Wednesday, April 29, 1998 | 11:11 a.m.
Which route to take may be subject to debate. But there's one thing everyone in the Western Athletic Conference agrees on, and that's the destination.
Permanent divisions for the 16-team mega-conference are a virtual certainty. The question is, which format will be used?
By Sunday, Monday at the latest, the league will have its answer, after the WAC Council votes in Tucson, Ariz., on one of four possible scenarios. Whatever is decided in Arizona this weekend must still be approved by the WAC presidents in June. Any changes would not occur until 1999.
"My hope out of all of this is regardless of what we decide, the council and the presidents will put their stamp on this, move forward and stop complaining about the past," WAC commissioner Karl Benson said.
"We've had some tremendous on-the-field success and I'm concerned that's being overshadowed by talk about the realignment."
The WAC could maintain the status quo of rotating its four quadrants in two divisions. But that has been the crux of consternation from many WAC schools, as well as from fans and the media. That leaves three possible changes -- two "East-West" plans and a "North-South" plan.
The North-South plan essentially would divide the league horizontally. UNLV would be placed in a northern division along with Fresno State, San Jose State, Brigham Young, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado State and Air Force.
The two East-West plans would have UNLV in a Western Division alignment. The Rebels would compete with Utah, BYU, New Mexico, Hawaii, Fresno State, San Jose State and San Diego State. The East would have Texas-El Paso, Wyoming, Air Force, Colorado State, Tulsa, Texas Christian, Rice and Southern Methodist.
The alternative East-West plan would have New Mexico and Air Force switching places, thus giving the Lobos a chance to maintain their natural rivalry with UTEP.
From UNLV's perspective, it doesn't make much difference. One way or the other, the Rebels would be aligned with California, which is a major recruiting base for football and an exposure base for basketball.
"I think any of the three would work for us," UNLV athletic director Charlie Cavagnaro said. "Either of the East-West proposals looks very good to us because we're aligned with all of California (Fresno, San Diego and San Jose)."
UNLV's bigger concern regards future WAC scheduling for basketball.
The first year, the Rebels played a 16-game conference slate including home-and-home "crossover" games against Texas Christian. Last year, the crossover games were optional and those played did not count in the standings. UNLV played a 14-game WAC schedule and finished 7-7.
Will the WAC maintain its 14-game schedule? Or will it revert to the crossover games which would count in the standings?
"There were some (scheduling) models presented to the ADs but the decision was to wait until the realignment issue was settled before deciding what to do on scheduling," Benson said. "Same for deciding to let all 16 teams play in the conference basketball tournament."
Cavagnaro said: "I think you have to take it a step at a time. You don't want to take too big a bite at once. The primary thing is to settle on the divisions. Then we can go ahead and look at what schedule works best. It's a way to buy some time and not be forced into making a hasty decision."
Benson said the WAC is not wading into uncharted waters with the realignment proposals.
"These same three models were looked at in 1994," he said. "There was a reason we didn't go (to permanent divisions) then. No one could agree on North-South or East-West four years ago and some of the same opposition that was there then is there now.
"But after two years of competition, there's some concern over what impact the quadrant system has had."
Benson said the status quo could even remain intact.
"Two or three schools said if they don't get what they want they'll argue that we should stay where we are," Benson said.
He wouldn't say which two or three, but it is believed New Mexico and UTEP are adamant about staying together. If it means not changing the system for the Lobos and Miners to remain divisional partners, so be it.
Whatever is decided is unlikely to be unanimous.
"I think there's potential for disagreement," Benson said. "I just hope that everyone comes to the meeting realizing there has to be some compromise."
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