Oct. 26, 1999

Colorado Springs, Colo.‹The Mountain West Conference Joint Council, comprised of athletics directors, senior woman administrators and faculty athletic representatives, concluded its fall meeting in Colorado Springs today. The actions and recommendations from the meeting will be forwarded to the Mountain West Conference Board of Directors for its final approval.

The following are highlights of the actions taken at the Joint Council fall meeting:

* The Joint Council approved the following initiatives proposed by the Academic Initiatives and Integration Committee for submission to the MWC Board of Directors.

1. To create an academic consortium to help integrate our member institutions beyond athletics,

2. To develop shared international/foreign exchange programs and make them available to all students at all member institutions,

3. To initiate a program to share specialized laboratories and field stations among students and faculty of member institutions,

4. To establish a faculty exchange directory to facilitate interaction among faculty at member institutions.

* The Joint Council established the "Mountain West Conference Student-Athlete-of-the-Year Award." Two awards will be given annually to the man and the woman who best exemplify the term "student-athlete" by achieving excellence in academics, athletics and community. Student-athletes in their final year of eligibility will be eligible for the awards. The first award recipient will be selected at the conclusion of the 1999-2000 academic year.

* At the suggestion of the MWC Board of Directors, the Joint Council established an annual award in honor of Colorado State University President Dr. Albert Yates recognizing his contributions to the formation of the conference. The award will recognize an outstanding administrator, coach, student-athlete, conference staff member or institutional staff member, alumni or community leader for outstanding service to the Mountain West Conference.

* The Joint Council approved the ticket plan for the 2000 Mountain West Conference Basketball Championships in Las Vegas, Nevada, March 8-11. As part of the plan, preferred tickets will be made available only through the member institiutions' ticket offices. All eight MWC ticket offices are accepting ticket orders. The 14-game package is on sale now for $135.

* The MWC Championships Committee recommended the following tie-breaker procedure in the event that there is a three-way tie for the regular-season football title. All two-way ties are resolved based on head-to-head competition. The Joint Council later approved the recommendation.

In the event of a three-way tie, co-champions will be named in 1999. In future years, the team which has most recently participated in the Bowl will not be eligible for consideration to compete at the Liberty Bowl, leaving the remaining two tied teams eligible to represent the MWC at the Liberty Bowl.

The MWC will utilize the final BCS Standings to determine a conference champion and assist the Liberty Bowl in its selection of the MWC participant. The Liberty Bowl will utilize the following criteria in making its selection:

1. The Conference tie-breaker,
2. The team that has been to the Bowl most recently
3. BCS rankings
4. Overall Record
5. All other relevant information

As part of the 3-year relationship with the Liberty Bowl, the bowl is not required to select the same team in consecutive seasons, beginning with the 2000 bowl. BYU participated in the 1998 Liberty Bowl and will be eligible for the bowl game in '99. The no-repeat rule will be in affect for the 2000 and 2001 bowl games.

* The Joint Council Executive Committee supported the Commissioner's decision to suspend UNLV Head Men's Basketball Coach Bill Bayno for violation of a conference sports regulation. The one-game suspension will be invoked at UNLV's first conference game on January 10, 2000 vs. BYU. The regulation (1.11.1) states that all head coaches in all conference sports must attend their one annual conference coaches meeting unless prior approval for being absent is granted by the Commissioner. Coach Bayno missed the head coaches meeting which was held in conjunction to media day last week and thus was subject to the one-game penalty prescribed in the regulation.