New league gets down to business

Steve Carp

Wednesday, June 10, 1998 | 10:41 a.m.

The eight members of the transition committee for the new athletic conference -- which includes UNLV -- met for the first time Tuesday, to begin the enormous task of getting the league ready for business come July 1, 1999.

Meanwhile, the remaining members of the Western Athletic Conference were getting their legal ducks in a row in the event the WAC takes a severe financial hit from the loss of the eight departing schools.

The committee, consisting of UNLV athletic director Charlie Cavagnaro, Utah AD Chris Hill, Colorado State's Tim Weiser, San Diego State's Rick Bay, Wyoming senior women's administrator Barbara Burke, New Mexico vice president David Mc Kinney, Brigham Young VP Fred Skousen and Air Force faculty representative Col. Hans Meuh, met for 1 hour and 45 minutes via conference call.

"We got the ball rolling," Cavagnaro said. "I thought for a first meeting, it went pretty well. We're still trying to set up a face-to-face meeting."

The biggest news to come from the conference call was the need to bring an interim commissioner on board to help guide the fledgling league through its first few months.

Two possibilities are former Conference USA commissioner and College Football Association head Chuck Neinas and former BYU athletic director Glenn Tuckett.

"I think the committee feels we need to have someone work with us on this," Cavagnaro said.

In the meantime, the committee will meet weekly on the phone to discuss the issues that face the new league. One issue that is being dealt with immediately is finding a legal firm to assist with the paperwork the new league must file with the NCAA to be accredited Division I status, as well as drawing up the necessary forms to leave the WAC.

Cavagnaro added that the big-ticket items, such as coming up with a name for the league, finding a headquarters and landing a TV contract, still are weeks away from being decided.

Meanwhile, the remainder of the WAC made some important decisions Tuesday that affect the breakaway eight.

There will be no change in the 1998-99 basketball schedule as the athletic directors of the remaining WAC schools decided not to re-organize the divisions into those who are staying and those who are going.

For UNLV, that means home-and-home games with Tulsa, Texas Christian, Southern Methodist and Rice instead of Utah, New Mexico, San Diego State and BYU.

There's also a potential sticky legal issue involving the agreement each of the 16 schools signed when it joined the WAC. In essence, the document says the league would remain together for a minimum of five years.

Hawaii president Dr. Kenneth Mortimer told the Honolulu Advertiser last week that his school might seek legal action after the departing eight refused to bring Hawaii into their fold.

In addition, some of the remaining WAC schools fear the league's assets, such as its bowl affiliations, television deals and revenue from the NCAA men's basketball tournament, could be severely impacted by the breakup.

As for the legal machinations, SMU president Dr. Gerald Turner, the chairman of the WAC council of presidents, said any talk of a lawsuit is very premature.

"The agreement is only binding as long as everyone wants to be involved," Turner said. "Then it's a matter of how much you want to pursue legal action.

"I don't sense any great desire to run to the courthouse. We hope to work it out without taking any legal action."