UT Arlington to WAC?

[Water Pony]

Does another new non-FB member, like UTA, with recent announcement of Seattle U. makes sense for WAC?

http://www.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entr ... 8/30600065

[Paladin]

How sad college sports have come down to this (a main reason to start-up a football team is to enhance revenue)

Maybe the Mavericks haven't been interested in football before. But WAC membership might change the equation, thanks first to the bump in television money and exposure, and secondly to the natural rivalries UTA would enjoy with fellow FBS start-ups UT-San Antonio and Texas State. The Mercury-News's Jon Wilner reported this week that UTA "believes [color=#FFFF00]there’s money to be made in the FBS and in the WAC."[/color]

[Charleston Pony]

WAC just trying to survive with a Texas to CA look (I don't see La Tech as a member long term)

[skyscraper]

I feel like I'm living in bizarro world when UTSA, TX St and UTA will be in a Div. I conference. Even one as watered down as the WAC.

[PonyKai]

Looks like it's a go:

http://espn.go.com/dallas/ncb/story/_/i ... d-join-wac

[Sewanee Stang]

Why not join the WAC? It's a big school with a large local alumni base. UTA is building a new Basketball Arena and its baseball team has a history of success. I hope that they restore the football program. Membership in the WAC could be a win-win for the conference and the school.

[Big Hoss]

Why not join the WAC? It's a big school with a large local alumni base. UTA is building a new Basketball Arena and its baseball team has a history of success. I hope that they restore the football program. Membership in the WAC could be a win-win for the conference and the school.

Good for them (and me as a UTA undergrad alum), Yes, it will replace the Sun Belt as the bottom confernce in D1, but I hope they can make it worth their while.

[Duck_Mav]

Thanks, Sewanee. It will be good for UTA to move up from the FCS level. Even with the start-up members, I think you will find the WAC to be superior to the Sunbelt, which still tends to lose against Southland teams in football, despite the 20 extra scholarships. In the final analysis, the WAC will have four former SLC schools, TSU-SM, UTSA, La Tech and UTA. The Sunbelt has five: Troy, UNT, ULL, ULM and Arkansas State, academic powerhouses all.

[SMU 86]

Well best wishes to UTA. Their basketball recruitng just got better.

[SMUstang]

The following is the 2012 configurations for each of the WAC and Sunbelt conferences with the numbers being the latest Sagarin ratings for each school for football and basketball. You will note that the WAC average is higher than the Sunbelt average. Thus I don't think that the new WAC will replace the Sunbelt as the bottom conference in Division 1. It is the stated purpose of the WAC to add members until they can split into 2 divisions. I expect this to happen for the 2013 season. At that time travel expenses will be greatly reduced for all the members.


Western Athletic Conference
FB BB
Idaho (W) 67.0 73.3
Louisiana Tech (E) 66.5 80.9
Utah State (W) 60.2 82.6
San Jose State (W) 53.1 73.5
New Mexico State(E) 51.7 78.7
Texas State (E) 47.7 66.6
UTSA (E) --- 70.0
Denver (W) --- 67.7
Seattle (W) --- 65.2
UTA (E) --- 65.4
Conference Avg. 57.7 72.4

Sunbelt Conference
FB BB
Florida International 62.0 61.5
Troy State 59.0 71.8
South Alabama 58.8 63.9
Arkansas State 56.9 70.5
Florida Atlantic 52.8 69.6
M. Tennessee St 52.3 69.9
Louisiana Monroe 52.3 64.6
North Texas 51.8 72.8
Western Kentucky 51.3 69.7
Louisiana Lafayette 49.9 67.7
Conference Avg. 54.7 68.2

[RGV Pony]

that actually makes the WAC more manageable.

Idaho/Seattle/Denver/Utah St/San Jose St on one side and the Texas schools plus La Tech & NMSU on the other.

For football, they have 7 football playing schools now, but have BYU to work with who needs games on their schedule.

Almost looks like with the new additions NTSU would be a better fit for the WAC than the SunBelt

[SMUstang]

It will be interesting to see who the next 2 WAC teams are. My guess would be Montana and North Texas. But it could be Montana and Montana State with Denver moving to the east.