Previewing the WAC Preview

Stephen Tsai writes that Colt Brennan will take a quick break from coaching at the Elite 11 Camp to take part in the WAC Football Media Preview, which starts tomorrow.

Brennan will take a break tomorrow as guest coach for the Elite 11 Camp in Southern California to travel to San Jose for interviews with national media. He returns to the camp tomorrow night.

"I'm excited to go up there," Brennan said. "I've never done it before, so it's a new experience. Obviously it will be a chance to let people know what our team has been doing this summer and where we stand and what we plan on doing this year."

DVD copies of "A Colt Following," a 43 minute Heisman candidacy video edited by Robert Kekaula, will be distributed to the media there. Let's hope the video will be online for everyone to see either Monday or Tuesday, as detailed in this Advertiser article from July 11th.

Ferd Lewis writes that the WAC has plenty to be proud of and to crow about and proclaim during the media preview.

Between Boise State's inspiring Fiesta Bowl triumph, Hawai'i quarterback Colt Brennan's record-pulverizing season and San Jose State's turnaround, the WAC has plenty it wants to show off. And, with 69 media representatives, including a smattering of national media — USA Today, ESPN.com, the Associated Press, Los Angeles Times and San Francisco Chronicle — and three bowls, it will have an audience, the proportions of which it has rarely been blessed.

Ferd also discusses one of the WAC's goals, which is very important for Hawaii's pooped-upon, but still not pooped-out-of-luck, BCS aspirations.

The WAC's avowed goal is to place two of its teams, Boise State and UH, in the preseason Top 25 and hope one of them can duplicate the Broncos' lucrative run to the BCS and pick up some major awards along the way.

Both finished in the polls in January — (Boise as high as No. 5 and UH 24th) — but the key for positioning for a Bowl Championship Series berth is to have the boost of being there when the season kicks off. "History has shown us how much of an advantage that can be," Benson said.

There's gonna be quite a few outside factors that will have to go Hawaii's way during the season as well. But UH just gotta take care of what UH can take care of.

Brian Murphy of the Idaho Statesman writes about WAC commissioner Karl Benson's excitement for the upcoming season.

In 1999, the 16-team WAC crumbled under his feet. Eight teams bolted to form their own league, the Mountain West Conference. Five of the eight left behind are now in other leagues.

Any thought that the WAC would assume its place as what Benson calls, "the second most recognized conference in the West" behind the Pac-10 seemed preposterous. But that's where the league is today. Benson won't mention the Mountain West by name. But you can see him smiling through the phone.

He has great admiration for Hawaii and Fresno State, which held the league together while Benson found new members. The additions of Boise State (football) and Nevada (basketball) gave the league additional credibility.

And this is a great goal that I hope the league can pull off ASAP:

The WAC is pushing its strategic plan, which calls for schools near the bottom to increase spending to bolster competitiveness.

"There's always going to be a gap. We have to narrow the gap," said Benson, who along with the board of directors turned down a contract extension offer from ESPN this summer.

It is through television deals and bowl opportunities that Benson can add to the coffers of the have-nots in the league.

On the field, Boise State and Hawaii will do very well, Fresno will bounce back, Nevada and SJSU will continue to improve, and New Mexico State will surprise a lot of people. Idaho, Louisiana Tech and Utah State are in rebuilding situations, coaching and/or personnel-wise (thanks Dennis Erickson) so they may take a while to get back to competitive form. But let's hope they shock some people.

And Stephen Tsai has a post about his arrival in the Bay Area for the WAC Preview, waiting for Ferd Lewis at the airport, and Ferd possibly stealing his car. I think he'll be updating the post throughout the day.

In the meantime, I took a quick tour of the place. The interview and work rooms are on the second floor; the hospitality room is on the 17th. I guess that's the correct distance needed between writing and drinking.
One of the cool things is the WAC made personalized room keys. On the front is the WAC logo, the back has a breakdown of each conference's bowl winning percentage the past five years. The WAC is No. 1 (.611), followed by the ACC (.600). I bet the ACC doesn't have its logo on room keys.

And here's a link to the schedule of the preview sessions.