Western Athletic Conference

Western Athletic Conference (WAC)
Established	1962
Association	NCAA
Division	Division I FBS
Members	8 (10 by 2012-13, 11 by 2013-14) (7 affiliate members)
Sports fielded	19 (men's: 8; women's: 11)
Region	Western United States (plus Louisiana)
Headquarters	Greenwood Village, Colorado
Commissioner	Karl Benson (since 1994)
Website	wacsports.com
Locations

The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an American collegiate athletic conference, which was formed on July 27, 1962, making it the sixth oldest of the 11 college athletic conferences currently participating in the NCAA's Division I FBS (formerly Division I-A). The WAC is a non-automatic qualifier member of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) selection system.

The WAC covers a broad expanse of the western United States, with member institutions located in California, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah, plus the "non-western" state of Louisiana (traditionally associated with the South). In 2012, the WAC will lose its presence in the states of Nevada and Hawaii, but will also gain institutions in Colorado, Texas, and Washington.

Many long-standing members left in 1999 to form the Mountain West Conference. Three additional former members have moved on to the Pacific-12 Conference.

Membership

Current members

The following institutions are the eight full members of the WAC for the 2011–2012 academic year.

Institution	Nickname	Location	Founded	Type	Enrollment	Joined	Endowment
California State University, Fresno	Bulldogs	Fresno, California	1911	Public	25,613	1992	$91 million
University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa	Warriors/Rainbow Wahine	Honolulu, Hawaii	1907	Public	20,135	1979	$159 million
University of Idaho	Vandals	Moscow, Idaho	1889	Public	11,957	2005	$210 million
Louisiana Tech University	Bulldogs/Lady Techsters	Ruston, Louisiana	1894	Public	11,581	2001	$80 million
University of Nevada, Reno	Wolf Pack	Reno, Nevada	1874	Public	17,679	2000	$186 million
New Mexico State University	Aggies	Las Cruces, New Mexico	1888	Public	17,198	2005	$139 million
San Jose State University	Spartans	San Jose, California	1857	Public	32,746	1996	$41 million
Utah State University	Aggies	Logan, Utah	1888	Public	25,065	2005	$151 million

Pink background indicates departing members as Fresno State, Hawaiʻi, and Nevada will leave in 2012. Fresno State and Nevada will become full members of the Mountain West Conference. Hawaiʻi will become a football-only member of the Mountain West and a full member of the Big West Conference.

Future members

Denver, Seattle, Texas State, UT Arlington, and UTSA will join the WAC as full members for the 2012–2013 academic year. Denver, Seattle, and UT Arlington do not field football programs.

Boise State will re-join the WAC for the 2013–2014 academic year in all sports except football (Big East) and wrestling (Pac-12).

Institution	Nickname	Location	Founded	Type	Enrollment	Year Joins	Endowment
Boise State University	Broncos	Boise, Idaho	1932	Public	21,179	2013	$61 million
University of Denver	Pioneers	Denver, Colorado	1864	Private	11,842	2012	$270 million
Seattle University	Redhawks	Seattle, Washington	1891	Private	7,900	2012	$164 million
University of Texas at Arlington	Mavericks	Arlington, Texas	1895	Public	33,788	2012	$61 million
University of Texas at San Antonio	Roadrunners	San Antonio, Texas	1969	Public	31,114	2012	$60 million
Texas State University–San Marcos	Bobcats	San Marcos, Texas	1899	Public	32,586	2012	$119 million

Affiliate members

Current

The following schools field programs in the WAC for sports not sponsored by their primary conferences.

Institution	Nickname	Location	Founded	Type	Enrollment	Joined	Endowment	Primary Conference	Sport(s)
Brigham Young University	Cougars	Provo, Utah	1875	Private	34,100	2011	Unknown	West Coast	softball
University of North Dakota	Fighting Sioux	Grand Forks, North Dakota	1883	Public	14,194	2011	$94 million	Great West	women's swimming & diving
Northern Arizona University	Lumberjacks	Flagstaff, Arizona	1899	Public	18,824	2004	$89 million	Big Sky	women's swimming & diving
California State University, Sacramento	Hornets	Sacramento, California	1947	Public	27,972	2006	$19 million	Big Sky	baseball, women's gymnastics
Southern Utah University	Thunderbirds	Cedar City, Utah	1897	Public	7,509	2006	Unknown	Summit	women's gymnastics

Future

Two schools will become single-sport affiliates of the conference in July 2012:

Institution	Nickname	Location	Founded	Type	Enrollment	Joined	Endowment	Primary Conference	Sport(s)
California State University, Bakersfield	Roadrunners	Bakersfield, California	1970	Public	7,600	2012	$13 million	Independent	baseball
Dallas Baptist University	Patriots	Dallas, Texas	1898	Private	5,500	2012	$36.4 million	Heartland (D-II)	baseball

Charter members

• Arizona - (withdrew June 30, 1978 to join the Pacific-10 Conference)
• Arizona State - (withdrew June 30, 1978 to join the Pacific-10 Conference)
• Brigham Young - (withdrew June 30, 1999 to form the Mountain West Conference, now a member of the West Coast Conference for most sports and independent for football)
• New Mexico - (withdrew June 30, 1999 to form the Mountain West Conference)
• Utah - (withdrew June 30, 1999 to form the Mountain West Conference; Utah joined the Arizona schools in what is now the Pacific-12 Conference in 2011)
• Wyoming - (withdrew June 30, 1999 to form the Mountain West Conference)

Former members

Withdrew in 1978
Pacific-8 Expansion

• Arizona (1962–78)
• Arizona State (1962–78)

Withdrew in 1999
Mountain West Formation

• BYU (1962–99)
• New Mexico (1962–99)
• Utah (1962–99)
• Wyoming (1962–99)
• Colorado State (1967–99)
• San Diego State (1978–99)
• Air Force (1980–99)
• UNLV (1996–99)

Withdrew in 2001
Conference USA Expansion

• TCU (1996–2001)

Withdrew in 2005
Conference USA Expansion

• UTEP (1967–2005)
• Rice (1996–2005)
• SMU (1996–2005)
• Tulsa (1996–2005)

Withdrew in 2011
Mountain West Expansion

• Boise State (2001–2011); will rejoin in 2013 in all sports except football

Membership timeline

History

Formation

The WAC formed out of a series of talks between Brigham Young University athletic director Eddie Kimball and other university administrators from 1958 to 1961 to form a new athletic conference that would better fit the needs and situations of certain universities which were at the time members of the Border, Skyline, and Pacific Coast Conferences. Potential member universities who were represented at the meetings included BYU, Washington State, Oregon, Oregon State, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Arizona State, and Wyoming. While the three Washington and Oregon schools elected to stay in a revamped Pac-8 Conference that replaced the scandal-plagued PCC, the remaining six schools formed the WAC, forcing the disbandment of the Border and Skyline conferences. The charter members of the WAC were Arizona, Arizona State, BYU, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. New Mexico State and Utah State applied for charter membership and were turned down; they would eventually become WAC members 43 years later.

Success and first expansion

The conference proved to be an almost perfect fit for the six schools from both a competitive and financial standpoint. Arizona and Arizona State, in particular, experienced success in baseball with Arizona garnering the 1963 College World Series (CWS) runner-up trophy and ASU winning the CWS in 1965, 1967, and 1969. Texas-El Paso (UTEP), recently renamed from Texas Western College, and Colorado State joined in 1967 to bring membership up to eight.

With massive growth in the state of Arizona, the balance of WAC play in the 1970s became increasingly skewed in favor of the Arizona schools, who won or tied for all but two WAC football titles from 1969 onward. In the summer of 1978, the two schools left the WAC for the Pac-8, which became the Pac-10, and were replaced in the WAC by San Diego State and, one year later, Hawaii. The WAC further expanded by adding Air Force in the summer of 1980. A college football national championship won by Brigham Young in 1984 added to the WAC's reputation as the best of the so-called mid-major conferences. This nine-team line-up of the WAC defined the conference for nearly 15 years.

Second wave of expansion and turbulence

Fresno State expanded its athletic program in the early 1990s and was granted membership in 1992 as the nationwide trend against major college programs independent of conferences accelerated. The WAC merged with the High Country Athletic Conference, a parallel organization to the WAC for women's athletics, in 1990 to unify both men's and women's athletics under one administrative structure.

In 1996, the WAC expanded again, adding six schools to its ranks for a total of sixteen. Rice, TCU, and SMU joined the league from the Southwest Conference, which had disbanded. Big West Conference members San Jose State and UNLV were also admitted, as well as Tulsa from the Missouri Valley Conference. With the expansion, the WAC was divided into two divisions.

To help in organizing schedules and travel for the farflung league, the members were divided into four quadrants of four teams each, as follows:

Quadrant 1	Quadrant 2	Quadrant 3	Quadrant 4
Hawaiʻi	UNLV	BYU	Tulsa
Fresno State	Air Force	Utah	TCU
San Diego State	Colorado State	New Mexico	SMU
San Jose State	Wyoming	UTEP	Rice

Quadrant one was always part of the Pacific Division, and quadrant four was always part of the Mountain Division. Quadrant two was part of the Pacific Division for 1996 and 1997 before switching to the Mountain Division in 1998, while the reverse was true for quadrant three. The scheduled fourth year of the alignment was abandoned after eight schools left to form the Mountain West Conference.^{[citation needed]}

The division champions in football met from 1996 to 1998 in a championship game at Sam Boyd Stadium (also known as the Silver Bowl) in Henderson, Nevada.

Increasingly, this arrangement was not satisfactory to most of the older, pre-1990 members. Five members in particular (Air Force, BYU, Colorado State, Utah, and Wyoming) felt that WAC expansion had compromised the athletic and academic excellence of the membership.^{[citation needed]} Additional concerns centered around finances, as the new league stretched from Hawaiʻi to Oklahoma and travel costs became a concern. In 1999, those five schools, along with old line WAC schools New Mexico and San Diego State, as well as newcomer UNLV, split off and formed the new Mountain West Conference.

A USA Today article sums up why the league brokeup. "With Hawaii and the Texas schools separated by about 3,900 miles and four time zones, travel costs were a tremendous burden for WAC teams. The costs, coupled with lagging revenue and a proposed realignment that would have separated rivals such as Colorado State and Air Force, created unrest among the eight defecting schools."

WAC in the 2000s

In 2000, the University of Nevada, Reno (Nevada) of the Big West conference joined as part of its plan to upgrade its athletic program.

TCU left for Conference USA in 2001 (it would later leave C-USA to become the ninth member of the Mountain West in 2005, and is moving to the Big 12 in 2012).

When the Big West announced that it would drop football after the 2000 season, four of its members (Boise State, Idaho, New Mexico State, and Utah State) wanted to continue their football programs. Boise State was invited to join the WAC and promptly departed the Big West, while New Mexico State and Idaho joined the Sun Belt Conference (NMSU as a full member, Idaho as a "football only" member) and Utah State operated as an independent D-IA program. At the same time, Louisiana Tech (LA Tech) ended its independent D-IA status and also accepted an invitation to join the WAC with Boise State.

In 2005, Conference USA sought new members to replenish its ranks after losing members to the Big East, which had lost members to the ACC. Four WAC schools, former SWC schools Rice and SMU, as well as Tulsa, and UTEP, joined Conference USA. In response, the WAC added Idaho, New Mexico State, and Utah State – all former Big West schools which left the conference in 2000 along with Boise State when that conference dropped football. The three new schools were all land grant universities, bringing the conference total to five (Nevada and Hawaiʻi).

Coming changes

Locations of Western Athletic Conference member institutions starting in 2012.

Main article: 2010–12 NCAA conference realignment

Boise State's future became one of the many topics of discussion amid the widespread rumors and speculation of conference realignment in 2010. In early June, the WAC's athletic directors and university presidents held a meeting in Las Vegas to discuss contingency plans. At the time of the meeting, media reports indicated that Boise State was likely to receive an invitation from the Mountain West within the coming days. On June 11, the reports were confirmed when the MWC officially announced that Boise State would join the conference for the 2011–12 academic year.

WAC commissioner Karl Benson indicated that the conference expected to lose Boise State and that there was no bitterness against BSU by the rest of the membership. He also said that the WAC was considering its own expansion plans, and was eyeing up to six members of the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) as future members. Benson has had talks with the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) and Texas State University–San Marcos (Texas State) concerning those school's interest in joining the WAC. In addition, on September 28, 2010, 5 schools made official presentations to the WAC about joining the conference: UTSA, Texas State, Montana, Denver, and Seattle.

During a September interview with WAC commissioner Karl Benson the only school invited to a private meeting for possible expansion of teams was the Montana Grizzlies of the University of Montana. But on November 11, 2010 Montana announced that they will remain in the Big Sky conference.

In August 2010, media reports surfaced indicating that BYU was seriously considering leaving the MWC to become an independent in football and return to the WAC as a non-football member. The WAC was reportedly willing to accept BYU's non-football sports if it chose to pursue this option, with BYU reportedly scheduling anywhere from four to six football games each season against WAC teams. However, BYU passed on the WAC, moving to football independence while joining the West Coast Conference in other sports.

On August 18, just hours after the BYU news surfaced, the Mountain West responded by inviting Fresno State and Nevada to join. Both schools accepted, leaving the WAC with just 6 schools.

On November 11, 2010, the WAC announced that invitations were extended to and accepted by the University of Texas at San Antonio, Texas State University-San Marcos, and the University of Denver to take effect in 2012. Then, on November 19, 2010, the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa entered negotiations to enter the Mountain West Conference for the 2012 football season, with its other athletic programs beginning negotiations to join the Big West Conference; Hawaiʻi's move was officially announced on December 10. On June 14, 2011, the WAC announced that an invitation was extended to and accepted by Seattle University and they would begin play in 2012. The Redhawks had recently made the move from Division II and was seeking to join a conference. On July 14, 2011, the University of Texas at Arlington announced they would be joining the WAC. These changes mean the WAC will expand to 10 teams in 2012-13. On October 26, 2011 WAC commissioner Karl Benson announced that the WAC plans to add two additional football playing members. The two institutions would begin play in the WAC for the 2013-14 academic year.

On December 7, 2011, Boise State announced that they would be joining the Big East in football and rejoining the WAC in most other sports, starting with the 2013-2014 athletic seasons.

Commissioners

Years	Commissioners
1962–1968	Paul Brechler
1968–1971	Wiles Hallock
1971–1980	Stan Bates
1980–1994	Joseph Kearney
1994–present	Karl Benson

Sports

The WAC sponsors championships in eight men's and eleven women's sports.

Men's sports

• Baseball
• Basketball
• Cross-Country
• Football
• Golf
• Tennis
• Indoor Track & Field
• Outdoor Track & Field

Women's sports

• Basketball
• Cross-Country
• Golf
• Gymnastics
• Soccer
• Softball
• Swimming and Diving
• Tennis
• Indoor Track & Field
• Outdoor Track & Field
• Volleyball

Football

For the current season, see 2011 Western Athletic Conference football season

Team	First Season	All-Time Record	All-Time Win %	Bowl Appearances	Bowl Record	Conference Titles	Consensus All-Americans	Stadium	Head Coach
Fresno State	1921	558–384–28	.590	20	10–10	23	0	Bulldog Stadium	Tim DeRuyter
Hawaiʻi	1909	532–399–26	.569	10	5–5	4	0	Aloha Stadium	Norm Chow
Idaho	1893	442–558–26	.443	2	2–0	9	1	Kibbie Dome	Robb Akey
Louisiana Tech	1901	562–427–37	.566	6	2–3–1	25	2	Joe Aillet Stadium	Sonny Dykes
Nevada	1896	511–442–34	.535	12	4–8	14	0	Mackay Stadium	Chris Ault
New Mexico State	1893	422–577–31	.425	3	2–0–1	4	0	Aggie Memorial Stadium	DeWayne Walker
San Jose State	1892	454–459–37	.497	8	5–3	16	0	Spartan Stadium	Mike MacIntyre
Texas State	1904	489–404–28	.546	0	0–0	14	0	Bobcat Stadium	Dennis Franchione
Utah State	1892	494–507–31	.494	6	1–5	11	2	Romney Stadium	Gary Andersen
UTSA	2011	4–6	.400	0	0–0	0	0	Alamodome	Larry Coker

WAC champions

Main article: List of Western Athletic Conference football champions

Bowl games

The WAC bowl game tie-ins for the 2011 post–season are:

Pick	Name	Location	Date	Opposing Conference	Opposing Pick
1	Poinsettia Bowl	San Diego	December 21, 2011	Mountain West	2
2	Famous Idaho Potato Bowl	Boise	December 17, 2011	MAC	3
3	Hawaiʻi Bowl	Honolulu	December 24, 2011	Conference USA	1

The WAC has a secondary agreement with the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl in San Francisco if the Pac-12 does not have an available team.

Bowl Championship Series

Main article: Bowl Championship Series

The WAC champion will receive an automatic berth in one of the five BCS bowl games if they are the highest ranked non-automatic qualifying conference champion and either of the following:

• Ranked in the top 12 of the BCS Rankings.
• Ranked in the top 16 of the BCS Rankings and its ranking is higher than that of an automatic qualifying conference champion.

By qualifying under the first criterion above, the 2006 Boise State football team landed a berth in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl, and the 2007 Hawaiʻi football team received a bid to play in the 2008 Sugar Bowl. In 2009 the Mountain West champion TCU received the automatic BCS bid by finishing higher than Boise State in the final BCS rankings; however, the Broncos received an at-large BCS bid to the 2010 Fiesta Bowl. In three BCS bowl games, the WAC boasts a record of two wins and one loss. In addition to those three teams that played in BCS bowls, four other WAC teams have qualified for a BCS berth but were not selected for a bid including TCU in 2000 and Boise State in 2004, 2008, and 2010.

Bowl placement determination

The top two teams, based upon regular season finish, shall receive guaranteed bowl berths. For the purpose of bowl placement, ties in the regular season standings shall be broken based upon head-to-head regular season competition. If Hawai‘i is bowl eligible, it shall receive a berth in the Hawai‘i Bowl if invited, regardless of its place in the WAC regular season standings. A committee consisting of Commissioner Karl Benson and the Athletics Directors not involved in the pool of bowl eligible teams, in consultation with the WAC’s bowl partners, shall select and place teams according to the “right team, right place” principle. The committee shall seek to balance the best interest of the bowls vs. the best interest of the WAC and involved teams. For 2011, the Poinsettia Bowl gets the first selection, and the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl gets the second pick. If the Pac-12 does not have an available team, a fourth bowl eligible WAC team would be selected by the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl in San Francisco.

Future bowl situation

For the 2012 football season, the WAC will send its regular season champion to the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, the conference's lone bowl tie-in for 2012. Bowl-eligible WAC teams will still be eligible for at-large bowl berths. When the NCAA's moratorium on new bowl games is lifted, the WAC is expected to explore the possibilities of new bowl games in Los Angeles and San Antonio for 2013 and beyond.

Rivalries

Football rivalries involving WAC teams include:

Teams		Rivalry Name	Trophy	Meetings	Record	Series Leader	Current Streak
Fresno State	Boise State	Battle of the Milk Can	Milk Can	13	4–9	Boise State	Boise State Won 5
Fresno State	Hawaiʻi	Battle of the Screwdriver	–	43	21–21–1	Tied	Hawaiʻi Won 1
Fresno State	Louisiana Tech	Battle for the Bone	–	11	7–4	Fresno State	Louisiana Tech Won 1
Fresno State	San Jose State	Valley Rivalry	–	76	39–34–3	Fresno State	San Jose State Won 1
Hawaiʻi	Boise State	–	–	12	3–9	Boise State	Boise State Won 3
Hawaiʻi	BYU	–	–	27	8–19	BYU	BYU Won 1
Idaho	Boise State	–	Governor's Trophy	40	17–22–1	Boise State	Boise State Won 12
Idaho	Montana	–	Little Brown Stein	84	55–27–2	Idaho	Montana Won 4
Idaho	Washington State	Battle of the Palouse	–	91	18–70–3	Washington State	Washington State Won 7
Louisiana Tech	Southern Miss	Rivalry in Dixie	–	44	13–31	Southern Miss	Southern Miss Won 3
Nevada	Boise State	Boise State – Nevada rivalry	–	38	13–25	Boise State	Boise State Won 1
Nevada	UNLV	Battle for Nevada	Fremont Cannon	36	21–15	Nevada	Nevada Won 6
New Mexico State	New Mexico	Rio Grande Rivalry	Maloof Trophy	102	31–66–5	New Mexico	New Mexico State Won 3
New Mexico State	UTEP	The Battle of I-10	Silver Spade, Brass Spittoon	88	35–51–2	UTEP	UTEP Won 2
San Jose State	San Diego State	–	–	35	18–15–2	San Jose State	San Jose State Won 2
San Jose State	Stanford	Bill Walsh Legacy Game	–	64	14–49–1	Stanford	Stanford Won 3
Texas State	UTSA	I-35 Rivalry	–	0	0-0	–	–
Utah State	BYU	–	Old Wagon Wheel	80	34–44–3	BYU	BYU Won 1
Utah State	Utah	Battle of the Brothers	–	109	28–77–4	Utah	Utah Won 12

Men's basketball

Team	First Season	All-Time Record	All-Time Win %	NCAA Tournament Appearances	NCAA Tournament Record	Arena	Head Coach
Boise State	1968			5	0–5	Taco Bell Arena	Leon Rice
Denver	1904	1168–1206	.492	0	0–0	Magness Arena	Joe Scott
Fresno State	1922	1195–1012–1	.541	5	2–5	Save Mart Center	Rodney Terry
Hawaiʻi	1938	687–833	.452	4	0–4	Stan Sheriff Center	Gib Arnold
Idaho	1906	1222–1368	.472	4	1–4	Cowan Spectrum	Don Verlin
Louisiana Tech	1926	1171–921	.560	5	4–5	Thomas Assembly Center	Michael White
Nevada	1913	1182–1083	.522	6	4–6	Lawlor Events Center	David Carter
New Mexico State	1905	1329–1018–2	.566	18	10-20	Pan American Center	Marvin Menzies
San Jose State	1910	1102–1242	.470	3	0–3	The Event Center Arena	George Nessman
Seattle	1946	978–874	.528	11	10–13	KeyArena	Cameron Dollar
UT Arlington	1960	585–832	.413	1	0–1	College Park Center	Scott Cross
UTSA	1982	456–408	.528	4	1–4	Convocation Center	Brooks Thompson
Texas State	1921	1191–1029	.536	2	0–2	Strahan Coliseum	Doug Davalos
Utah State	1904	1443–998	.591	20	6–22	Smith Spectrum	Stew Morrill

WAC tournament

Main article: WAC Men's Basketball Tournament

Rivalries

Men's basketball rivalries involving WAC teams include:

Teams		Meetings	Record	Series Leader	Current Streak
Boise State	Idaho	85	50-35	Boise State	Boise State Won 2
Louisiana Tech	Louisiana–Lafayette	157	86–71	Louisiana Tech	Louisiana Tech Won 2
Nevada	UNLV	72	19–53	UNLV	UNLV Won 5
New Mexico State	New Mexico	208	95–113	New Mexico	New Mexico Won 1
New Mexico State	UTEP	200	102–98	New Mexico State	UTEP Won 2
Utah State	BYU	227	91–136	BYU	BYU Won 1
Utah State	Utah	223	93–130	Utah	Utah State Won 1

Awards

Main article: Western Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year

Women's basketball

Team	First Season	All-Time Record	All-Time Win %	NCAA Tournament Appearances	NCAA Tournament Record	Arena	Head Coach
Boise State	1970	590–489	.547	2	0–2	Taco Bell Arena	Gordy Presnell
Denver	1974	481–368	.567	1	0–1	Magness Arena	Erik Johnson
Fresno State	1972	580–504	.535	4	0–4	Save Mart Center	Adrian Wiggins
Hawaiʻi	1975	564–412	.578	5	1–5	Stan Sheriff Center	Dana Takahara-Dias
Idaho	1975	503–511	.496	1	0–1	Cowan Spectrum	Jon Newlee
Louisiana Tech	1975	1000–212	.825	27	65–25	Thomas Assembly Center	Teresa Weatherspoon
Nevada	1983	318–498	.390	0	0–0	Lawlor Events Center	Jane Albright
New Mexico State	1983	437–406	.518	2	0–2	Pan American Center	Mark Trakh
San Jose State	1975	328–662	.331	0	0–0	The Event Center Arena	Tim La Kose
Seattle	1978	–	.	0	0–0	Connolly Center	Joan Bonvicini
UT Arlington	1973	554–550	.502	2	0–2	College Park Center	Samantha Morrow
UTSA	1982	429–414	.509	2	0–2	Convocation Center	Rae Rippetoe-Blair
Texas State	1983	401–408	.496	2	0–2	Strahan Coliseum	Zenarae Antoine
Utah State	1983	105–263	.285	0	0–0	Smith Spectrum	Raegan Pebley

WAC tournament

Main article: WAC Women's Basketball Tournament

Rivalries

Women's basketball rivalries involving WAC teams include:

Teams		Meetings	Record	Series Leader	Current Streak
Fresno State	Louisiana Tech	26	9–17	Louisiana Tech	Fresno State Won 1
Louisiana Tech	LSU	26	14–12	Louisiana Tech	LSU Won 5
Louisiana Tech	Tennessee	41	17–24	Tennessee	Tennessee Won 9
Louisiana Tech	Western Kentucky	39	26–13	Louisiana Tech	Louisiana Tech Won 2

Baseball

The WAC has claimed seven NCAA baseball national championships. The most recent WAC national champion is the 2008 Fresno State team.

WAC tournament

Main article: WAC Baseball Tournament

Other sports

Rivalries

• Hawaiʻi-New Mexico State - Women's volleyball; both teams are consistently rated to be at the top of the WAC.
• Hawaiʻi-UCLA (Pac-12) - A rivalry in volleyball, the two teams have played each other every season since 1980.

Championships

Current WAC champions

Fall 2011

Sport	School
Football	Louisiana Tech
Soccer (W)	Utah State
Volleyball (W)	Hawaiʻi
Cross Country (M)	Utah State
Cross Country (W)	Idaho

Winter 2011

Sport	School
Basketball (M)	Utah State
Basketball (W)	Fresno State, Louisiana Tech
Indoor Track & Field (M)	Boise State, Utah State
Indoor Track & Field (W)	Louisiana Tech
Swimming & Diving (W)	Boise State
Gymnastics (W)	Boise State

Spring 2011

Sport	School
Baseball	Fresno State, Hawaiʻi
Softball	New Mexico State
Outdoor Track & Field (M)	Utah State
Outdoor Track & Field (W)	Louisiana Tech
Golf (M)	New Mexico State
Golf (W)	San Jose State
Tennis (M)	Fresno State
Tennis (W)	Fresno State

National championships

The following teams have won NCAA national championships while being a member of the WAC:

• Arizona - baseball (1976)
• Arizona State - baseball (1965, 1967, 1969, 1977)
• BYU - men's track & field (shared the national title in 1970)
• BYU - men's golf (1981)
• BYU - women's cross country (1997)
• Fresno State - softball (1998)
• Fresno State - baseball (2008)
• Rice - baseball (2003)
• UTEP - NCAA Division I Men's Cross Country (1969, 1975, 1976, 1978, 1979, 1981)
• UTEP - NCAA Division I Men's Indoor Track and Field (1974,1975,1976,1978,1980,1981,1982)
• UTEP - NCAA Division I Men's Outdoor Track and Field (1975, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982)
• UNLV - men's golf (1998)

The WAC has also produced one AP national champion in football:

• BYU (1984)

The following teams won AIAW (and forerunner DGWS) women's national championships while their universities were members of the WAC:

• Arizona State (13) - swimming (6), badminton (4), softball (2), golf (1)
• Utah (3) - cross country (Div. II), gymnastics, skiing
• UTEP (1) - indoor track and field

The following current WAC teams have won NCAA national championships:

• Fresno State
  • Baseball (2008)
  • Softball (1998)
• Hawaiʻi - Women's volleyball (1982, 1983, 1987)
• Louisiana Tech - Women's basketball (1981, 1982, 1988)
• Idaho - Boxing (1940, 1941, 1950)
• San Jose State
  • Boxing (1958, 1959, 1960)
  • Men's cross country (1962, 1963)
  • Men's golf (1948)
  • Women's golf (1987, 1988, 1992)
  • Men's outdoor track and field (1969)

Facilities

School	Football stadium	Capacity	Basketball arena	Capacity	Baseball park	Capacity
Boise State	Participates in Big East		Taco Bell Arena	12,592	No baseball team
Cal State Bakersfield	No football team		Participates as a D-I independent		Hardt Field*	900
Dallas Baptist	No football team		Participates in Heartland Conference (D-II)		Patriot Field*	1,500
Denver	No football team		Magness Arena	7,200	No baseball team
Fresno State	Bulldog Stadium	41,031	Save Mart Center	15,544	Pete Beiden Field	5,422
Hawaiʻi	Aloha Stadium	50,000	Stan Sheriff Center	10,300	Les Murakami Stadium	4,312
Idaho	Kibbie Dome	16,000	Cowan Spectrum	7,000	No baseball team
Louisiana Tech	Joe Aillet Stadium	30,600	Thomas Assembly Center	8,098	J. C. Love Field	3,000
Nevada	Mackay Stadium	29,993	Lawlor Events Center	11,784	William Peccole Park	3,000
New Mexico State	Aggie Memorial Stadium	30,343	Pan American Center	13,071	Presley Askew Field	750
Sacramento State	Participates in Big Sky		Participates in Big Sky		John Smith Field *	1,200
San Jose State	Spartan Stadium	30,578	The Event Center Arena	5,000	San Jose Municipal Stadium	5,200
Seattle	No football team		Key Arena	17,072	Bannerwood Park
UT Arlington	No football team		College Park Center	6,500	Clay Gould Ballpark	1,600
UTSA	Alamodome	65,000	Convocation Center	5,100	Roadrunner Field	800
Texas State	Bobcat Stadium	16,009	Strahan Coliseum	7,200	Bobcat Baseball Stadium	2,000
Utah State	Romney Stadium	25,500	Smith Spectrum	10,270	No baseball team

* Baseball affiliate
Future members highlighted in gray
Members leaving highlighted in pink

Awards

Commissioner's Cup: The WAC awards its Commissioner's Cup to the school that performs the best in each of the conference's 19 men's and women's championships.

Stan Bates Award: The award is named in honor of former WAC Commissioner Stan Bates and honors the WAC's top male and female scholar-athletes, recognizing the recipients’ athletic and academic accomplishments. In addition, the awards carry a $2,000 postgraduate scholarship.

Joe Kearney Award: Named in honor of former WAC commissioner Dr. Joseph Kearney, the awards are given annually to the top male and female WAC athlete. The WAC Athletics Directors select the male award winner, while the WAC Senior Woman Administrators choose the female honoree.

Media

WAC Sports Network

In 2010, the WAC Sports Network was launched to increase television exposure throughout the conference's media markets. Several football and basketball games are produced and distributed throughout the year. The following affiliates comprise the WAC Sports Network in 2011 for football broadcasts.

State	Market	Affiliate(s)
Nationally		Altitude Sports and Entertainment, ALT2, ESPN3
California	Bakersfield	KUVI 45
California	Chico/Redding	CSN California, Comcast Hometown Network Ch. 104
California	Fresno/Visalia	KAIL 7, KAIL-DT2, CSN California
California	Monterey/Salinas	KOTR 11, CSN California, Comcast Hometown Network Ch. 104
California	Sacramento/Stockton/Modesto	CSN California, Comcast Hometown Network Ch. 104
California	San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose	KOFY 20, CSN California, Comcast Hometown Network Ch. 104
Hawaii	Honolulu	OCSports 12
Idaho	Boise	24/7 (news channel)
Idaho	Idaho Falls/Pocatello	KIFI-DT8.4
Idaho	Lewiston	KLEW 3
Idaho	Twin Falls	24/7 (news channel)
Louisiana	Shreveport	KTBS-DT2
Nevada	Las Vegas	KTUD 25
Nevada	Reno/Sparks	KAME 21, KAME 21-DT2
Utah	Salt Lake City	KCSG
Utah	St. George/ Cedar City	KCSG-DT 14.2
Washington	Spokane	SWX
Washington	Tri-Cities	SWX
Washington	Yakima	SWX

WAC.tv

WAC.tv is a subscription-based provider of live and on-demand online streaming video of WAC events.

External links

• Official website