LAS VEGAS — The coaches are already hearing it on the recruiting trail.

It’s not just the scholarship that’s important any more, but how much more are school’s offering when it comes to cost of attendance.

“It’s disappointing to me, because it’s becoming dollars and cents,” San Diego State coach Rocky Long said. “I don’t mind the idea. The idea is it cost more to go to school than the scholarship pays for, and that’s great. They’re going to get the difference so they can basically go to college without anything coming out of their pocket or anything coming out of their family’s pocket. I’m all right with that.

“The problem is that every school is getting to determine that amount of money themselves, so some schools are giving $5,000 and some are giving $3,900 and everything in between. So in recruiting, it is a huge advantage. Why would you think of them, they only give you $4,000 a year, we’re going to give you $5,000 a year. This is not shocking.”

Nor is what schools are paying. While there is a federal formula universities are to follow, schools can set a figure for cost of living.

It is even more of a concern for two Mountain West member schools — Hawaii and Nevada — which are not financially capable of meeting that demand this year, and quite possibly in the future. The rest are, with the exception of Air Force, which is not affected as it already meets the needs of all cadets on campus.

Nevada coach Brian Polian said the league has shown the capability to land recruits who are being sought by Pac 12 schools, but for his program, that is a window that is not only closing, but getting slammed shut.

“What happens if a Mountain West school says we can’t do this? Forget it,” he said. “You’ve got no chance to compete. Not only can you not pluck a recruit away from a Power 5, you can’t compete in your own conference. You might as well be in the Big Sky, and that’s the harsh reality of it.”

Norm Chow of Hawaii agrees: “Awful. Just horrible. The concern is the gap will continue to widen,” he said. “I’m on my fourth AD in three years. I told him you have to do something. I don’t know what it is, but do something. We can’t keep up.”

Nevada couldn’t afford the tab this year, but said it will next year. UNLV is offering it on a limited basis, to just football and men’s and women’s basketball. There is a wide range of what schools will pay, from Boise State at $5,100 to the $3,100 Colorado State will grant out-of-state athletes, $2,400 in state.

Conference commissioner Craig Thompson didn’t allude to it being a major concern for member schools, nor did he believe the conference would pursue a cap for schools for fear of lawsuits, but wondered if there could be one set nationally, which Long is in favor of seeing.

“I think you could get there on a federal level, but if you do it on a conference basis, you’d probably have another lawsuit waiting to happen,” Thompson said. “Could you possibly? But I don’t know if our Board would be willing to take that challenge on.”

Grayson named MW male athlete of the year

Prior to Thompson meeting with the media, the conference announced awards for male and female athlete and scholar-athlete for the 2014-15 season, with former CSU quarterback Garrett Grayson named the male athlete of the year.

Grayson left the Rams with every major passing record for a season and a career after throwing for 4,006 yards and 32 touchdowns in leading the team to a 10-3 mark. He was selected in the third round of the NFL Draft by the New Orleans Saints. He is the first CSU male to win the award since it was created in 2009-10. Volleyball player Danielle Minch won it in 2010-11.

The West Division teams fulfilled their duties on Tuesday, with the Mountain Division coming in on Wednesday. In addition to first-year coach Mike Bobo, the Rams will be represented by receiver Rashard Higgins and safety Trent Matthews. … CSU fans can meet with athletic director Joe Parker on Wednesday at Washington’s Sports Bar, beginning at 5:30 p.m. It’s part of Parker’s connecting with the community campaign.

Western front

Long’s squad was picked to win the West Division, picking up 27 of the possible 30 first-place votes, while the other three went to runner-up Fresno State. Not that it means much to Long.

“Let me put it this way; I’ve been in this league long enough that I’ve been picked last, I’ve been picked in the middle and this might be the second time we’ve ever been picked first on a team I coached, and it had nothing to do with the season,” Long said. “The season didn’t turn out that way any time. It’s a lot easier if you’re picked last, because that gives you automatic incentive. It’s things that you can talk to your team about, it’s things you can challenge their manhood about.

“If you get picked first, now it’s a question on how your players are going to handle that. Are they going to forget it and go about their business, or are they going go out and think they’ve already arrived and then not practice hard and play well?”

Long feels his team will handle it just fine. If there’s a real beef, he said, it’s that he had a defense that finished 10th in the country last year, yet only one of the eight returning starters was selected for the preseason all-conference team, defensive back Damontae Kazee.

Mike Brohard: 970-635-3633, mbrohard@reporter-herald.com and twitter.com/mbrohard