State schools unite to change Big West
By Andres Cardenas
Daily Forty-Niner
Sometimes, change is good.
Long Beach State, a charter member of the
Big West Conference, is considering a move that would shake-up the conference
in which it currently competes.
However, LBSU is not alone. Five other
California universities are considering leaving the conference or have
the desire to change it to an exclusive California school membership conference.
Long Beach State, Cal State Fullerton,
Cal Poly, Pacific, UC Irvine and UC Santa Barbara are joining efforts to
either change or leave the conference if their demands are not met.
Recent concerns over travel expenses, regional
rivalries, whether or not the conference should continue to support football
and a continued flight of members leaving the conference has led to the
coalition.
What made all these schools agree to rise
up was the announcement that the University of Nevada was leaving the conference.
"That was the final straw," LBSU Athletic
Director Bill Shumard said. "That was the key domino to fall that really
forced us to take this position."
Nevada is the latest to join the long list
of schools that have left the Big West Conference for the Western Athletic
Conference including: Fresno State, San Jose State and Nevada-Las Vegas.
"It's been disappointing in the last several
years that the [Big West] conference's reputation has suffered largely
due to schools leaving the conference to go on to greener pastures for
I-A football purposes," Shumard said.
This is why Nevada dumped the Big West,
Shumard said.
"I was not surprised, but I was disappointed,"
Dennis Farrell, the Big West Conference commissioner, said about Nevada's
decision to leave.
Farrell said the conference is coming off
an outstanding year of athletics.
The 49ers won the NCAA Volleyball National
Championship.
The Big West has had members participate
in the College World Series the past two years with Cal State Fullerton
in 1999 and LBSU in 1998.
Even Big West football had a winning percentage
in games against the Western Athletic Conference.
However, Shumard said the California schools
in the conference want to make the Big West drop football as a sponsored
sport.
"We have the voting majority in the Big
West," Shumard said. "Our hope is we can steer the conference into the
direction we want within the next year or so."
According to Shumard, three more teams
may join the six Big-West California schools in the future.
They include Cal State Northridge, Cal
State Sacramento, and UC Riverside, which is making the jump to Division
I athletics next year.
Sacramento and Northridge already compete
in the Big West in some sports like baseball and softball, respectively.
Schools in the Big West would also like
to see its conference transform into an all-California conference.
Farrell gave three reasons why an all-California
membership league would be good.
The first reason Farrell points to is stability,
citing schools from within the state would be less likely to flee the conference.
The next reason is saving money. "The cost
savings would be dramatic," Farrell said, adding that schools would be
able cut costs in most travel expenses.
The final reason is the development of
regional rivalries. Farrell said fans in California could relate better
to local schools rather than to schools from another state.
The timeline to finish such a project is
undetermined.
Farrell said the main reason a time table
has not been set is because the conference is undecided what to do with
its current schools competing in football.
The Big West would like to help land its
current football schools in a better conference for football.
The WAC and Conference USA may be the future
homes for Idaho, Boise State and Utah State, Shumard said.
Most coaches at LBSU said they feel that
the conference is strong right now in their respective sports.
LBSU womenís volleyball Head Coach Brian
Gimmillaro said, "the Big West Conference is the best volleyball conference
in the nation."
Gimmillaro said in the past 16 years the
conference has won several national championships and has had numerous
All-Americans and some National Players of the Year.
Men's basketball Head Coach Wayne Morgan
was more reserved in his praise of the current state of the conference.
"It's a fine conference," Morgan said.
"I have to go into the conference and win the conference tournament."
In the past three years, the tournament
has been held in Nevada.
Although the tournament will be played
in Nevada again this year in Nevadaís final year of existence as a member
of the Big West, Morgan said he would like to see the tournament held in
Southern California.
Morgan said, "I believe that currently
our A.D., Bill Shumard, is working hard to try to bring the conference
tournament to Long Beach."
LBSU baseball Head Coach Dave Snow said
he feels the current state of the conference is strong.
The problem most Big West coaches have
with out-of-state conference members is the amount of miles they
have to travel to play them and the amount of money they have to spend
on the teamís overnight accommodations.
"Budget wise it's (competing against out
of state schools) a nightmare," LBSU women's soccer Head Coach Julie Cochran
said.
Snow said, "An all-California conference
would make more sense." He also added that natural rivalries would be sparked.
Although softball Head Coach Pete Manarino
said Big West teamís have had some success and have played in the Softball
College World Series, he would like to see the conference more divided
by region.
"I would like to see our travel go down,"
Manarino said. "It would help us budget wise."
Both the womenís soccer and basketball
coach said they feel that the loss of out of state schools would hurt the
strength of the conference.
"I am not happy with it," women's basketball
Head Coach Dallas Boychuk-Bolla said.
Boychuk-Bolla also said she believes
recruiting would be hurt.
According to Boychuk-Bolla, most players
would not choose LBSU because of the lack of schedule strength.
Shumard is aware of the problems some coaches
have with the lack of potency of the new conference, but he does say that
an aggressive non-conference schedule would make up for a lack luster conference.
LBSU President Robert Maxson said an all-California
conference would be in the best interest of the university and the other
schools involved.
"It could be an exciting conference," Maxson
said.
One thing is for certain; the determination
from all six California Big West Conference schools to have an all California
conference is strong.
Eric Boyum contributed to this story. |
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