Seeing Boise State's departure plans from the Western Athletic Conference placed on hold offers Karl Benson no relief that the Broncos will stick around.
Although the Mountain West Conference did not to invite Boise State to become its 10th member on Monday, Benson figures it's only a matter of time before the Broncos do what so many other past WAC teams have done before them and leave the conference to go elsewhere.
"It's been pretty well documented that if an invitation comes, they will accept," Benson said in a teleconference on Monday. "There's been a couple of new twists thrown in here in the last several days that has caused the Mountain West to pause. At some juncture, they're going to have to reconvene and decide what direction they want to take."
If that direction ultimately involves bringing Boise State into the fold, Benson said the WAC is prepared to move on without the Broncos. Benson met with WAC presidents and athletic directors In Las Vegas on Monday for the conference's annual summer meeting and the group discussed expansion scenarios for part of the time.
Beyond indicating the WAC has plenty of options for potential members because of its large geographic footprint, Benson declined to reveal which schools are being considered for inclusion.
He did acknowledge that more than five or six FCS schools are on a short list for potential WAC membership. Those FCS candidates reportedly include Montana, Portland State, Sacramento State, Cal Poly and UC-Davis.
Benson also said the conference would extend invitations to other FBS schools if massive expansion forces them to change conference affiliation.
"I look at this as an opportunity for the WAC to get better," Benson said. "If Boise State stays in the WAC or if they elect to leave, I think there are many options we have before us."
Benson is confident the WAC can survive if the Broncos depart because it has survived changes brought on by expansion in the past.
Losing top teams has become a familiar routine to the WAC in its history.
Arizona and Arizona State left in 1978 to join the Pac-10. Following a botched expansion to 16 teams, half of the conference — led by BYU and Utah — split off to form the Mountain West in 1999.
TCU later left in 2001 to join Conference USA. UTEP, Rice, SMU and Tulsa followed suit by leaving to join the C-USA in 2005.
In each case, Benson said the WAC has survived and had new teams rise up to become nationally competitive programs. He thinks the conference can successfully follow that formula once again if Boise State is eventually invited to join the MWC or another conference.
Benson would not be surprised to see Fresno State, Hawaii or even Utah State fill that void at the top.
"Somebody is going to step up and compete," Benson said. "We've established a standard. We've established an expectation that there's always going to be a WAC team in the BCS mix."
Benson hopes the impending wave of expansion won't rip through his conference once again. But he knows the chances of that happening are very slim at this point.
"Every conference has the potential to be impacted by these changes," Benson said. "It might be dramatic. It might be slight. But I think we all believe there is going to be some movement that's going to result in that domino effect."
Boise State can theoretically leave the WAC after the July 1 deadline to play in the MWC in 2011. Benson indicated, however, a stiff financial penalty would likely be imposed on the Broncos by the WAC board of directors if that occurred.
e-mail: jcoon@desnews.com