NEW ORLEANS —Tulane University President Scott Cowen is hosting University of Hawai'i and state officials at a reception today and you hope they've brought lei and gifts aplenty because they are greatly in his debt today, of all days.

For on a night when the Warrior football team plays in its first Bowl Championship Series game, the Sugar Bowl against Georgia here in Tulane's backyard, UH has Cowen to thank almost as much as the accurate right arm of quarterback Colt Brennan.

It was Cowen who, when his own unbeaten (11-0) Green Wave team was passed over in 1998, vowed that it would not happen again to a team from a non-guaranteed BCS conference. When Conference USA got the golden shaft from the six so-called power conferences that run the BCS, Cowen rallied presidents across the country to the cause of opening up the BCS under the banner of the Presidential Coalition for Athletic Reform.

His success in that painstaking venture is reflected in the fact that UH is playing in the Superdome today before 70,000-plus fans and a national television audience of upward of 10 million. If not for the efforts of Cowen, Western Athletic Conference commissioner Karl Benson and people of like minds and unrelenting spirit, UH would have played East Carolina in the Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl last week.

That's no slight on the Pirates of ECU, who held off Boise State, or a Hawai'i Bowl that has been a Godsend for UH, just a recognition that a 12-0 Warrior team that emerged as the only unbeaten major college team in the country had earned a right to play on the highest available stage. One that would have been denied them up until Cowen ran point on opening up the BCS just as it had been Tulane.

But after he asked enough pointed questions and rattled enough cages that even Congress took an interest in this college football monopoly, the framers of the BCS had to listen. They were forced to leave enough wiggle room that an unbeaten WAC team had an opportunity to crash their heretofore exclusive $100 million party.

Such were the changes that Benson predicted two years ago, "they would practically guarantee an unbeaten WAC champion a berth (in 2006 or thereafter)."

Boise State, on the heels of Utah, managed to do so and, now, UH gets its shot today.

And, you'd better believe Cowen, who has watched the Warriors' inspiring saga unfold, will be there, too. With a message. "I would tell them that they have achieved something that very few people ever experience. They should now show the rest of the world that they are a team of destiny with an abundance of talent, heart and courage," Cowen said.

Thankfully, Cowen's labors appear not to have been lost on UH. Brennan, asked about Cowen, at first tried to place the name before a flicker of recognition crossed his face at a press conference the other day. "He was the guy fighting for us," Brennan said, smiling. "I've heard about what he's done for a lot of the so-called mid-majors and I appreciate it. Obviously, we owe him a lot since we're here." Manoa Chancellor Virginia Hinshaw noted, "We owe him a debt of gratitude and a lot of respect, too."

Cowen recalls: "Tulane was undefeated in 1998 and never had this chance to play in a BCS bowl. I felt terrible for our players that year but am pleased to see that this injustice has now been rectified so others now have this special opportunity."

He continues to push for greater recognition and opportunity for non-guaranteed conferences. Cowen said he believes that a representative from the highest-ranked team among the non-guaranteed BCS conferences, unbeaten or not, should have a place every year.

So the fight goes on. Except for a few hours tonight when Cowen, as well as all Hawai'i, will proudly relish one of his successes.

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

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