DENVER, Colo. - The Western Athletic Conference today announced that it would be adding the sport of men's soccer beginning with the 2013 fall season.
Next year's WAC membership includes three schools that sponsor men's soccer; CSU Bakersfield, Grand Canyon and Seattle. Joining these schools will be affiliate members Air Force, Houston Baptist, UNLV and San Jose State giving the WAC seven teams in 2013. A complete conference schedule and tournament information will be announced at a later date. As a reclassifying institution, Grand Canyon will not be eligible for postseason play until 2017.
"The addition of men's soccer is part of the WAC's evolution," said Jeff Hurd, WAC Interim Commissioner. "We look forward to working with these institutions to provide a solid, competitive home for their men's soccer programs."
Recent NCAA tournament appearances include Air Force this past season and CSU Bakersfield in 2011. Three of the schools won Division II national championships during their history: Seattle (2004), CSU Bakersfield (1997) and Grand Canyon (1996).
CSUB had accepted an invitation to become an affiliate member of the Pac-12 last spring, but will join their fellow core WAC-member institutions and former Mountain Pacific Sports Federation members in the new WAC men's soccer conference beginning in the fall of 2013.
"We appreciate the opportunity presented by the Pac-12, unfortunately as is the norm with conference realignment, we have to go in another direction in terms of conference membership for our men's soccer program," said CSUB Director of Athletics Jeff Konya. "We are excited to maintain our relationships with the institutions we faced in the MPSF while we are committed to the growth and success of the WAC by fielding teams in that conference, especially in team sports with automatic-qualification into the NCAA Tournament."
This will be the second time that the WAC has sponsored men's soccer as the sport was part of the conference from 1996-1999. Air Force and UNLV competed in the WAC the first three years while San Jose State's team competed in all four of those seasons.
The addition of the team sport assures the WAC maintains its Division I status as it makes the transition from an FBS conference to a Division I conference. The NCAA requires a Division I conference to sponsor at least three men's and women's team sports among other requirements. Men's soccer will join basketball and baseball to give the WAC three men's team sports to go along with volleyball, basketball and soccer as women's team sports.
CSUB will now have 14 of their 19 teams affiliated with the Western Athletic Conference when their full membership begins on July 1, 2013.
