The2010–13 Western Athletic Conference realignment refers to theWestern Athletic Conference (WAC) dealing with several proposed and actual conference expansion and reduction plans among variousNCAA conferences and institutions from 2010 to 2013. Moves involving the WAC were a significant part of a much largerNCAA conference realignment in which it was one of the most impacted conferences. Of the nine members of the WAC in 2010, only two—theUniversity of Idaho andNew Mexico State University—remained in the conference beyond the 2012–13 school year, and Idaho departed for theBig Sky Conference after the 2013–14 school year. Five pre-2010 members are now all-sports members of theMountain West Conference (MW), and another joined the MW for football only while placing most of its other sports in theBig West Conference. Another pre-2010 member joinedConference USA (C-USA) in July 2013.

After the first defections from the conference were announced in 2010 and 2011, the WAC attempted to reload by bringing in five new members for 2012, but four of these soon announced moves to other conferences that took effect in 2013, withSeattle University being the only 2012 entrant to remain in the WAC beyond the 2012–13 school year. The WAC added six new members in 2013.

These moves resulted in the WAC droppingfootball as a league-sponsored sport after the2012 season; it became the first NCAADivision I FBS conference to drop the sport since the Big West did the same after the2000 season. The only two remaining football schools, Idaho and New Mexico State, becameindependent programs for the 2013 season and returned to football-only membership in theSun Belt Conference starting in 2014 (both had been either all-sports or football members of the Sun Belt in the early 2000s).

Nearly a decade later, the WAC reinstated football, resuming play in 2021. However, this league does not play in FBS, but rather in the second tier of Division I football, theFootball Championship Subdivision. Also, for the 2021 season, the FCS version of the WAC was a partnership with theASUN Conference, a non-football conference that announced plans to launch its own FCS football league in 2022.^[1] Additionally, during the 2020s conference realignment that coincided with the WAC reinstating football,UT Arlington, which had been a WAC member in the 2012–13 school year, announced its return to the conference effective July 1, 2022.^[2]

The WAC was founded in 1962 by six schools in theinterior West, fivepublic and one private—theUniversity of Arizona,Arizona State University,Brigham Young University (BYU), theUniversity of New Mexico, theUniversity of Utah, and theUniversity of Wyoming. The creation of the WAC directly led to the demise of theBorder Intercollegiate Athletic Association (or Border Conference) andMountain States Conference (popularly known as the Skyline Eight),^[3] and soon led to the creation of the Big Sky Conference in 1963.

The conference added two more schools later in the 1960s, withColorado State University and theUniversity of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) arriving in 1967. The WAC's competitive balance, especially in football, became heavily skewed in the 1970s toward the Arizona schools due to rapid growth in that state, and they would leave in 1978 to expand the Pacific-8 Conference into thePacific-10.San Diego State University joined at the time the two Arizona schools left; theUniversity of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (Hawaiʻi or UH) joined the following year, and theUnited States Air Force Academy (Air Force) arrived in 1980. The conference then remained stable for more than a decade, with the next change being the addition ofCalifornia State University, Fresno (Fresno State) in 1992.

In 1996, the demise of theSouthwest Conference (SWC) led toa major conference realignment. The WAC took advantage of the changing landscape to expand to 16 members. Three SWC members left out of the soon-to-launchBig 12 Conference—Rice University,Southern Methodist University (SMU), andTexas Christian University (TCU)—all joined the WAC, as didSan Jose State University and theUniversity of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) from the Big West, plus theUniversity of Tulsa, aDivision I-A football independent^[4] which had been a member of the non-footballMissouri Valley Conference.^[5] However,CBSSports.com writer Matt Hinton would say in 2012 that the expansion "quickly divided the league between old members and new."^[6] The league now spanned fromHawaii toOklahoma—a distance of about 3,900 miles (6,300 km) and four time zones.^[7][8] Originally, the league was divided into four "quads" with four members each, but this setup soon proved unsatisfactory to several members, most notably BYU and Utah, who proposed a permanent split into eight-team divisions in 1998.^[5] This proposal created further problems, because the geographic distribution of the 16 members meant that a clean north-south or east-west split was impossible. While New Mexico and UTEP agreed to move to a proposed East Division, Air Force and UNLV were unhappy;Karl Benson, who was WAC commissioner during this period, recalled in 2011 that Air Force threatened to go independent.^[5] Soon, the presidents of Air Force, BYU, Colorado State, Utah, and Wyoming, a group that Benson would later call the "Gang of Five", met atDenver International Airport and quickly decided to form a new league.^[5] They invited New Mexico, San Diego State, and UNLV to join them to form what would become the Mountain West Conference, which launched in 1999.^[5]

After this upheaval, the WAC saw further movement in the 2000s. In 2000, theUniversity of Nevada, Reno (Nevada) joined from the Big West. A year later, the Big West dropped football. While four schools from that conference, all within the WAC's geographic footprint, wanted to continue in football, onlyBoise State University was invited at that time.Louisiana Tech University, a Division I-A independent and otherwise a member of theSun Belt Conference, also joined in 2001, while TCU left for C-USA. The WAC saw further membership turnover in2005. Rice, SMU, Tulsa, and UTEP left for C-USA, while the three former Big West football schools that had been left out of the 2001 expansion—Idaho, New Mexico State, andUtah State University—all joined.

The early-2010s realignment cycle began in 2010, after both theBig Ten Conference andPacific-10 Conference (now Pac-12) announced plans to expand to 12 members. Brett McMurphy, then ofCBSSports.com, would sum up the fallout in 2012:

It was [Big Ten commissioner]Jim Delany'scow in a Chicago barn that kicked over the lantern that started the country's conference realignment inferno. After that it was a hundred reactionary moves from other conference commissioners, shoring up their ranks, while scorching college football's landscape. The other 10 [FBS] conferences may have had some hardships, but they will all survive. It's the WAC that got burned to a crisp.^[3]

⇙ Hawaii

Fresno State

San Jose State

Boise State

Louisiana Tech

Idaho

New Mexico State

Utah State

Nevada

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Locations of WAC full members from 2005 through 2011

During the week of June 7, 2010, amid rumors surrounding Boise State's future in the WAC, the conference held a meeting of its athletic directors and university presidents inLas Vegas to discuss contingency options. The conference fully expected to lose Boise State, and according to WAC commissionerKarl Benson, there was no bitterness toward BSU by the rest of the current membership. Benson also added that the WAC was considering expanding itself, with the conference eyeing up to six current members of the second-tierFootball Championship Subdivision.^[9]

Boise State left the WAC for the Mountain West at the end of the 2010–2011 season. On August 18, 2010, Nevada (Reno) and Fresno State were both extended invitations to join the Mountain West Conference, and subsequently accepted.

Four months later, Hawaiʻi also left for the Mountain West, but as a football-only member. Hawaiʻi's other sports joined the Big West. The most dominant football member of the remaining WAC had been considering football independence. With a guaranteed bowl berth into theHawaiʻi Bowl each year, the Warriors could have negotiated their own TV deal and kept all of the profits. An NCAA rule that allows any team willing to travel to Hawaiʻi to play a 13th regular-season game (which, in practice, means an extra home game) makes it easier for the Warriors to schedule other opponents.^[10]

Utah State turned down an offer from the Mountain West at the same time that Fresno State and Nevada accepted theirs, believing that the WAC schools were going to stay together and even be stronger with the possible addition of BYU. After Fresno State and Nevada accepted invitations to the Mountain West it was reported that the WAC had extended invitations to the University of North Texas and University of Louisiana at Lafayette of the Sun Belt Conference. Both schools however declined the invitations to the WAC.

On Sep. 28, 2010, the WAC heard presentations from five schools in an effort to replenish their ranks after Boise State, Fresno State, and Nevada leave for the Mountain West. The schools that made presentations were:

• Three schools with FCS football programs—Texas State University–San Marcos (which has since dropped "San Marcos" from its institutional name), a full member of theSouthland Conference; theUniversity of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), a non-football member of the Southland Conference that was originally scheduled to start FCS football in that conference in 2011; and theUniversity of Montana from theBig Sky Conference. All three were being considered as football members.
• Two schools that do not sponsor varsity football—Seattle University, a Division I independent, and theUniversity of Denver from theSun Belt Conference.

The WAC stated at the time that they planned to issue invitations within 30 to 60 days of hearing the presentation. On November 11, the WAC announced that Denver, UTSA, and Texas State would join the WAC for the 2012–13 season for all sports (with the exception of Denver, which does not sponsor varsity football).^[11]

During a September interview with WAC commissionerKarl Benson the only school invited to a private meeting for possible expansion of teams wasMontana.^[12] However, on November 11, Montana decided to remain aFootball Championship Subdivision school in theBig Sky Conference.^[13]

On June 14, 2011, the WAC added Division I independentSeattle University, who had been seeking membership to the WCC in the past. Exactly one month later on July 14, the WAC addedUT Arlington from the Southland Conference.

Louisiana Tech

Idaho

New Mexico State

Utah State

San Jose State

Texas State

UTSA

UT Arlington

Denver

Seattle

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Locations of WAC full members during the 2012-13 school year

On December 7, 2011 Boise State announced it would return its non-football sports to the WAC in 2013 when it begins playing football with theBig East. Later, Boise State chose to instead place their non-football sports in theBig West Conference, and still later due to further membership changes in the Big East, Boise State decided to stay in the Mountain West.

This would have put the WAC at 11 full members, seven football and two non-football (Seattle, Denver, UT Arlington, and Boise State), one football team short of the eight required for FBS conferences.

However, in the last days of April 2012, multiple media outlets indicated that six teams—three of which had not yet officially joined the conference—would shortly leave the WAC for other conferences. UTSA, which had yet to join the WAC, declared its intent to join Conference USA in 2013, with Louisiana Tech seen as likely to follow suit.^[14]Utah State andSan Jose State declared their intent to join the Mountain West Conference in 2013.^[15] Another report indicated that Texas State and UT-Arlington, which were set to join the WAC alongside UTSA in 2012, would leave for the Sun Belt Conference effective in 2013.^[16] This would leave the WAC with only 5 full members, 2 football and 3 non-football.

The first of these schools to make its departure official was Texas State, which announced its move to the Sun Belt on May 2.^[17] Two days later, Louisiana Tech and UTSA accepted invitations from C-USA, and San Jose State and Utah State announced their departure for the Mountain West.^[18]

Due to the Western Athletic Conference being "raided" by the Mountain West Conference, Conference USA, and the Sun Belt Conference, it was initially unknown what path the WAC would take. After these moves, the WAC was down to only two football programs for the 2013 season –New Mexico State University and theUniversity of Idaho. Since the WAC was not able to sponsor football for the 2013 season (eight teams are needed for a conference to sponsor football at the FBS level); NMSU and Idaho becameFBS independents for the 2013 season before becoming football-only members of the Sun Belt in 2014.

Chicago State

Grand Canyon

New Mexico State

Seattle

UTRGV

Utah Valley

California Baptist

Utah Tech

Tarleton

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Locations of current WAC full members

The WAC seemingly secured its continued existence as a non-football conference, at least for the time being, when it announced on October 9, 2012 thatCalifornia State University, Bakersfield andUtah Valley University would join the conference starting with the 2013–14 school year.Cal State Bakersfield had previously beenindependent, and had become a WAC affiliate in baseball for 2012–13.Utah Valley joins from theGreat West Conference.^[19] Interim WAC commissioner Jeff Hurd added that the WAC was seeking to add further schools, with an immediate goal of eight members and a longer-term goal of 10.^[20] However, Hurd's job became more difficult on October 19 when Idaho announced it would move its non-football sports to theBig Sky Conference in July 2014.^[21] In addition, Denver announced it was joining The Summit League in 2013. The WAC countered this move with inviting Division IIGrand Canyon University to join the conference, who accepted.^[22] The conference added another member from the disintegrating Great West on December 5, announcing the 2013 arrival ofChicago State University.^[23] An invitation was also extended to the Great West'sUniversity of Texas–Pan American, which was accepted on December 19.^[24][25]

By adding these last Great West Conference schools the WAC was able to return to seven schools, which under current NCAA rules a Division I conference that drops below seven members must do within two years to avoid losing its automatic bids to the NCAA men's and women's basketball tournaments.^[20] Then, on February 7, 2013, theUniversity of Missouri–Kansas City announced that it had accepted an invitation to join the WAC, bringing the membership to nine for 2013-14 and eight after Idaho's departure.^[26]

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