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Western Athletic Conference
The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference founded in 1962, which will rebrand in 2026. A total of 43 institutions have been full members of the WAC, in locations spanning 15 states in the western United States. For its final year of competition under its current identity (2025–26), the conference includes three members in Texas, three in Utah, and one in California.
For the first 41 years of its existence, the WAC competed at the highest level of college athletics across all sports. The conference expanded from its original six members to a peak of 16 in 1996, before seven of its institutions (including the four remaining charter members) seceded in 1998 to form the Mountain West Conference. Thereafter the WAC struggled to maintain a top-level football conference and ultimately discontinued the sport after the 2012–13 season, leaving the NCAA's Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly known as Division I-A) to become a Division I non-football conference. After a major expansion in 2021, the WAC reinstated football, competing in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). Further membership losses soon foiled plans to someday return to the FBS level, and in 2023 the WAC again became a non-football conference, with its football-playing members joining the football schools of the Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN) to form the football-only United Athletic Conference (UAC).
The WAC will officially rebrand as the United Athletic Conference (UAC) on July 1, 2026, and become an all-sports conference including the three remaining members of the WAC (Abilene Christian University, Tarleton State University, and non-football University of Texas at Arlington), the five football-playing members of the ASUN (Austin Peay State University, University of Central Arkansas, Eastern Kentucky University, University of North Alabama, and University of West Georgia), and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (athletically known as Little Rock) from the Ohio Valley Conference.
These seven institutions are the full members of the Western Athletic Conference for its final year of competition (2025–26).
Members departing for the Big West Conference on July 1, 2026.
Members departing for the Big Sky Conference on July 1, 2026.
Members merging into the United Athletic Conference after July 1, 2026.
These nine schools field programs in the WAC for sports not sponsored by their primary conferences:
The WAC has 36 former full members:
Full members Full members (non-football) Other conference Other conference Associate members (non-football)
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Western Athletic Conference
The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference founded in 1962, which will rebrand in 2026. A total of 43 institutions have been full members of the WAC, in locations spanning 15 states in the western United States. For its final year of competition under its current identity (2025–26), the conference includes three members in Texas, three in Utah, and one in California.
For the first 41 years of its existence, the WAC competed at the highest level of college athletics across all sports. The conference expanded from its original six members to a peak of 16 in 1996, before seven of its institutions (including the four remaining charter members) seceded in 1998 to form the Mountain West Conference. Thereafter the WAC struggled to maintain a top-level football conference and ultimately discontinued the sport after the 2012–13 season, leaving the NCAA's Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly known as Division I-A) to become a Division I non-football conference. After a major expansion in 2021, the WAC reinstated football, competing in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). Further membership losses soon foiled plans to someday return to the FBS level, and in 2023 the WAC again became a non-football conference, with its football-playing members joining the football schools of the Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN) to form the football-only United Athletic Conference (UAC).
The WAC will officially rebrand as the United Athletic Conference (UAC) on July 1, 2026, and become an all-sports conference including the three remaining members of the WAC (Abilene Christian University, Tarleton State University, and non-football University of Texas at Arlington), the five football-playing members of the ASUN (Austin Peay State University, University of Central Arkansas, Eastern Kentucky University, University of North Alabama, and University of West Georgia), and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (athletically known as Little Rock) from the Ohio Valley Conference.
These seven institutions are the full members of the Western Athletic Conference for its final year of competition (2025–26).
Members departing for the Big West Conference on July 1, 2026.
Members departing for the Big Sky Conference on July 1, 2026.
Members merging into the United Athletic Conference after July 1, 2026.
These nine schools field programs in the WAC for sports not sponsored by their primary conferences:
The WAC has 36 former full members:
Full members Full members (non-football) Other conference Other conference Associate members (non-football)