New Conference meets NCAA criteria

Steve Carp

Friday, May 29, 1998 | 11:04 a.m.

So, you want to be a Division I conference?

It's not that difficult, provided you have the components in place. And the eight teams that have decided to defect from the Western Athletic Conference to form their own league in 1999 appear to be in compliance with most of the NCAA's criteria for Division I status.

According to the NCAA manual, the general requirements for Division I membership include the following:

* Sponsorship of seven men's and seven women's sports or six men's and eight women's.

* A minimum aggregate expenditure in grant-in-aid of $316,500, excluding men's and women's basketball, or 50 percent of the maximum allowable grants in each sport. In other words, if a school has 10 baseball scholarships at its disposal, it must offer at least five.

* At least 60 percent of all football competition must come against Division I-A members.

* A 30,000 permanent-seat stadium and 17,000 average attendance per home game in one of the past four years or a 20,000 average per game over the last four years; or having six conference members in football, with more than half meeting the attendance criterion.

* Basketball schedules featuring no more than four games against teams outside of Division I.

* For sports other than football or basketball, half of the schedule in each sport must be against Division I competition.

The eight schools -- UNLV, Air Force, Brigham Young, Colorado State, New Mexico, San Diego State, Utah and Wyoming -- easily meet the criteria. The paperwork likely will be filed with the NCAA Sept. 1, the day the group plans to announce it is officially seceding from the WAC.

There could be one hitch, that being the attempt to be granted an automatic bid to the NCAA men's and women's basketball tournament for the opening season in 1999-2000. The rules usually require new leagues wait two years for an automatic berth.

But the eight schools will attempt to obtain the WAC's current automatic bid, especially if the remaining WAC schools opt to leave and pursue other opportunities in existing conferences.

Bayno pleased

UNLV basketball coach Bill Bayno heard the news of the WAC split while vacationing. He likes and supports the idea.

"I think it helps us," he said. "As an eight-team league, we'll build on some of the rivalries we already have (with Utah and New Mexico) and develop some others.

"It's a strong league. Maybe we'll get more teams in the (NCAA) tournament. If we can get four from an eight-team league, I think that would be tremendous."

Bayno said the departure from the proposed eight-team permanent divisions wouldn't change his team's schedule.

"I don't think it would have made a whole lot of difference," he said. "We were going to be in with BYU, Utah and New Mexico anyway, and we've been with Air Force, Colorado State and Wyoming anyway, so I don't see it as a big change.

"But I like the idea of an eight-team league. I think it'll be great for the fans. I think you'll see more of an identity with the new league. Sixteen teams was too many."