MWC moving forward somehow

Steve Guiremand

Tuesday, July 29, 2003 | 8:58 a.m.

Commissioner Craig Thompson looked remarkably relaxed and refreshed before issuing his state of the Mountain West Conference speech for the media Monday afternoon at the JW Marriott Hotel.

Considering all that has been put on the MWC commissioner's plate the past few months -- possible expansion, BCS lobbying and a huge turnover in administration -- Thompson has somehow managed to keep his young conference running smoothly.

"It's been chaotic with all the presidental and AD openings," Thompson admitted.

Four schools -- BYU, Air Force, New Mexico and Colorado State -- have had presidential changes in the past few months. And less than a month before the college football season kicks off, half of the Mountain West Conference schools still are in the market for new athletic directors.

UNLV is the midst of a search for John Robinson's replacement. Ditto San Diego State for Rick Bay. Colorado State lost Jeff Hathaway to UConn and Wyoming fired Lee Moon.

With the possibility of expansion right around the corner -- Thompson said Monday he expects the Big East to begin adding members within 60-90 days which will have a ripple effect on other conferences such as the Mountain West -- it certainly wouldn't hurt the MWC commissioner to have a full group of athletic directors on board to help deal with some very key issues.

Thompson is confident many of the AD openings will be filled soon.

"I think San Diego State, UNLV and Colorado State will probably have their selections made by Labor Day," Thompson said. "Actually, I think UNLV and Colorado State will have theirs by their football openers. I think Wyoming, which is just starting their search, is probably a month to 45 days behind that."

Despite the turnover, Thompson is happy with how things are going for the Mountain West.

"We're holding together great," he said. "It hasn't been as tough as you might think. We have solid people on board here. And the new guys are going to depend a lot on those veterans when they come in."

Some of the highlights of Thompson's speech:

"I am encouraged there will be dialogue at the president level regarding the BCS system," Thompson said. "I think progress has been made in that area this summer."

Thompson said improving the Mountain West's BCS prospects is "an absolute front burner issue for us."

"We do know that the Big East Conference has to expand because it can't be a Division I-A conference without eight teams," Thompson said. "There's going to be some movement. People will react from that. We don't have to do anything. We've got eight good teams, a good TV package and some good bowl tie-ins. We have not said that we are going to expand. We've got to crunch the numbers and determine that having more than eight teams gets more buck for you."

Thompson said he has been contacted directly by six schools who are interested in the Mountain West.

"I would suspect that they are serious," he said. "The bottom line is the people that are interested."

"I got a lot of calls last week from people asking me if that means that they're going to get in now," Thompson said. "I'm not even going to address Fresno State. They're not in the Mountain West Conference."

"Unfortunately, we'd probably have to make a decision (on expansion) before they vote on that," Thompson said. "The earliest the NCAA would take a vote on that is April 29 next year."

Thompson said early polls of Denver area sports fans indicated that they'd support a college bowl game in their city, even if it can get more than a tad nippy in central Colorado around Christmas.

"I've played golf in December and I've also shoveled my driveway in December," said Thompson, who lives near Colorado Springs, when asked about the weather. "You never know."