Positioning themselves in a strong mid-major basketball conference, restarting a football league that potentially could progress to the FBS level, and strengthening their overall athletic programs were deciding factors in Sam Houston State, Stephen F. Austin, Lamar and Abilene Christian’s leaving the Southland Conference for the expanding Western Athletic Conference.
The Texas Four made it official Thursday, bringing the number of Texas schools in the WAC to six, the most Texas universities in an NCAA Division I conference.
The mass exodus to the WAC also includes Southern Utah of the Big Sky.
The announcement of a 13-team conference that will be divided into two divisions was made by WAC commissioner Jeff Hurd on Thursday at NRG Park. School presidents from the four Texas schools and Southern Utah were in attendance, and they officially signed documents to join the WAC at an 11:30 a.m. news conference. The membership invitations were issued by the conference’s Board of Directors.
“It’s a move that charts an aggressive and exciting course for the conference, it’s a move that will enhance the competitive experiences of all student-athletes in the conference in all sports, it’s a move that positions the conference for future growth and success, and it’s a move that provides stability for the conference,” Hurd said.
Houston Baptist, which joined the Southland in 2013, will remain in the SLC.
Originally, the four Texas institutions were to enter the WAC together on July 1, 2022. But their exit from the Southland was expedited to July 1 of this year. Southern Utah will join the WAC on July 1, 2022.
With the end of a 34-year run in the Southland, Thursday was a monumental day for Sam Houston State, comparable to when the Huntsville school transitioned to NCAA Division I from Division II in 1987.
“When the WAC discussions (in the spring) started, we looked at it, (and) we saw a very positive situation where the universities were growing,” Sam Houston athletic director Bobby Williams said. “They had the same type of vision that we did: what they wanted to accomplish, being able to bring back football to the WAC, also the opportunity to explore FBS football, a possibility down the road. It all just came together for us.”
Added school president Dr. Alisa White: “Sam Houston State University’s move to the WAC will mutually benefit our university and the conference in providing the best opportunities for program success and a quality student-athlete experience. To switch conferences in conjunction with four other universities, including three from Texas, makes this move even more advantageous in raising the profile of Bearkat athletics.”
The reinstatement of football — previously a WAC sport from 1962 to 2012 — and the enhancement of basketball were the impetus for the conference to add the Texas Four. The new football league will compete at the Football Championship Series level, same as the Southland, and is scheduled to begin play this fall.
Besides the WAC’s five new members, only New Mexico State, Tarleton State and Dixie State have football programs. Tarleton State and Dixie State are transitioning to full Division I Status, and New Mexico State will remain an independent in the Football Bowl Subdivision.
Financially invested, the Texas Four have all made significant upgrades in facilities recently and are looking at options to expand revenue and exposure to their institutions.
“This move to the WAC will allow us to take a step forward in achieving our vision of becoming the leading mid-major athletic department in the nation,” SFA athletic director Ryan Ivey said.
The WAC, which was seeking economic sustainability in its expansion, will have two divisions in all sports except football and basketball. Making up the Southwest Division are the new Texas members as well as Tarleton State and University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. The Western Division will consist of Southern Utah and holdovers California Baptist at Riverside, Dixie State, Grand Canyon, New Mexico State, Seattle and Utah Valley.
“The WAC has made us better, and we’ve helped the WAC as well with all the schools coming,” Williams said.
The WAC is pursuing a football-playing member to make it a 14-team league. Chicago State, which opted out of the 2020-21 season because of the coronavirus pandemic, will soon leave the WAC voluntarily.
It has been reported the WAC would like a return to the top-tier Football Bowl Subdivision within a decade. The conference had played at the highest NCAA level for all of its 41 seasons before it quit sponsoring football in 2012.
Sam Houston State, which opted out of the 2020 fall athletic season, will still play a six-game Southland spring football season in 2021. The Bearkats will play their 2021 fall football season representing the WAC. SFA completed a 10-game football schedule in the fall of 2020, going 6-4.
Like Sam Houston, SFA began its Southland membership in 1987. Lamar joined the league when it revived football in 2011. ACU joined in 2013, making the jump from NCAA Division II.
Bringing in Sam Houston and SFA will give a stronger presence to all WAC sports. The Bearkats ended the past decade with 99 football wins, second only to North Dakota State (132) in the FCS, and played in three Final Fours in football. SFA earned national acclaim in men’s basketball in November 2019 when it knocked off No. 1 Duke 85-83 in overtime on the road.
“Basketball was a very big part of this move,” Hurd said. “It wasn’t exactly a football move. It gives us a chance to improve our basketball strength and profile. Baseball will also be greatly enhanced, as will women’s basketball and softball.”
The five new men’s basketball programs have an average of 199.4 this season in the KenPom rankings. The current WAC teams average 259.0. The postseason conference basketball tournament will remain in Las Vegas.
This will be the fifth conference with which SHSU has been affiliated. Before joining the Southland, Sam Houston had been in the Texas Intercollegiate Athletic Association and the the Lone Star and Gulf Star conferences.
The Southland is presently left with seven football-playing members (Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and New Orleans do not field football programs), but Central Arkansas has received an invitation to the Atlantic Sun Conference.
Besides HBU, the Southland’s other current members are Incarnate Word in San Antonio and four Louisiana schools — McNeese State, Nicholls State, Northwestern State and Southeastern Louisiana.
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