Western Athletic Conference

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Western Athletic Conference
(WAC)
Western Athletic Conference logo
Established 1962
Association NCAA
Division Division I
Members 8
Sports fielded 19 (men's: 9; women's: 10)
Region Western United States
West South Central United States
Midwestern United States
Headquarters Englewood, Colorado
Commissioner Jeff Hurd (since 2012)
Website www.wacsports.com
Locations
Western Athletic Conference locations

The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an American collegiate athletic conference formed on July 27, 1962 and affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the western United States, with member institutions located in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Utah, and Washington, along with the "non-western" states of Missouri, Illinois (traditionally associated with the Midwest), and Texas (traditionally associated with the South).

Due to most of the conference's football-playing members leaving the WAC for other affiliations, the conference discontinued football as a sponsored sport after the 2012–13 season and left the NCAA's Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly known as Division I-A). The WAC thus became the first Division I conference to drop football since the Big West in 2000. The WAC then added men's soccer and became one of the NCAA's eleven Division I non-football conferences.[1]

Member schools

Current members

The following institutions are the full members of the WAC for the 2015–16 academic year.

Institution Location
(Population)
Founded Type Enrollment U.S. News
Ranking[2]
Endowment Nickname Colors Joined WAC
Titles[3]
California State University, Bakersfield Bakersfield, California
(347,483)
1965 Public 8,720 80
(Regional: West)
$18,000,000 Roadrunners Royal Blue & Gold
         
2013 3
Chicago State University Chicago, Illinois
(2,695,598)
1867 Public 5,211 RNP
(Regional: Midwest)
$3,000,000 Cougars Evergreen & White
         
2013 0
Grand Canyon University Phoenix, Arizona
(1,445,632)
1949 Private,
For-profit
10,600 RNP
(Regional: West)
Non-endowed
For-profit
Antelopes Purple, Black & White
              
2013 6
University of Missouri–Kansas City Kansas City, Missouri
(459,787)
1933 Public 16,160 189
(National)
$195,000,000 Kangaroos Old Gold & Royal Blue
         
2013 3
New Mexico State University Las Cruces, New Mexico
(101,047)
1888 Public 18,497 RNP
(National)
$154,000,000 Aggies Crimson & White
         
2005 35
Seattle University Seattle, Washington
(634,535)
1891 Private 7,755 5
(Regional: West)
$211,000,000 Redhawks Red & White
         
2012 11
University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Edinburg, Texas
(76,952)
1927 Public 29,045 RNP
(Regional: West)
$77,500,000 Vaqueros Orange, Green & Navy
              
2013 0
Utah Valley University Orem, Utah
(88,328)
1941 Public 33,211 Unranked $48,000,000 Wolverines Green & Gold
         
2013 9
Notes
  1. With the elimination of football as a WAC-sponsored sport, New Mexico State's football program has joined the Sun Belt as an associate member.
  2. In July 2015, UTPA merged with the University of Texas at Brownsville to create the new University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV).[4] The University of Texas System stated in July 2014 that "the UTPA athletics program will be converted into the athletics program at UTRGV".[5] On November 5, 2014, UTRGV's new nickname of Vaqueros was announced.[6]
  3. The founding date for UTRGV listed in this table reflects that of Edinburg College, the institution that eventually became UTPA.
  4. According to U.S. News & World Report, RNP means a ranking was calculated, but is not published. Unranked means not enough information was provided to make a calculation.[7]
  5. Championships title totals are through Fall, 2015.

Affiliate members

The following 11 schools field programs in the WAC for sports not sponsored by their primary conferences.[8]

Institution Location Founded Type Enrollment Nickname Primary Conference WAC Sport(s) Joined WAC
Titles[3]
Former
Full
Member
United States Air Force Academy Colorado Springs,
Colorado
1955 Federal 4,413 Falcons Mountain West men's soccer,
men's swimming
2013-14m.soc
2013-14m.sw
7 Green tickY
California State University, Sacramento Sacramento,
California
1947 Public 27,972 Hornets Big Sky baseball 2005-06 5 Red XN
Houston Baptist University Houston,
Texas
1960 Private 2,567 Huskies Southland men's soccer 2013-14 0 Red XN
University of Idaho Moscow,
Idaho
1889 Public 12,312 Vandals Big Sky women's swimming 2014-15 17 Green tickY
University of the Incarnate Word San Antonio, Texas 1881 Private 8,455 Cardinals Southland men's soccer 2014-15 0 Red XN
University of Nevada, Las Vegas Paradise,
Nevada
1957 Public 29,069 Rebels Mountain West men's soccer,
men's swimming
2013-14m.soc
2013-14m.sw
6 Green tickY
University of North Dakota Grand Forks,
North Dakota
1883 Public 15,250 Fighting Hawks Big Sky baseball,
women's swimming,
men's swimming
2013-14bs.
2011-12w.sw
2013-14m.sw
0 Red XN
Northern Arizona University Flagstaff,
Arizona
1899 Public 18,824 Lumberjacks Big Sky women's swimming 2004-05 2 Red XN
University of Northern Colorado Greeley,
Colorado
1889 Public 10,097 Bears Big Sky baseball,
women's swimming
2013-14bs.
2012-13w.sw
1 Red XN
San Jose State University San Jose,
California
1857 Public 30,448 Spartans Mountain West men's soccer 2013-14 18 Green tickY
University of Wyoming Laramie,
Wyoming
1886 Public 12,496 Cowboys Mountain West men's swimming 2013-14 24 Green tickY
Notes
  1. Four schools became affiliate members in men's soccer in July 2013; the WAC announced on January 9, 2013 that it would reinstate the sport, which it had sponsored from 1996 to 1999. Because the conference dropped football, it was necessary to add a new men's team sport to maintain its Division I status. It chose men's soccer because three of the confirmed members for 2013–14 (CSU Bakersfield, Grand Canyon, and Seattle) already sponsored the sport, and filled out its soccer ranks by attracting four schools from the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. Three of these schools have past WAC connections—former full members Air Force, UNLV and San Jose State.[9] After the WAC announced it would add men's soccer, the conference gained an eighth soccer school for the 2013 season when UMKC, which already sponsored the sport, joined. In addition, Utah Valley added the sport for 2014, UT-Pan American (now known as UT Rio Grande Valley) added it for 2015, and Chicago State is slated to add it for 2016.
  2. Four schools (three of which are former WAC full members: Air Force, UNLV and Wyoming; and North Dakota) became affiliate members in men's swimming and diving in July 2013; the WAC announced on May 16, 2013 that it would reinstate the sport, which it had sponsored from 1962 to 2000.[10]
  3. North Dakota and Northern Colorado joined the WAC for baseball for the 2014 season (2013-14 academic year).[11]
  4. Sacramento State was formerly an associate member of the WAC on baseball from 1992-93 to 1995-96.
  5. Championships title totals are through Fall 2014.

Former full members

The WAC has 27 former full members.

Institution Nickname Location Founded Type Enrollment Joined Left WAC
Titles[3]
Current Primary
Conference
United States Air Force Academy
(Air Force)
Falcons Colorado Springs, Colorado 1954 Federal 4,413 1980 1999 7 Mountain West
University of Arizona Wildcats Tucson, Arizona 1885 Public 39,236 1962 1978 18 Pac-12
Arizona State University Sun Devils Tempe, Arizona 1885 Public 59,794 1962 1978 29 Pac-12
Boise State University Broncos Boise, Idaho 1932 Public 22,678 2001 2011 33 Mountain West
Brigham Young University
(BYU)
Cougars Provo, Utah 1875 Private 34,130 1962 1999 193 WCC
California State University, Fresno
(Fresno State)
Bulldogs Fresno, California 1911 Public 22,565 1992 2012 78 Mountain West
Colorado State University Rams Fort Collins, Colorado 1870 Public 28,417 1967 1999 15 Mountain West
University of Denver Pioneers Denver, Colorado 1864 Private 11,476 2012 2013 7 Summit
University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Rainbow Warriors & Rainbow Wahine Honolulu, Hawaii 1907 Public 20,435 1979 2012 62 Big West
University of Idaho Vandals Moscow, Idaho 1889 Public 12,312 2005 2014 17 Big Sky
Louisiana Tech University Bulldogs (men's)
Lady Techsters (women's)
Ruston, Louisiana 1894 Public 11,581 2001 2013 30 C-USA
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
(UNLV)
Rebels Paradise, Nevada 1957 Public 28,203 1996 1999 2 Mountain West
University of Nevada, Reno Wolf Pack Reno, Nevada 1874 Public 18,227 2000 2012 22 Mountain West
University of New Mexico Lobos Albuquerque, New Mexico 1889 Public 35,211 1962 1999 46 Mountain West
Rice University Owls Houston, Texas 1912 Private 6,082 1996 2005 29 C-USA
San Diego State University Aztecs San Diego, California 1897 Public 28,789 1978 1999 20 Mountain West
San Jose State University Spartans San Jose, California 1857 Public 30,448 1996 2013 18 Mountain West
Southern Methodist University
(SMU)
Mustangs University Park, Texas 1911 Private 12,000 1996 2005 44 The American
Texas Christian University
(TCU)
Horned Frogs Fort Worth, Texas 1873 Private 9,725 1996 2001 18 Big 12
University of Texas at Arlington Mavericks Arlington, Texas 1895 Public 33,439 2012 2013 2 Sun Belt
University of Texas at El Paso
(UTEP)
Miners El Paso, Texas 1914 Public 21,011 1967 2005 58 C-USA
University of Texas at San Antonio
(UTSA)
Roadrunners San Antonio, Texas 1969 Public 30,474 2012 2013 2 C-USA
Texas State University Bobcats San Marcos, Texas 1899 Public 34,229 2012 2013 3 Sun Belt
University of Tulsa Golden Hurricane Tulsa, Oklahoma 1894 Private 4,352 1996 2005 14 The American
University of Utah Utes Salt Lake City, Utah 1850 Public 32,388 1962 1999 68 Pac-12
Utah State University Aggies Logan, Utah 1888 Public 28,796 2005 2013 32 Mountain West
University of Wyoming Cowboys & Cowgirls Laramie, Wyoming 1866 Public 12,496 1962 1999 24 Mountain West

Former affiliate members

Institution Location Founded Type Enrollment Nickname Primary Conference WAC Sport(s) Joined Left
Boise State University Boise,
Idaho
1932 Public 22,678 Broncos Mountain West[fa 1] gymnastics 1990-91,
2012-13
1992-93,
2012-13
California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo,
California
1901 Public 20,186 Mustangs Big West baseball 1994-95 1995-96
California State University, Bakersfield Bakersfield,
California
1965 Public 8,720 Roadrunners WAC baseball,
women's
swimming
2012-13bs.
2012-13w.sm.
2012-13bs.
2012-13w.sm.
California State University, Fullerton Fullerton,
California
1959 Public 38,128 Titans Big West[fa 2] gymnastics 2005-06 2010-11
California State University, Northridge Northridge,
California
1958 Public 38,310 Matadors Big Sky baseball 1992-93 1995-96
California State University, Sacramento Sacramento,
California
1947 Public 27,972 Hornets Big Sky[fa 3] gymnastics 2005-06 2012-13
Dallas Baptist University Dallas,
Texas
1898 Private 5,422 Patriots Heartland
(NCAA Division II)[fa 4]
baseball 2012-13 2012-13
University of Denver Denver,
Colorado
1864 Private 11,476 Pioneers Summit[fa 5] gymnastics 2011-12 2011-12
Drury University Springfield,
Missouri
1873 Private 5,474 Panthers Great Lakes (GLVC)
(NCAA Division II)
men's soccer 1999-2000 1999-2000
Grand Canyon University Phoenix,
Arizona
1949 Private,
For-profit
6,500 Antelopes WAC baseball 1994-95 1997-98
University of Hawaii at Hilo Hilo,
Hawaii
1901 Public 20,186 Vulcans Pacific West
(NCAA Division II)
baseball 1999-2000 2000-01
University of San Diego San Diego,
California
1949 Private 8,105 Toreros West Coast[fa 6] women's
swimming
2004-05 2009-10
Southern Utah University Cedar City,
Utah
1897 Public 8,297 Thunderbirds Big Sky[fa 1] gymnastics 1990-91,
2005-06
1992-93,
2012-13
  1. 1.0 1.1 Neither the Big Sky Conference nor the MW sponsors women's gymnastics. Boise State and Southern Utah house that sport in the Mountain Rim Gymnastics Conference.
  2. Cal State Fullerton no longer sponsors women's gymnastics.
  3. The Big Sky Conference does not sponsor women's gymnastics. Sacramento State houses that sport in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.
  4. The Dallas Baptist baseball team currently competes as a single-sport member of the Missouri Valley Conference.
  5. The Summit League does not sponsor women's gymnastics. Denver houses that sport in the Big 12 Conference.
  6. The WCC does not sponsor women's swimming and diving. San Diego houses that sport in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.

Membership timeline

Full members Full members (non-football) Other conference Other conference Associate Member

  • Prior to the 1996-97 season, both Air Force and Hawaii had most to all of their women's sports competing in other conferences before joining the WAC full-time with their men's sports counterparts. At that time, Air Force was in the Colorado Athletic Conference, and Hawaii was in the Big West Conference.

History

Formation

The WAC formed out of a series of talks between Brigham Young University athletic director Eddie Kimball and other university administrators from 1958 to 1961 to form a new athletic conference that would better fit the needs and situations of certain universities which were at the time members of the Border, Skyline, and Pacific Coast Conferences. Potential member universities who were represented at the meetings included BYU, Washington State, Oregon, Oregon State, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Arizona State, and Wyoming. While the three Washington and Oregon schools elected to stay in a revamped Pac-8 Conference that replaced the scandal-plagued PCC, the remaining six schools formed the WAC. The Border and Skyline conferences, having each lost three of their stronger members, dissolved at the end of the 1961-62 season. The charter members of the WAC were Arizona, Arizona State, BYU, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. New Mexico State and Utah State applied for charter membership and were turned down; they would eventually become WAC members 43 years later.

Success and first expansion

The conference proved to be an almost perfect fit for the six schools from both a competitive and financial standpoint. Arizona and Arizona State, in particular, experienced success in baseball with Arizona garnering the 1963 College World Series (CWS) runner-up trophy and ASU winning the CWS in 1965, 1967, and 1969. Colorado State and Texas-El Paso (UTEP), at that time just renamed from Texas Western College, joined in 1967 to bring membership up to eight.

With massive growth in the state of Arizona, the balance of WAC play in the 1970s became increasingly skewed in favor of the Arizona schools, who won or tied for all but two WAC football titles from 1969 onward. In the summer of 1978, the two schools left the WAC for the Pac-8, which became the Pac-10, and were replaced in the WAC by San Diego State and, one year later, Hawaii. The WAC further expanded by adding Air Force in the summer of 1980. A college football national championship won by Brigham Young in 1984 added to the WAC's reputation as one of the best NCAA Division I conferences. This nine-team line-up of the WAC defined the conference for nearly 15 years.

Second wave of expansion and turbulence

Fresno State expanded its athletic program in the early 1990s and was granted membership in 1992 as the nationwide trend against major college programs independent of conferences accelerated. The WAC merged with the High Country Athletic Conference, a parallel organization to the WAC for women's athletics, in 1990 to unify both men's and women's athletics under one administrative structure.

In 1996, the WAC expanded again, adding six schools to its ranks for a total of sixteen. Rice, TCU, and SMU joined the league from the Southwest Conference, which had disbanded. Big West Conference members San Jose State and UNLV were also admitted, as well as Tulsa from the Missouri Valley Conference.[12] Also, two WAC members for men's sports at the time, Air Force and Hawaiʻi, brought their women's sports into the WAC. With the expansion, the WAC was divided into two divisions, the Mountain and the Pacific.

To help in organizing schedules and travel for the farflung league, the members were divided into four quadrants of four teams each, as follows:[12]

Quadrant 1 Quadrant 2 Quadrant 3 Quadrant 4
Hawaiʻi UNLV BYU Tulsa
Fresno State Air Force Utah TCU
San Diego State Colorado State New Mexico SMU
San Jose State Wyoming UTEP Rice

Quadrant one was always part of the Pacific Division, and quadrant four was always part of the Mountain Division. Quadrant two was part of the Pacific Division for 1996 and 1997 before switching to the Mountain Division in 1998, while the reverse was true for quadrant three. The scheduled fourth year of the alignment was abandoned after eight schools left to form the Mountain West Conference.[citation needed]

The division champions in football met from 1996 to 1998 in a championship game at Sam Boyd Stadium (also known as the Silver Bowl) in Henderson, Nevada.

Increasingly, this arrangement was not satisfactory to most of the older, pre-1990 members—particularly Air Force, BYU, Colorado State, Utah, and Wyoming. Additional concerns centered around finances, as the expanded league stretched from Hawaiʻi to Oklahoma and now included four time zones in nine states. With such a far-flung league, travel costs became a concern. The presidents of those five schools met in 1998 at Denver International Airport and agreed to split off to form a new league. The breakaway group invited old-line WAC schools New Mexico and San Diego State and newcomer UNLV to join them in the new Mountain West Conference, which began competition in 1999.[13] (BYU and Utah have since left for the West Coast Conference and Pac-12 Conference, respectively; BYU football is an FBS independent.)

A USA Today article summed up the reasons behind the split. "With Hawaii and the Texas schools separated by about 3,900 miles and four time zones, travel costs were a tremendous burden for WAC teams. The costs, coupled with lagging revenue and a proposed realignment that would have separated rivals such as Colorado State and Air Force, created unrest among the eight defecting schools."[14][15]

WAC in the 2000s

In 2000, the University of Nevada, Reno (Nevada) of the Big West joined as part of its plan to upgrade its athletic program.

TCU left for Conference USA in 2001 (it would later leave C-USA to become the ninth member of the Mountain West in 2005, and joined the Big 12 in 2012).

The Big West announced that it would drop football after the 2000 season, but four of its football-playing members (Boise State, Idaho, New Mexico State, and Utah State) were unwilling to drop football. Boise State was invited to join the WAC and promptly departed the Big West, while New Mexico State and Idaho joined the Sun Belt Conference (NMSU as a full member, Idaho as a "football only" member) and Utah State operated as an independent D-IA program. At the same time, Louisiana Tech (LA Tech) ended its independent D-IA status and also accepted an invitation to join the WAC with Boise State.

In 2005, Conference USA sought new members to replenish its ranks after losing members to the Big East, which had lost members to the ACC. Four WAC schools, former SWC schools Rice and SMU, as well as Tulsa and UTEP, joined Conference USA. In response, the WAC added Idaho, New Mexico State, and Utah State – all former Big West schools which left the conference in 2000 along with Boise State when that conference dropped football. The three new schools were all land grant universities, bringing the conference total to five (Nevada and Hawaiʻi).

Membership changes and the elimination of football

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The decade of the 2010s began with a series of conference realignment moves that would have trickle-down effects throughout Division I football, and profoundly change the membership of the WAC. Boise State decided to move to the Mountain West Conference (MWC) for the 2011-12 season,[16] and to replace departing BYU, the MWC also recruited WAC members Fresno State and Nevada for 2012-13.[17][18] WAC commissioner Karl Benson courted several schools to replace those leaving, including the University of Montana, which declined,[19][20] as well as the University of Denver, University of Texas at San Antonio, and Texas State University-San Marcos, which all accepted effective 2012-13.[21]

But the resulting eastward shift of the conference's geographic center led Hawaiʻi to reduce travel expenses by becoming a football-only member of the MWC and joining the California-based Big West Conference for all other sports.[22][23] Further invitations were then issued by the WAC to Seattle University[24] and the University of Texas at Arlington.[25] These changes meant that the conference would have 10 members for 2012–13,[26] seven of which sponsored football, and Benson announced that the WAC planned to add two additional football-playing members to begin competition in 2013.[27] A further boost came when Boise State decided to join the Big East in football, and return to the WAC in most other sports, as of the 2013–14 academic year.[28] So by the end of 2011, the WAC seemed to have weathered the latest round of conference changes, and once again reinvented itself for the future.

But from this seemingly strong position, early 2012 brought forth a series of moves that shook the conference to its very core, beginning with Utah State and San Jose State accepting offers to join the MWC.[29] Four similar announcements followed with Texas-San Antonio and Louisiana Tech jumping to Conference USA, plus Texas State and UT Arlington heading to the Sun Belt Conference, all as of 2013-14.[30][31][32][33][34][35] Boise State also canceled plans to rejoin the WAC, instead opting to place its non-football sports in the Big West Conference, before eventually deciding to simply remain in the MWC.[36][37] These changes left the WAC's viability as a Division I football conference in grave doubt. The two remaining football-playing members, New Mexico State and Idaho, began making plans to compete in future seasons as FBS Independents;[38][39] they ultimately spent only the 2013 season as independents, rejoining their one-time football home of the Sun Belt as football-only members in 2014.[40]

In order to rebuild, as well as forestall further defections, the conference was forced to add two schools -- Utah Valley University and CSU Bakersfield—which were invited in October 2012 to join the WAC in 2013-14,[41] but this did not prevent two more members from leaving. Denver decided to take most of its athletic teams to The Summit League as of the 2013-14 season,[42] shortly after Idaho opted to return all of its non-football sports to the Big Sky Conference in 2014-15.[43] The conference responded over the next two months by adding Grand Canyon University,[44] Chicago State University,[45] and the University of Texas-Pan American.[46][47] Then, in February 2013, the WAC announced the University of Missouri–Kansas City would join in the summer of 2013 as well.[48] These changes would put the conference's membership at eight members by 2014 with only one, New Mexico State, having been in the WAC just three years earlier. Due to losing the majority of its football-playing members, the WAC would stop sponsoring the sport after the 2012-13 season, thereby becoming a non-football conference.[1]

Commissioners

Years Commissioners
1962–1968 Paul Brechler
1968–1971 Wiles Hallock
1971–1980 Stan Bates
1980–1994 Joseph Kearney
1994–2012 Karl Benson
2012–present Jeff Hurd

Sports

The Western Athletic Conference currently sponsors championship competition in nine men's and ten women's NCAA sanctioned sports.[49] Nine schools are currently Associate members in four sports.

Teams in Western Athletic Conference competition
Sport Men's Women's
Baseball
10
-
Basketball
8
8
Cross Country
7
8
Golf
8
8
Soccer
11
8
Softball
-
6
Swimming & Diving
7
8
Tennis
6
6
Track and Field (Indoor)
7
8
Track and Field (Outdoor)
7
8
Volleyball
-
8
  • Men's soccer was a newly sponsored sport for 2013-14; UTRGV will add it for 2015, and Chicago State is also to add it.
  • In softball, the WAC has six softball members; however, because softball-sponsoring Grand Canyon is reclassifying from Division II to Division I, it is not eligible for the conference tournament.

Men's sponsored sports by school

School Baseball Basketball Cross
Country
Golf Soccer Swimming
& Diving
Tennis Track & Field
(Indoor)
Track & Field
(Outdoor)
Total
WAC Sports
Cal State Bakersfield
Green tickY
Green tickY
Red XN
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
Red XN
Green tickY
Green tickY
7
Chicago State
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
Red XN
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
7
Grand Canyon
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
9
UMKC
Red XN
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
Red XN
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
7
New Mexico State
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
Red XN
Red XN
Green tickY
Red XN
Red XN
5
Seattle
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
9
UTRGV
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
Red XN
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
8
Utah Valley
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
Red XN
Red XN
Green tickY
Green tickY
7
Totals
7+3*
8
7
8
6+5#
3+4
6
7
7
59+12
  • * = Affiliates North Dakota, Northern Colorado, and Sacramento State.
  • = Chicago State was expected to add men's soccer by 2014, but the school has now budgeted the sport for the 2016–17 school year.
  • # = Affiliates Air Force, Houston Baptist, Incarnate Word, San Jose State, and UNLV.
  • = Affiliates Air Force, North Dakota, UNLV, and Wyoming.

Men's varsity sports not sponsored by the Western Athletic Conference which are played by WAC schools:

School Football Volleyball Wrestling
Cal State Bakersfield No No Pac-12
Grand Canyon No MIVA Independent
New Mexico State Sun Belt No No
Utah Valley No No Big 12

Women's sponsored sports by school

School Basketball Cross
Country
Golf Soccer Softball Swimming
& Diving
Tennis Track & Field
(Indoor)
Track & Field
(Outdoor)
Volleyball Total
WAC Sports
Cal State Bakersfield
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
Red XN
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
9
Chicago State
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
Red XN
Red XN
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
8
Grand Canyon
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
10
UMKC
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
Red XN
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
9
New Mexico State
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
10
Seattle
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
10
UTRGV
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
Red XN
Red XN
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
8
Utah Valley
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
Red XN
Red XN
Green tickY
Green tickY
Green tickY
8
Totals
8
8
8
8
6
4+3*
6
8
8
8
72+3
  • * = Affiliates North Dakota, Northern Arizona, and Northern Colorado.

Women's varsity sports not sponsored by the Western Athletic Conference which are played by WAC schools:

School Beach Volleyball Equestrian Rowing Water Polo
Cal State Bakersfield Independent No No MPSF
Grand Canyon Independent No No No
New Mexico State No Independent No No
Seattle No No WIRA No

Football

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The WAC sponsored football from its founding in 1962 through the 2012 season. However, the defection of all but two football-playing schools to other conferences caused the conference to drop sponsorship after fifty-one years.[50]

Men's basketball

Team First
Season
All-Time
Record
All-Time
Win %
NCAA Tournament
Appearances
NCAA Tournament
Record
Arena Head Coach
New Mexico State 1905 1329–1018–2 .566 18 10–20 Pan American Center Marvin Menzies
Seattle 1946 978–874 .528 11 10–13 KeyArena Cameron Dollar
Utah Valley 2004 [51] 109-62[51] .637 0 0–0 UCCU Center Dick Hunsaker

WAC tournament

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Rivalries

Men's basketball rivalries involving WAC teams include:

Teams Meetings Record Series Leader Current Streak
New Mexico State New Mexico 208 95–113 New Mexico New Mexico Won 1
New Mexico State UTEP 200 102–98 New Mexico State UTEP Won 1

Awards

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Women's basketball

Team First
Season
All-Time
Record
All-Time
Win %
NCAA Tournament
Appearances
NCAA Tournament
Record
Arena Head Coach
New Mexico State 1983 437–406 .518 3 0–3 Pan American Center Mark Trakh
Seattle 1978 . 0 0–0 Connolly Center Joan Bonvicini

WAC tournament

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Rivalries

Women's basketball rivalries involving WAC teams include:

Teams Meetings Record Series Leader Current Streak

Baseball

The WAC has claimed seven NCAA baseball national championships. The most recent WAC national champion is the 2008 Fresno State Bulldogs baseball team.

WAC tournament

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Championships

Current champions

Source:[52]

  • For the sports in which the WAC recognizes both a regular-season and a postseason champion:
    • (RS) indicates regular-season champion.
    • (P) indicates postseason champion.
  • For other sports, only a postseason champion is recognized.
Season Sport Men's champion Women's champion
Fall 2015 Cross country Utah Valley Utah Valley
Soccer Seattle U (RS & P) Seattle U (RS)
Utah Valley (P)
Volleyball NM State (RS & P)
Winter 2015–16 Indoor Track & Field
Swimming & Diving
Basketball
Spring 2016 Golf
Tennis
Softball
Outdoor Track & Field
Baseball

National championships

The following teams have won NCAA national championships while being a member of the WAC:

The WAC has also produced one AP national champion in football:

The following teams won AIAW (and forerunner DGWS) women's national championships while their universities were members of the WAC:

  • Arizona State (15) – swimming (8), badminton (4), softball (2), golf (1)
  • Utah (3) – cross country (Div. II), gymnastics, skiing
  • UTEP (1) – indoor track and field

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Facilities

School Soccer stadium Capacity Basketball arena Capacity Softball park Capacity Baseball park Capacity
Full members
Cal State Bakersfield CSUB Main Soccer Field 2,500 Icardo Center / Rabobank Arena 3,800 / 10,000 Roadrunner Softball Complex 500[53] Hardt Field* 900
Chicago State Kroc Stadium 500 Jones Convocation Center 7,000
Non-softball school
Chicago State University
Baseball Stadium
1,000[54]
Grand Canyon GCU Soccer Field 2,800 seats
6,000 cap.
GCU Arena 7,000[55] Stapleton-Pierson Stadium 300[56] Brazell Stadium 1,500
UMKC Durwood Soccer Stadium 850 Municipal Auditorium 9,987[57] Missouri 3&2 Complex 350
Non-baseball school
New Mexico State Aggie Soccer Field 1,253 Pan American Center 13,071 NMSU Softball Complex 1,050 Presley Askew Field 1,000
Seattle Championship Field 650 KeyArena 17,072 Logan Field at Seattle University Park 250 Bannerwood Park 700[58]
UTRGV UTRGV Soccer and Track & Field Complex[59] 1,555 UTRGV Fieldhouse 2,500[60]
Non-softball school
Edinburg Stadium 4,000
Utah Valley Clyde Field 1,000 UCCU Center 8,500 Wolverine Field 500 Brent Brown Ballpark 5,000
  • Note: Key Arena is configured for 8,901 capacity for Seattle games.
School Soccer stadium Capacity Baseball park Capacity
Affiliate members
Air Force USAFA Soccer Stadium 1,000 Soccer-only member
Houston Baptist Sorrels Field 500 Soccer-only member
Incarnate Word Gayle and Tom Benson Stadium 6,000 Soccer-only member
UNLV Peter Johann Memorial Field 2,500 Soccer-only member
North Dakota Baseball-only member Harold Kraft Memorial Field 2,000
Northern Colorado Baseball-only member Jackson Field 1,500
Sacramento State Baseball-only member John Smith Field* 1,200
San Jose State Spartan Soccer Field 500[61] Soccer-only member

Awards

Commissioner's Cup

The WAC awards its Commissioner's Cup to the school that performs the best in each of the conference's 19 men's and women's championships.

Joe Kearney Award

Named in honor of former WAC commissioner Dr. Joseph Kearney, the awards are given annually to the top male and female WAC athlete. The various WAC member institutions Athletics Directors select the male award winner, while the WAC member instituitions Senior Women's Administrators choose the female honoree.

Stan Bates Award

The award is named in honor of former WAC Commissioner Stan Bates and honors the WAC's top male and female scholar-athletes, recognizing the recipients’ athletic and academic accomplishments. In addition, the awards carry a $3,000 postgraduate scholarship.

Media

WAC Digital Network

In 2014-15, the WAC initiated a new digital network to give fans high quality streaming internet access to many of its regular season games and postseason championships including volleyball, soccer, swimming and diving, basketball, softball and baseball. [62]

References

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  25. The Mavericks Join the WAC. MyArlingtonTX.com. Retrieved on 2013-08-23.
  26. The Salt Lake Tribune. Sltrib.com.
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  41. WAC adds Utah Valley, Cal State Bakersfield - The Lewiston Tribune: Idaho Vandals. Lmtribune.com (2012-10-09). Retrieved on 2013-08-23.
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  48. UMKC Heading to the Western Athletic Conference - UMKC Athletics. Umkckangaroos.com. Retrieved on 2013-08-23.
  49. WACSports.com—Official Web Site of the Western Athletic Conference. Wacsports.com. Retrieved on 2013-08-23.
  50. Western Athletic Conference considers becoming a non-football league. The Denver Post. Retrieved on 2013-08-23.
  51. 51.0 51.1 http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/m_basketball_RB/Reports/alltimewinningest.pdf
  52. [1]. Wacsports.com (2015-12-04). Retrieved on 2015-12-04.
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  62. http://www.wacsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=10100&ATCLID=537066

External links