Fresno State Accepts the WAC’s 10th Spot : Growth: SDSU’s Miller lauds expansion, which could lead to divisional play.

Conforming to today’s notion in collegiate athletics that bigger is better, the Western Athletic Conference expanded by one Wednesday when Fresno State University accepted the WAC’s offer to become the 10th member.

Fresno State, which will leave the Big West Conference, officially will align with the WAC July 1, 1992. Fresno State’s membership includes full integration of men’s and women’s programs into the 21 sports (11 men’s and 10 women’s) sponsored by the WAC.

Joe Kearney, WAC commissioner, said he expects the conference schools will work Fresno State into their athletic schedules for the 1992 season.

“I think we can mesh them in in fairly quick order,” Kearney said.

The invitation was extended to Fresno State after the WAC Council of Presidents unanimously voted to expand during its annual meetings Monday and Tuesday in Durango, Colo.

“I’m just delighted,” said Fred Miller, SDSU athletic director and longtime advocate of WAC expansion. “I’m as happy as a clam. It makes sense for the WAC to be proactive. It makes sense that it is Fresno State.”

WAC athletic directors voted unanimously last year in favor of expansion, following the lead of conferences such as the Big Ten (adding Penn State), the Big East (adding the University of Miami), the Atlantic Coast Conference (adding Florida State) and the Southeast Conference (adding Arkansas). Most believed that a nine-member conference made scheduling more difficult, and several thought expansion would ease overburdened budgets by spurring the WAC to divide into geographical divisions.

The WAC presidents lifted a moratorium on expansion at their meetings last spring and commissioned a study on expansion.

“I don’t think anyone would have predicted it this quickly,” said Kearney, who attended the presidents’ meeting this week. “Once they heard and analyzed the information, they determined it was appropriate to expand to 10.”

Gary Cunningham, Fresno State athletic director, said he was “totally surprised” at Monday’s invitation, but added that the school’s administration was quick to accept. As recently as Monday morning, Cunningham told The Times that there had been no discussions between the WAC and Fresno State.

At the same time, though, Cunningham said Fresno State was “very interested” in the WAC.

“We were prepared to say ‘yes’ if the terms were right, and the terms are right,” Cunningham said at a news conference in Fresno.

“What it has to offer us is stability of programs and greater exposure of our program. We offer them a very strong, broad-based program, a proven program, good facilities and good fans.”

Fresno State already has added 12,000 seats to its football stadium, bringing capacity to 40,500. Cunningham said the stadium will be up to 42,000 by next fall and that the goal is to eventually boost it to 55,000. Fresno State ranked 57th in NCAA football attendance last season with an average of 32,881 fans.

Cunningham also said Monday that the Bulldogs planned to join the College Football Assn. if they became a member of the WAC. Fresno State is not currently a member of the CFA because the Bulldogs do not play the required number of games against NCAA Division I-A schools.

There are approximately 19,500 students enrolled in Fresno State.

“Fresno State is a strong institution, both academically and athletically, and its addition is a significant step for the WAC,” said Dr. Diana Natalicio, Texas El Paso president and chairperson of the Council of Presidents, in a prepared statement.

Fresno State’s decision could have a negative impact on the California Raisin Bowl, which annually pits the Big West champions against the Mid-American Conference winners. The game is played at Fresno State.

The WAC, though, will welcome what has been a successful athletic program. The Bulldogs have won four Big West football championships and four California Bowls over the past nine years. In basketball, they won the National Invitation Tournament in 1983, and the baseball team advanced to the College World Series in 1988 and this spring.

Also, the women’s softball team has been runner-up for the national championship four times in the past decade.

This is the first change in WAC membership since the Air Force Academy joined in 1980, and it probably will result in the WAC’s dividing into two divisions, such as an East and West. Although nothing has been decided yet, the WAC athletic directors will discuss possible divisional alignments at their summer meeting in Honolulu in July.

“There are a lot of things I like about divisional play,” Miller said. “I’m a real believer in giving a lot of hardware to youngsters--trophies, medals . . . I’m not an advocate of a 10-team round-robin in basketball. I like divisions in football. The races are more exciting--the NBA teaches me that.”