Warriors should not feel complacent in the MWC

In short order they will be painting new conference logos on the court at the Stan Sheriff Center and on the field at Aloha Stadium for the University of Hawaii.

They will be two of the most visible reminders of UH’s historic transition this month from the Western Athletic Conference to membership in the Mountain West (football only) and Big West (most other sports).

Officially, June 30 will be UH’s last day in the WAC, the school’s first and, at 33 years, longest-running athletic home.

For all the anticipation and hope that accompanies the change of addresses, it would be a mistake for UH to take its eyes off its wallet or its contemporaries, especially in the MWC.

If the seismic, conference-scrambling events of the past couple of years have taught us anything about college athletics in this day and time, it should be that every State U., Tech and A&M is in this for itself. Dollars — or even a sniff of them — mean more than handshakes, ages-old rivalries and contracts.

COLLEGIALITY, as UH once knew it, ended May 26, 1998, the day it was announced that eight schools, who had met clandestinely at the Denver airport to hatch their scheme, would be bolting the WAC to form what became the MWC. That six of those defectors still remain in the MWC should give UH reason for concern when more than one of them leave the board room at a time.

Two more schools, Fresno State and Nevada, were skipping out on UH until they, too, got ditched. Another member (for 2012, anyway), Boise State, has made it clear it wants little part of playing in Hawaii and can’t seem to get away from UH fast enough, having exited the WAC and, now, being on the way out the MWC door as well.

So UH should be under no grand illusions about where it stands in the MWC as a football-only member and a geographic outsider required to pledge approximately $650,000 per year in initial travel subsidies. What UH bought itself was a place at the table for as long as it suits the majority’s purposes.

MAKE NO MISTAKE about it, the MWC is the best place UH could have reasonably hoped to have ended up for 2012. For sure it beats what the alternatives were prior to December 2010, when the MWC deigned to open its door to UH. And it has spared UH from the fate of New Mexico State and Idaho, who have reason to question whether to remain in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision.

Whether UH will still have that pinch-me delight in 2013 — or beyond — depends in large part on the subsequent rounds of conference musical chairs and how the school goes about shaping its future.

The Big West, meanwhile, should be a more comfortable fit, both geographically and politically. Though some of that could change if the financial situation at the California schools significantly worsens or if Boise State piggybacks San Diego State into the conference for 2013.

In the meantime, as it goes forth, UH might want to make sure to keep a hand firmly on that wallet, an eye on its brethren and its focus on the future.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.