Gillis Addresses WAC Status

Gillis Addresses WAC Status

July 30, 1998

The departure of eight schools from the Western Athletic Conference was announced
in late May. I can report that the WAC is very much alive, only more compact
than before, and looking to the future with some confidence.

Indeed, the eight schools, including Rice, that plan to remain in the WAC are,
in general, better positioned to succeed as a conference than the collection
of eight departing schools. The WAC has a commissioner; they do not. We have
honored our commitments; in my view, they have not. Our reputation for forthright,
transparent dealings is fully intact; in my view, theirs is not. We retain rights
to ongoing basketball revenues from the NCAA tournament before 1999; they do
not.

These are, as you know, times of great change in intercollegiate athletics.
For some time, universities like ours have been resisting the efforts of the
large conferences aggressively seeking to dominate the entire television revenue
market. Rice is in good company with many universities that are fighting to
maintain a balanced playing field. Some of the departing WAC members seem to
be under the mistaken impression that their new conference would be better able
to attract television revenue.

We have outstanding, multitalented student-athletes and truly extraordinary
coaches in men’s and women’s sports. They have demonstrated that, given the
opportunity, Rice University can produce strong, competitive and winning teams.
Six conference championships in the past five years attest to that. In the remaining
year of the larger WAC, and as we move forward in a more compact WAC (perhaps
with a couple of new members in due time), the best interests of our university
and of our student-athletes will remain foremost.

— Malcolm Gillis
Rice University President