Commissioner refutes expansion speculation

Steve Addy

Wednesday, June 5, 2002 | 8:35 a.m.

Outsiders have renewed their campaign for Mountain West Conference expansion, but it's still just wishful thinking, commissioner Craig Thompson says.

Despite published speculation that the MWC will soon vote to add Fresno State and Hawaii to its current eight-school lineup in 2003, Thompson said there was no discussion of expansion at the league board of directors meeting which ended Tuesday in Colorado Springs.

The board is comprised of Thompson and the presidents of the member schools.

"This was the group that would have dealt with (expansion), and it did not," Thompson said. "Anything else being said is really out of context.

"There was a commitment to continuing with the current eight members. There's no great interest in expansion at this point."

A recent column in the Fresno Bee speculated that Fresno State and Hawaii would be voted in by the MWC presidents this month and would begin league play in the 2003 football season.

But when the MWC started in 1999 as a breakaway from the Western Athletic Conference, the schools agreed on a moratorium on expansion through at least 2004.

"We didn't extend that moratorium (at the meeting), but there was no expression of interest in ending it," Thompson said. "(If we wanted to expand), we would likely state some kind of sentiment that we're looking to grow from eight (schools). But as of today, that is not our interest."

The MWC board took other action at the meeting:

The revised standards would require the following for schools to continue in Division I-A:

1. Fund 90 percent of the 85-scholarship maximum;

2. A minimum of five home games per year, all against I-A teams;

3. Average at least 15,000 in football attendance;

4. Sponsor at least 16 varsity sports (at least six men's and eight women's);

5. Fund at least 200 scholarships in the entire athletic program, worth at least $4 million.

Thompson said San Diego State must add one men's sport and Colorado State must add one sport (men's or women's) to comply with the new requirements.