: "We're still the WAC, aren't we? They left us, right? Then we've still got the automatic NCAA bid and they get to start over. They may even owe us money."

But for those who remain under the tattered WAC banner, it was like trying to get one's bearings after an earthquake had just knocked the house off the foundation.

"Right now, we're kind of in a state of shock," Tulsa athletic director Judy MacLeod said. "We're trying to regroup and see where everybody is at."

Rice President Malcolm Gillis said he was surprised as well.

"Rice spent considerable effort trying to make it work in spite of the problems posed by geography and other difficulties," Gillis said.

Southern Methodist AD Jim Copeland was dismayed at the way the split came about.

"I'm disappointed in the way it was handled," he said. "There weren't what I would consider common courtesies in the way this was handled."

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