BYU President Rex Lee in his premature confirmation of WAC expansion indicated that "BYU is delighted with the prospect of a strengthened and enlarged Western Athletic Conference . . . our intent is to expand the influence and appeal of the WAC by adding new institutions that are committed strongly both to academics and athletic achievement."
Academic excellence and athletic achievement were not the primary factors in the selections since Utah State University wasn't even invited to make a presentation to the WAC.USU is an institution with strong academics and athletics. The Carnegie Institute and AAUP rank USU as a Division I research school. Colorado State, University of New Mexico and the University of Utah are the only WAC members also ranked Division 1. No new WAC members will bring this distinction to the "New WAC."
Two arguments for excluding Utah State involve TV market shares and the number of members in a state. The expanded WAC includes four Texas schools. The number of members in a state was only applied to Utah State.
The WAC is getting the SWC leftovers. It also gets three universities, SMU, TCU and UNLV, that have been on NCAA probation.
Strong academics and quality athletic programs were not considered in the expansion decision. It appears that Tony Phifer of The Coloradoian is right, " . . . WAC athletic and political heavyweights BYU and Utah don't want their upstart relatives to invade their turf."
Suzanne and David Moore
Park City