Vandals back in the neighborhood

The University of Idaho’s long, strange journey in NCAA Division I-A athletics took another turn Friday – one to more recognizable zip and area codes.

Western Athletic Conference Board of Directors, meeting at Half Moon Bay, Calif., voted unanimously Friday to invite Idaho as an all-sports member and the long-suffering Vandals might have set a world record for fastest acceptance. The Vandals previously received State Board of Education approval to accept if the WAC extended an invitation.

“This really provides us the stability we’ve been lacking,” said Idaho athletic director Rob Spear, who made an hour-long presentation to WAC presidents and chancellors Friday morning before flying back to Moscow. “Having everybody compete in the same conference is going to be huge for us.”

Nearly as big as moving into a geographically friendly conference. Idaho currently plays football in the southern-based Sun Belt Conference while its other sports compete in the Big West. That will change when Idaho becomes the ninth WAC member, effective 2005.

“This is a really important step for us to finally find a home,” Idaho interim president Gary Michael said during an afternoon conference call.

The WAC, which was down to eight teams with UTEP’s departure in 2005 to Conference USA, wanted to expand for several reasons – primarily to balance its football schedule. Having nine teams gives each WAC school four home games and four away. WAC schools, like many in lower-rung Division I-A conferences, have difficulty scheduling non-conference home games.

The addition of Idaho also gives the WAC a safety cushion should its membership be raided again. The WAC is losing four members (UTEP, Tulsa, Rice and SMU) to Conference USA in 2005 and several others covet the Mountain West.

“The landscape over the last five or six years has changed,” WAC commissioner Karl Benson said. “This past year it was very clear under the leadership of Gary Michael that Division I-A is very important to Idaho. It was just a matter of timing and it was the right day for the University of Idaho.”

Benson wouldn’t disclose the amount of Idaho’s entry fee to the WAC, but said it would be the same paid by previous newcomers. That figure is believed to be nearly $600,000. Schools generally pay some money up front, and then forfeit portions of their year-end share of WAC revenue from television contracts, NCAA basketball tournament payouts, etc.

“We’ll probably go that route,” Spear said.

The move will reunite Idaho with its biggest rival, Boise State, which has dominated WAC football since joining the conference in 2001, and current Sun Belt members Utah State and New Mexico State. Those two schools also join the WAC in 2005. Idaho also has a long association with Nevada, dating back to the Big Sky and Big West.

“I think it’s going to be real big,” new UI football coach Nick Holt said. “It opens up more opportunities and windows for us, cuts travel costs, generates more revenue, gets us in a league that people are more familiar with and who we have some natural ties with. For everybody involved it makes sense.”

It also won’t be easy. Idaho’s budget is roughly half of Hawaii’s $18.5 million. WAC football and basketball teams have been successful on a national stage. Idaho football has struggled with four consecutive losing seasons and the improving men’s basketball program still has five straight sub-.500 seasons.

“It’s a prestigious conference and hopefully we’ll be able to attract a higher-caliber player than we’ve had in the past,” basketball coach Leonard Perry said. “It’s just going to be so much more cost effective in terms of building regional rivalries.”

Benson said several basketball scheduling models have been discussed, but nothing has been finalized. Nine teams would mean one school will be left without a travel partner. Spear hopes Idaho and BSU will become travel partners.

The WAC changed its bylaws to allow the eight WAC members in 2005 to vote and to exclude departing members Tulsa, SMU and UTEP. Rice didn’t attend the meetings.

“Idaho’s presentation was very honest and forthright,” BSU president Bob Kustra said. “They pointed out that they understood there are financial problems at all universities these days, but I would say the unanimous vote was indicative that we had few reservations.”

Kustra has heard mixed responses to the rekindling of the Idaho-BSU rivalry.

“Being an Idahoan, I think it’s good for the state of Idaho to have an intrastate rivalry,” Kustra said. “I don’t know what to expect (from BSU fans). There are a lot of Vandal fans in Boise. There are a lot of Boise State fans that feel BSU moved on and beyond and that’s the way it should be. And there are Vandals fans that have said to me, ‘We might have been better off staying in the Big Sky.’ You get all kinds of views.”

Idaho has navigated countless obstacles since leaving I-AA Big Sky football for the I-A Big West in 1996. The Big West eliminated football after the 2000 season, prompting Idaho to join the far-flung Sun Belt.

Along the way, Idaho received NCAA waivers and managed to meet attendance requirements. Then, the NCAA adopted rules requiring I-A conferences to have eight all-sports members. To prepare for that change, Idaho opted to join the Sun Belt in all sports, with the Board of Education debating for two hours before approving by a 5-3 vote.

Throughout, UI officials hoped that the Vandals would never have to play a basketball game or contest a track meet in the Sun Belt, banking on conference shakeups to create a WAC vacancy. Friday, Idaho’s hopes became reality.

“It’s a great day for the Vandals,” said former athletic director Mike Bohn, now at San Diego State. “It’s exciting to see the years of hard work pay off for them.”

Spear, who became Idaho’s permanent A.D. in January, thanked the Sun Belt, which threw Vandal football a lifeline in 2000, and his UI predecessors.

“We feel like we ran a marathon and they handed me the baton at the end of the race,” Spear said. “This is something we’ve been working toward for a long time.”

Benson and Kustra said the WAC was impressed by Idaho’s academic resume and its overall athletic program. There had been discussion of a football-only invitation, but Benson said “that would have been a disservice to Idaho.”

Michael anticipates increases in attendance and fund-raising. He plans to take an active role in campus fund-raising after he hands off the presidency to Tim White, who is recovering from a heart attack.

Spear said joining the WAC will save Idaho $175,000 annually in travel costs compared to its projections as a full-time Sun Belt member. “It’s cheaper to go to Hawaii than to go to Arkansas State or Troy State,” he said.

“We persevered when other people thought we were headed in the wrong direction with our programs,” Spear said. “This is just another step in the right direction.”