After spending the last few months in limbo, three Southwest Conference leftovers said Thursday they're ecstatic about being invited to join the Western Athletic Conference.
"There's no place we'd rather be," said Southern Methodist athletic director Forrest Gregg."We're excited about this," Rice athletic director Bobby May said. "If I could select anything out there, this would be the one."
SMU, Rice and Texas Christian were among six schools invited to join the new 16-team WAC. Houston, which wasn't interested in the WAC, is the lone SWC team without a conference in 1996.
Earlier this year, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech and Baylor bolted for the Big Eight beginning in 1996.
The trio headed for the WAC say their new, four time-zone, nine-state league will be better in some ways than the SWC.
"Of course, football is very good . . . A number of those schools are outstanding. They tend to throw the ball a lot and can be very entertaining," he said.
The SWC's past troubles with the NCAA won't be missed in the WAC, said Rice basketball coach Willis Wilson.
"With all the things that have happened in the SWC, all the probations over the last 20 years, there has never been an even board for Rice," he said.
"Now we are stepping into a situation where we have a chance to compete equally," he said.
TCU basketball coach Billy Tubbs said the new conference will help the Horned Frogs rebuild.
"I think it's exciting," he said. "It puts you more in a national picture as opposed to just being limited to one state - of course, Texas is a great state - but if you're going to spread your name nationally, you need a big conference."
In the beginning, Gregg wasn't so sure about the WAC.
"At first, when all this happened, of course we were not happy about it," Gregg said at a news conference. "You don't just have 70 or 80 years of tradition and all of a sudden its not there."
Gregg said SMU began looking at its options when the SWC dissolved, and kept searching until the WAC's official invitation arrived.
"We've been pursuing this girl for a long time, and she finally said yes," Gregg said.