The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Presidents' Council has unanimously approved the addition of Dixie State University, a NCAA Division II institution located in St. George, Utah, as the conference's 16th member. The application for membership was approved by the league's governing body at its fall meeting in Golden, Colorado, on Tuesday following a presentation by representatives from DSU.
"On behalf of the RMAC Presidents' Council, I want to welcome Dixie State University into the RMAC fold. We expect Dixie to be a great addition to the RMAC: good partners in competition and sponsorship. We look forward to our teams and fans visiting this beautiful area of the country," RMAC Presidents Council Chairman Dene Thomas said.
The Trailblazers, who joined the RMAC as an associate member in football for the 2016 season, will become a full member starting in the 2018-19 academic year.
"Dixie State's sport sponsorship matches well with the RMAC and will add competitiveness, depth and greater travel efficiencies as a second member in Utah," RMAC Commissioner Chris Graham said. "We have admired their current and potential growth as an institution and athletic department and are very excited to welcome their student-athletes into regular season competition."
Founded in 1911, Dixie State serves approximately 9,000 students with a 100-percent acceptance rate and is home to six colleges with more than 150 academic programs. The institution is consistently ranked in the nation's top 10 for "Most Affordable In-State Tuition and Fees." Dixie State lives its motto of "active learning, active life" by engaging students with 80 clubs, numerous academic programs and a 19:1 student to faculty ratio.
"On behalf of Dixie State University, I am honored to accept the invitation to join the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference," DSU President Dr. Richard B. Williams said.
"From the beginning of this process, we felt that it was important for the stability of our entire athletic program that all of our athletic teams have a conference to compete in. The RMAC provided us with a great opportunity to have all our programs compete under one conference banner. The RMAC's emphasis on performing well in competition, the classroom and in the community, is impressive and it is a mission that compliments the strengths of Dixie State University. We look forward to being part of this great conference and contributing to their rich history and excellent reputation."
Dixie State has won the PacWest Conference's Community Engagement Award four times and was awarded the NCAA Community Engagement Award three times. During the past eight years, DSU has had more than 800 student-athletes earn Academic All-PacWest honors and 66 DSU football players recognized for Academic All-GNAC honors.
Within athletics, Dixie State's 15 NCAA Division II athletic programs are collectively known as the Trailblazers.
Previously, the Trailblazers competed in three separate conferences, the RMAC for football, the Pacific Collegiate Swim and Dive for swimming, while the other 13 sports competed in the Pacific West.
"We are absolutely thrilled to join the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference," Dixie State's Athletic Director Jason Boothe said.
"We feel that the conference will provide a lot of advantages for our student-athletes, teams and the university long into the future. At the same time, we feel that our teams will be immediately competitive and will provide excellent competition across the board to further strengthen the conference. We are very grateful for the Pacific West Conference and the relationships that we have built with its member schools. The future is very bright for Trailblazer Athletics and being a member of the RMAC will provide DSU with a phenomenal platform to showcase our programs."
With Dixie State's arrival, the RMAC will be comprised of 16 member institutions located across five states. DSU will be the second RMAC member in the state of Utah, joining Westminster College. The Griffins of Westminster, located in Salt Lake City, joined the RMAC in July of 2015 as a full member and will become a full Division II member in the 2018-19 academic year at the same time of DSU's entrance to the RMAC.
The RMAC sponsors 23 varsity NCAA sports and has produced 57 NCAA Division II national champions and 47 national runners-up since 1992.
*This post was written by Jaclyn Lam, RMAC interim director of media relations and marketing.
Steve Johnson is the Associate Athletic Director for Media Relations and Collegiate Licensing at Dixie State University. For more DSU Athletics news, please visit www.dixieathletics.com and follow Dixie State on Twitter at @DixieAthletics.