Western Athletic Conference adds two teams

By Eddie Hughes

New Mexico State and Utah State are the newest member-institutions of the Western Athletic Conference.

WAC commissioner Karl Benson announced the addition of the two universities both with the nickname of Aggies on Thursday in a teleconference. The WAC’s newest members join the conference July 1, 2005.

“ Today’s announcement may be just the first stage of further membership additions for the WAC,” Benson said.

Current WAC members Rice, Tulsa and Southern Methodist are expected to leave for Conference-USA, Benson announced last week.

The loss of those three teams would leave the WAC with just seven remaining schools—one less than the NCAA minimum of eight.

With the addition of New Mexico State and Utah State the WAC will have nine members if no other teams depart the conference.

Benson said he met with the WAC board of directors Monday morning and conducted a call with WAC athletic directors on Tuesday. The vote to extend invitations to New Mexico State and Utah State was a unanimous 10-0, Benson said.

Benson said he wants a minimum of nine tams in the conference, but he feels 10 is a practical number. The possibility of expanding to 12 teams to allow for formation of two divisions also still exists, Benson said.

The newest WAC members were given no assurances that all current conference members will remain through 2005, according to Benson.

“ Everyone in this business recognizes the vulnerability that really all conferences have,” Benson said. “There could be changes, but both [schools] recognized the potential of the WAC regardless.”

Benson said it is unlikely any attempt will be made to set up a binding agreement for the current WAC schools to remain together.

New Mexico State is currently in the Sun Belt conference. The Las Cruces, NM university has an enrollment of 16,158. Its football stadium seats 30,343 and its basketball arena has a capacity of 13,071.

Utah State is a member of the Sun Belt in football and the Big West conference in basketball and most other sports. Its enrollment is 21,490. Utah State’s facilities seat 30,257 for football and 10,270 for basketball. The men’s basketball team was 24-9 last season, advancing to the NCAA tournament.

Fresno State was in the Big West with both Utah State and New Mexico State before 1992, when the Bulldogs were invited to the WAC.