Texas State has already jumped ship from the sinking WAC* to the Sun Belt. Now, and as expected, another future WAC member is doing the same.
UT-San Antonio, which just moved up to 1-A for football and is set to compete in the WAC this season, will instead make its permanent home — or, as permanent as conference realignment will allow — in Conference USA. The Associated Press reports that the University of Texas System regents have approved UTSA’s move to Conference USA beginning in 2013.
Additionally, the school has announced a press conference for 10:30 a.m. (CT) Friday morning for a “major athletics announcement.”
UTSA would not pay any exit fees to the WAC, but rather a $2 million entry fee to C-USA.
Charlotte, another 1-AA football program, is also expected to announce their invitation to C-USA on Friday, as is North Texas and FIU. Louisiana Tech has also been connected to C-USA, but is yet to make any official announcement on the matter.
(*If you want to get a good feeling as to what New Mexico and Idaho must be feeling, read this. It’s an open letter from NMSU’s president. And. It. Is. Bleak.)
Old Dominion in talks of jumping to CUSA too…
Jesus, CFB will look so different in five years.
Can someone editorialize what this really means?
why is NMST & Idaho’s future’s bleak but 1AA programs moving up to join 1A conferences?
@drummerhoff
Can someone editorialize what this really means?
why is NMST & Idaho’s future’s bleak but 1AA programs moving up to join 1A conferences?
I think it’s a geographical issue. Unfortunately for Idaho and NMST there are just no more FBS conferences in the West to join. Charlotte and UTSA are close to the current footprint of 2 smaller FBS conferences: Sun Belt and C-USA.
The Mountain West doesn’t want Idaho and NMST and the Pac-12 certainly doesn’t. Their only options are to:
1) go independent
2) drop down to FCS
Dropping down is not a bad idea, as there are several schools who should consider this option. If you can’t afford to be in D-1 and you can’t compete in D-1 why not move down to a level you can do both. Both these schools have never and will never compete in D-1, period.
I was (one of the few) that was really excited for the new WAC. I’m an Idaho alum living in Texas and my daughter is a student at Texas State. I already have tickets for this fall’s game in San Marcos. I should have known it was too good to last. Now that it has all fallen apart, I would be happy to see Idaho move back to 1AA. They were just starting to emerge as a serious contender at that level when they made the move up. Even a die-hard fan has to admit that it hasn’t gone well.
Vandalcowboy: I agree with you 100%, sorry things have fallen apart in the WAC. Your right about Idaho, they where once a very solid D-1 AA program before moving up.
Perhaps ole coach Akey would like to hold on to his job a little longer and win a few Big Sky Championships.