Patience pays off for Moos
Not becoming UNLV's athletic director in December might be the best thing that happened to Bill Moos.
He didn't get the job because his former employer, Oregon, enforced a noncompete clause that was supposed to apply to Bowl Championship Series schools west of the Mississippi River. Oregon argued UNLV fell under that umbrella because all 11 major conferences, including the Mountain West, technically are part of the BCS.
In reality, that's a ridiculous stance.
But it was enough of an argument to cause UNLV to go in a different direction and hire Jim Livengood.
Now Moos, who lives near Spokane, Wash., might become the AD at Washington State, his alma mater, which has offered him the job.
Because of Oregon's actions to keep him from taking over at UNLV, Moos has leverage. He can threaten to sue Oregon over that situation, forcing the Ducks into an agreement that would allow him to take the position at Washington State.
Moos is beloved in Eastern Washington. A crowd turned out to hear him speak Wednesday, making the event more of a pep rally. Moos told those in attendance he was in talks to fix the situation with Oregon.
"Oregon insisted on a no-compete clause because they didn't want to compete with me," Moos told the crowd, "and I don't blame them."
Moos sounds like a fighter, and by helping take him out of the running at UNLV, Oregon picked a fight it didn't need to. And one it might regret.
■ SILENCE SPEAKS WITH VOLUME -- Boise State hasn't been shy about letting it be known of its desire to join the Mountain West, and MWC commissioner Craig Thompson has made an annual habit of shooting down expansion questions.
Until now, and the silence is telling.
No one is talking, including Thompson, who refused to answer written questions from the Las Vegas Review-Journal about possibly inviting Boise State. The official explanation was it was an internal matter best handled by the university presidents.
But that didn't stop Thompson from previously refuting expansion rumors.
Such talk should heat up when the athletic directors meet next month with the conference basketball tournament at the Thomas & Mack Center. But the key will be in June when the presidents meet, and they could be proactive by inviting the Broncos before the Pacific-10 Conference begins to raid the MWC.
■ ONE BUT NOT THE OTHER? -- Considering the country's high adultery rate, no doubt Tiger Woods has many silent supporters who can't bring themselves to criticize him.
After local radio host Mitch Moss said on air Thursday that Woods was guilty of not only cheating on his wife, Elin, but also the couple's kids, one listener sent a text message to the show saying Moss was wrong. The texter claimed personal experience, stating he was a lousy husband but a great father.
Wow.
You think if his kids heard that statement, they might have a different opinion?
COMPILED BY MARK ANDERSON
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
