Quietly but unmistakably, something is stirring in Ruston, La., home of Louisiana Tech University.

A lot, actually, in the placid northern Louisiana countryside where Tech, with its change in head football coaches, bold pronouncements by the university president and aggressive writing of checks, is aiming to become more than bit players in the Western Athletic Conference.

The WAC's most far-flung continental member, Tech is often overlooked except when it comes to complaints about travel. But as Hawai'i tees it up in the WAC football opener for both teams at Joe Aillet Stadium tomorrow there is a sense the Bulldogs have bigger things in mind.

First they fired football coach Jack Bicknell last season, one year after a 7-4 finish. Then they anted up nearly twice as much in salary, a reported $400,000, to hire Derek Dooley, son of former Georgia coach Vince Dooley.

And lest anybody misunderstand the point of the exercise, Tech president Dan Reneau pledged to boosters in May a "top-notch athletic program" drawing comparisons to what Boise State has done in its rise to five consecutive WAC football titles.

In the meantime, alumnus Karl Malone chipped in $350,000 and a facilities upgrade, including a $500,000 football locker room enhancement, is taking shape.

"The administration is committed to changing their philosophy," Dooley said. "Certainly in the past it has not been one of invest and build."

Indeed, Tech won the WAC football title in 2001, its first season of membership but has had only one winning season thereafter. Its marquee women's basketball program has fallen on hard times and financially the school has had to play a heavy load of so-called big "money" road games against the likes of Nebraska, Texas A&M and Clemson last year and Louisiana State, California and Mississippi this year to balance what, at $10.1 million, has been one of the smaller athletic budgets in the WAC. For those ample checks, they've taken a beating that has hurt their ability to compete in the WAC.

"You hate to say they are a sleeping giant, because it is an overused term, but that's really what they are," said Jeff Reinebold, a UH assistant coach who spent a year at Tech. "There is so much talent within a 200-mile radius of that campus that if they get it going they could be real tough."

That "if" remains the overriding question. Can the Bulldogs, who averaged but 14,500 per home game last year, draw well enough in games like tomorrow's to walk away from the "money" road games and remain solvent?

Showings in games like this will help determine whether Tech's dreams are realistic or merely blind ambition.

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