After the conference roller-coaster ride of the past year and a half, University of Hawaii president M.R.C. Greenwood said she believes the new and as-yet-unnamed conference the school moves into next year will provide the stability and growth opportunities UH has been seeking.

Greenwood was in Dallas earlier in the week as one of 16 chief executives from member schools to sign off on the plan that will dissolve the Mountain West and Conference USA and create a new 18-to-24-team conference in its place beginning July 1, 2013.

“We’re hoping this conference will help provide a little less volatility,” Greenwood said, adding that it should be, “an opportunity to be able to build our team with the confidence that we know a good deal about what schedule our team will be playing over an extended period of time.”

In a recent teleconference with the Star-Advertiser, Greenwood discussed some aspects of the move and commented on other current UH issues.

Whether UH was asked to consider moving basketball or other sports to the new conference:

“We are in it for football only. That’s really our choice. And, if we wanted to change that, we’d have to open that discussion with the new conference.”

Whether she has a suggestion for the name of the new conference:

“I do, but I’m not going to tell you what it is because it is not up to me to name the conference. I will be submitting it along with my other colleagues as we finalize those kinds of decisions. But I’m pretty sure we’ll see the word ‘national’ in it.”

Expanding the new conference beyond the initial 16 members:

“That, in some ways, is one of the most exciting things about this new conference is that we will have an opportunity to look at adding some new teams. Obviously, I’m not going to tell you what the teams under consideration are. But I will tell you there is a lot of excitement out there about some teams who wouldn’t have been interested, perhaps, in either of the two conferences but are even more excited over the prospects of the new conference.”

Whether the new conference will be more lucrative for UH:

“We hope so. We hope that this conference, with its stability, with its national reach and, hopefully its playoff structure, will be more appealing to the media (partners). But I won’t have any straightforward answer for that until we’ve had some opportunity to work with our media partners to assess that.”

Whether it will be more expensive:

“I don’t think so. But, once again, we are at a stage with this new conference where we are working out details of who is paying for what. There is a possibility that we could have additional costs if we go into a playoff structure. On the other hand, there is a possibility it will be appealing enough that it will actually make more money for us.”

Whether UH will get additional help to underwrite travel costs:

“We’ve been trying to do that and will continue to try to encourage our state partners to help.”

The role played by football coach Norm Chow in drumming up support:

“I’m very encouraged that now that we have selected Coach Chow, we do have some folks in the Legislature and in the governor’s office trying to directly address the issue that if we want a Division I team, particularly football, to be successful in the state of Hawaii, we have to find a way to provide some underwriting for these things. And that is specifically related to our geographical isolation and to the fact that, because there are no professional teams, one could argue that we provide the best sports entertainment in the state and that is something the state needs to give serious consideration to.”

Public perception of Chow:

“I would say he has been enormously well received and there is a lot of enthusiasm for the coach. Of course it is not limited to the Legislature. We’ve seen it with our boosters, our alumni and with the team. And so, I think, this has created, if you will, both an opportunity and a teachable moment since we have a coach who is kamaaina and has a reputation.

“I was speaking with several of my (presidential) colleagues and they were all saying he (Chow) has a national reputation and is one of the best in the country. And everybody is excited about seeing him come home and being head coach — even (those) outside our sphere of influence.”

Whether athletic director Jim Donovan’s five-year contract, which enters its final year next month, will be rolled over:

“Oh, I think Jim has (been) an excellent help for us in this whole business with the (football) coach transition, but I’m not going to talk personnel decisions. I just can’t. That should not be interpreted in any negative way. Jim has a contract, he has been doing an excellent job and there’s nothing more to say about that at this point until we do or take some action or not. There’s no urgency on the action.”

Whether Boise State will fulfill its commitment to the MWC through 2012 or leave early for the Big East:

“Clearly Boise State is restless. I don’t know what Boise is going to do. If they do leave early, they have financial obligations to the Mountain West. They are not insignificant. They also create substantial scheduling issues for the conference. But what they decide to do is something only they can give you an answer to.”