If Denver leaves the WAC, Seattle University needs to find a new conference fast

Seattle University’s new conference, the WAC, has been teetering on the brink of self-destruction for over a year now.

A mass exodus was already going to leave the conference with just six members next season, with Idaho, New Mexico State, Denver and Seattle welcoming conference newbies CSU-Bakersfield and Utah Valley. Idaho has announced its departure to the Big Sky in 2014, but that still gave the conference a year to come up with a replacement.

It doesn’t have that luxury anymore, because according to a CBS report, Denver is going to skip out of the WAC and join the Summit League in the summer of 2013. The WAC would be left with five (soon to be four) members.

I cannot emphasize enough how big of a problem this would be for Seattle. Five teams likely means no possible way to get into the NCAA tournament. Five teams means the conference would be on the level of the Great West as a complete afterthought. Five teams means the WAC, needing to have eight members by 2015, would have virtually no chance of survival.

It also is going to scare some recruits away from the program. A team with a secure conference future is always going to be more attractive than one in flux.

And all the school’s other athletic programs are going to take severe hits, too. Can the baseball team get Division-I players with no NCAA bid up for grabs? Will anyone watch the women’s soccer team play meaningless annual games against Utah Valley?

So here’s an urgent message to the people in the athletics department at Seattle University: Get to work.

Secure a future in Division-I athletics for the Redhawks, whatever it takes. It might require writing a hefty check to the Big West or the Big Sky, but it will be worth it in the short and long term.

Because the WAC is, sadly, not going to be a viable conference much longer. For this basketball program – and athletics program – to continue to grow, it needs to be in a different athletic conference, one with the promise of potential bids into the NCAA tournament years from now.