Colorado State athletic director Paul Kowalczyk would love to get down to work putting together new schedules and crunching numbers for travel budgets.
He and his Mountain West Conference colleagues only need a few details. Nothing fancy, just official word when Fresno State and Nevada will come into the MWC and whether BYU will remain. Those questions went unanswered Thursday.
“The change is so significant I don’t think anyone has the answer right now,” Kowalczyk said of the MWC upheaval. “It’s just something we’re going to have to work through. At least everyone knows where we are for the 2010 season. After that, it’s open season.”
If the Western Athletic Conference and its legal team have any say, it will be 2012, not 2011, when Fresno State and Nevada join. They will be held to the hefty exit fees agreed upon just last week when the WAC thought it would regain BYU as a nonfootball member.
WAC commissioner Karl Benson gave some insight Thursday into the behind-the-scenes duel between the leagues. First, he fired a broadside shot at Fresno State and Nevada for bolting.
Recounting an emotional day Wednesday, Benson told a national teleconference: “I watched what was expected to be a very beneficial relationship with BYU disintegrate due to selfish actions of two WAC schools, Fresno State and Nevada.”
Benson defiantly cited the WAC’s past resiliency after losing membership and vowed to reload. Without BYU, the WAC would be left with six members after Fresno State and Nevada leave.
After seeing quotes from BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe in midsummer musing over football independent status, conversations followed about rejoining the WAC for all other sports.
In an effort to keep BYU interested, WAC members agreed on a $5 million exit fee as a show of faith. That was Friday.
“I wish I had made it $20 million,” Benson said Thursday.
Furthermore, he said: “We knew if BYU went down, the MWC had already approached WAC schools. We took the action to deter schools from accepting the invitation.”
Then, to help BYU schedule as an independent, Benson said the WAC agreed to provide an inventory of at least four nonleague games a year. That inventory is depleted with the Fresno State and Nevada departures.
Benson said BYU might still pick the WAC option, but he didn’t sound optimistic.
In his late Wednesday teleconference, MWC commissioner Craig Thompson said the league’s TV partners instigated the invitations. However, MWC presidents planned ahead for a variety of scenarios back in early June.
Kowalczyk participated in an MWC athletic directors conference call Wednesday afternoon. “I think on the whole everything has been favorably received, internally, anyway,” he said.
“I don’t know the financials yet. It has come down so fast. (We) don’t know whether BYU is going to be part of this conference or not. . . . Everybody’s head is still spinning a little bit.”
Natalie Meisler: 303-954-1295 or nmeisler@denverpost.com
