Before there was that Western Athletic Conference expansion misadventure — motto: "16 schools, nine states, four time zones, 4,000 miles, no limits" — there was the Big West Conference.

The really B-i-g West.

Its boundaries stretched from the West Coast to, at times, DeKalb, Ill., Lafayette, La., Las Cruces, N.M., Logan, Utah, and Boise, Idaho, as members came and went. Mostly went.

Lessons learned the hard way from those years of transitory, far-flung membership are why the Big West has been content to be an all-California conference for the past seven years.

So you can understand the Big West’s reluctance to welcome back conference-hopping Boise State these days as a blue-and-orange reminder of the not-always-so-good old days (1996-2001).

There is, after all, plenty to be said for having the entirety of your membership neatly packaged within a 456-mile drive the way the Big West has had it.

While some people derided the Big West as a "bus league," the proximity of the membership has been a source of common-sense pride for those who have watched other conferences’ bloated machinations and struggles. Indeed, having every series be a freeway series has made for sound fiscal policy in the Big West, especially in times of rising fuel costs and shrinking state appropriations.

It has also allowed the Big West to be discerning about whose membership applications it gives a thumbs-up. Which is why it took some people a while to warm up to the idea of Hawaii returning for 2012. And, perhaps surprisingly, even San Diego State coming back on board for 2013.

Small wonder conference members greeted Boise State’s overtures in December with a yawn when the Broncos asked to be allowed to park most of its teams there while football bolts from the Mountain West to the Big East.

UH, along with a pledge to underwrite opponents’ travel here, was seen as boosting the league’s credibility in volleyball, softball and baseball, among other sports. San Diego State, meanwhile, is in the league’s geographic footprint while also bringing baseball and Top 25 basketball prowess.

But Boise State?

Basketball has been nothing special and would come with altitude as well as attitude. Volleyball has had three winning seasons in the last 13 years. There is no baseball team, and softball has only been around for four seasons.

Four years is also probably double the over/under on Boise State’s stay in the Big West should another conference opportunity open up in the meantime. The Broncos, faced with a lack of stability in the Western Athletic Conference, where they had planned to put most of their teams, are desperate. In another year or two, maybe not so much.

Word has it that the Broncos are willing to ante up for travel costs and maybe even throw some extra moolah on the table to burnish the bid.

What the Big West Board of Directors ought to say is they’ve been down this road before and, when it comes to venturing several hundred miles up I-15 and beyond, it isn’t one they care to retrace.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.