Boise State president Bob Kustra recently told the Idaho Statesman: "...We're good enough and we're proud enough of who we are that I don't think we ever should look to anyone viewing us from afar that we're down on bended knee.

"Boise State doesn't have to do that. If we go to the Mountain West (Conference), I want to go because I got a phone call or two from prominent presidents, not because I'm groveling to get in."

Don't look now, but that sure seems like a knee pressed firmly to the pavement. And what we're hearing out of Boise sounds suspiciously like clearing the throat for a grovel.

Too bad, too, because the chances of those same presidents — the ones who passed Boise over three years ago and (except for one) didn't return Kustra's letters several months ago — calling anytime soon are slight. But the opportunity to do damage to the WAC is considerable.

Boise State has done a lot to lift the WAC and, coming off its unbeaten football season, has been carrying the conference banner. Which is why it is particularly regrettable that the Broncos — or at least their president — would be wishing out loud upon an MWC invite.

After too many machinations and defections, things were finally solidifying in the WAC, where pride and collegiality has been building. Now you have the Boise president bemoaning travel and saying, "... and if we could hook up with the Mountain West, which has excellent competition, which has considerable academic quality, it would be a good match for us."

People in college sports say even if the MWC took on another member, the Broncos probably wouldn't top the pile of prospective candidates. What the nine-school MWC needs is a 10th to simplify its basketball rotation and help raise its hoops profile. Texas-El Paso of Conference USA and Nevada of the WAC would both do that better than Boise.

Nevada won the Commissioner's Cup for best all-around program in the WAC for the past year and has a baseball team, something the Broncos lack. And while Kustra pushes the "intermountain" connection, the MWC, with six of its nine members located in the Mountain Time Zone, already has a significant footprint there for TV purposes.

Certainly it behooves presidents to constantly evaluate options and, in a period of swiftly changing landscapes, be positioning their teams. But some things you do behind closed doors. Some sentiments you keep in-house.

If not for conference solidarity then because to beg in public is unseemly.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.