Tuesday, August 18, 1998

Coaches want
neutral umps

The WAC is urged to use two
traveling umpires for each
conference baseball series

By Al Chase
Star-Bulletin

Western Athletic Conference baseball coaches want the use of neutral umpires to become a regular practice next season.

That was the main topic at their meeting in Las Vegas yesterday.

The WAC initiated a pilot program last season that allowed schools with the financial resources to bring in two neutral umpires for a series. The University of Hawaii did this for each conference series.

The WAC coaches voted yesterday to have two traveling umpires for all conference series during the 1999 season. The recommendation next goes to the athletic directors for their approval.

What bothered UH head coach Les Murakami during the 1997 season was the traveling umpires sometimes lived very close to the school the Rainbows were playing.

He gave the example of an umpire from Sunnyvale, Calif. (just south of San Francisco) coming here when the Rainbows played San Jose State.

"I'm not saying they didn't do a good job, but if it's going to be neutral, then it has to be that way for everybody," Murakami said. "It was like we were paying for home umpires to come here.

"I just feel if we're playing a California school, then the traveling umpires should come from Reno or Phoenix or Texas."

With three (Southern Methodist, Tulsa, Texas-El Paso) schools not fielding baseball teams, the WAC also needs a sixth team in 2000 to keep its automatic NCAA tournament berth.

This situation was discussed among the five baseball coaches remaining in the reduced WAC in a separate meeting.

"Something has got to happen quick because of scheduling," Murakami said.