Leatherneck Nation

It's looking more and more likely that the WAC will have themselves an FCS football conference within the next few years. Rumors were going around, but last night, this popped up:

“Hearing that the WAC's official additions of Southern Utah, Sam Houston State, Lamar, Abilene Christian and Stephen F Austin will be finalized in the next two-ish weeks.“

The WAC had FBS football up until 2012, at one point being the home of teams like Arizona, Arizona State, BYU, New Mexico, Utah, Boise State, etc. By 2012, all of those and more had left, and the WAC was left as a scattering of mostly western US schools (plus Chicago State) playing non-football sports.
With the addition of new FCS teams Dixie State and Tarleton State, they're looking at sponsoring FCS football. Adding in the above rumored schools would give it 7 FCS teams.

It's rumored that the existing Southland schools weren't entirely happy with the new additions of Houston Baptist, U of Incarnate Word, and Abilene Christian in 2013. Prior to that wave of additions, the Southland was an entirely public school conference. If the Southland does lose those schools, it will have 6 football playing schools.

There's also been talks about UT-Rio Grande Valley (formed in 2013 from consolidation of UT-Brownsville and UT-Pan American in Edinburg, TX) starting up FCS football. They are currently a non-football WAC member. Also, West Texas A&M (currently D2 football) has been discussing moving up to FCS (they already have the facilities for it).

Assuming the WAC goes forward with adding the above schools, I could easily see them kicking Chicago State to the curb.

SFA has officially voted to approve the move to the WAC starting July 2, 2022. I don't see any reason to believe the other schools won't follow suit in the near future, so it looks like the WAC will be a FCS football conference in the 2022 season.
Still haven't heard anything about the potential Central Arkansas move to the ASun/Big South (along with OVC members EKU and Jacksonville State), but that also sounds likely at this point.

Given all those moves and barring no other moves, the Southland would be comprised of: Houston Baptist, U of Incarnate Word, McNeese State, U of New Orleans (no football), Nicholls State, Northwestern State, Southeastern Louisiana, and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (no football), making it pretty much just a Louisiana+Texas coast conference, with Incarnate Word (San Antonio) being the furthest west school.

If someone asked me what state Dixie State was located in, Utah would not have been in my first 10 guesses for sure.

sealhall74 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 06, 2021 9:47 am If someone asked me what state Dixie State was located in, Utah would not have been in my first 10 guesses for sure.

For those that are unaware: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dixie_(Utah)

It was originally settled mostly by people from the southern states, plus...

Already the settled area of the Virgin Valley was being called Utah's "Dixie." The fact that cotton would grow there, as well as tobacco and other semi-tropical plants such as the South, produced made it easy for the name to stick. The fact that the settlers at Washington were bona fide Southerners who were steeped in the lore of cotton culture—many of them, at least—clinched the title. Dixie it became, and Dixie it remained. ... The name "Dixie" is one of those distinctive things about this part of Utah ... It is a proud title.

I don’t understand dumping TX/LA schools, especially McNeese St, for the likes of Dixie St and Southern Utah whatsoever. This feels like an arrangement that will blow up within 10 years.

There's a strong rumor that Grand Canyon University (for-profit, private, christian university in Phoenix, AZ) will be announcing (possibly tomorrow coinciding with the WAC press conference) that they're starting an FCS-level football team to compete in the new football-playing WAC.

no surprise

And now I'm seeing a rumor saying UTRGV (U of Texas Rio Grande Valley) is looking to start up an FCS team with the goal of hitting the turf in the 2023 season. UTRGV is currently a non-football playing DI member of the WAC.