While they don’t quite move the needle like expansionpalooza did back in 2010 and 2011, several athletic departments will officially announce Friday that their respective football programs will be embarking on a new conference path in the not-too-distant future.
All told, and as reminded by Brett McMurphy of CBSSports.com, seven schools will announce at individual press conferences their new league homes beginning in 2013: FIU and North Texas will confirm they are leaving the Sun Belt for Conference USA; Louisiana Tech, from the WAC to Conference USA; UT-San Antonio and Charlotte -- newly-minted or soon-to-be newly-minted Div. 1-A (FBS) programs, with the former spending 2012 in the WAC -- to Conference USA; and San Jose State and Utah State from the WAC to the Mountain West.
Texas State, which will spend its first year as a Div. 1-A program in the WAC, has previously announced it will join the Sun Belt in 2012. Georgia State will also join the SBC the same year.
A spokesperson for Old Dominion, which has been rumored as another Conference USA possibility, told McMurphy that the university will continue to “assess the changing landscape of Division I athletics” before making a decision the future of its athletic programs, which currently reside in the Colonial Athletic Association.
So, once all of the dust clears from tomorrow’s press conferences, the Mountain West, Conference USA, Sun Belt and WAC will (for now) look as follows beginning in 2013:
MWC
Air Force
Colorado State
Fresno State
Hawaii
Nevada
New Mexico
San Jose State
UNLV
Utah State
Wyoming
(Note: Boise State and San Diego State are leaving for the Big East in 2013, TCU for the Big 12 in 2012)
C-USA
East Carolina
FIU
Louisiana Tech
Marshall
North Texas
Rice
Southern Miss
Tulane
Tulsa
UAB
UTEP
UT-San Antonio
(Notes: Houston, Memphis, SMU and UCF are leaving for the Big East in 2013, while Charlotte, which will play as a Div. 1-AA (FCS) independent in 2013 and 2014, will join in football in 2015)
SUN BELT
Arkansas State
FAU
Georgia State
Louisiana-Lafayette
Louisiana-Monroe
Middle Tennessee State
South Alabama
Texas State
Troy
Western Kentucky
WAC
Idaho
New Mexico State
(Notes: UTSA, Texas State, Louisiana Tech, San Jose State and Utah State will compete in the WAC in 2012, while Nevada, Fresno State and Hawaii will leave for the Mountain West July 1 of this year)
(Notes, the sequel: it’s highly, highly doubtful the WAC will exist as a conference after the 2012-2013 academic year)