WAC To Announce Further Expansion Plans Next Month

Bumped to the front page.

UPDATE: from collegesportsinfo.com

Rob Spear was on KIDO yesterday and he said this about the recent meetings.

1 – The WAC 5 don’t want to add more SW schools (no to Lamar & Sam Houston State) unless there are Western/NW additions too. *not sure how true this is, if no fb schools in the West are willing to join I doubt they stay at 7 and risk having the conference torn apart by the SBC or MWC, who are the WAC 5 (Idaho, SJSU, Utah St, Denver and...?) I can't imagine NMSU or LA Tech would turn down extra games in Texas*

2 – There are more than 3 FCS schools in the SW that want to move up and that would jump at the opportunity.  *FCS implies football members, my guesses are Lamar, SHSU, SFA, and UTA*

3 – The WAC has until the 2014 season to add more football schools, and is looking for Western members 1st. *true but misleading, they'd have 7 assuming LA Tech, NMSU, Utah St, and SJSU don't leave for the MWC or SBC either way they just are two defections away from no longer qualifying as a fb conference* 

4 – Montana, Montana State, Portland State and Cal Poly have an open invitation to join the WAC until 2014. All of those schools are still in play. There were other schools that would fit ( those are the ones that were mentioned). Montana and MSU will be a package deal if/when they jump.  *I'd assume UC-Davis and Sac St also have open invites*

According to my San Antonio, WAC commissioner Karl Benson will announce the next round of WAC expansion on June 14th...

Benson recently told a Louisiana radio station that four schools were ready to accept invitations. Though he said that "sounds about right," he wouldn't say if those were football-playing schools."

Theories are everywhere, but most believe football school Lamar (Southland), and non football schools Seattle (D1 Independent) and Utah Valley State (Great West) are virtual locks to join, but many are wondering who the 4th school would be.  Here are a couple of options being thrown around on the net.

UT Arlington - longtime rival of UT San Antonio, currently has no football team but neither did UTSA 3 years ago.  After UTSA announced their intentions to leave the Southland Conference, the university has been under more pressure to also make the move.

Sam Houston St- has had FBS aspirations for over a decade now but with the Houston area already saturated with Rice and UH, they may not have enough local support to meet the attendance requirement.  This also directly affects the long time rivalry with fellow SLC member SFA, who as of last year had no plans to make the move to FBS.

McNeese St - yet another SLC school that had no immediate plans to move up, has been competitive in games with some lower tier FBS members, and would give LA Tech an in-state travel partner,

Arkansas Little Rock - long time Sun Belt member, however their status as the last non-football member may be forcing them to look for other options.

Cal St Bakersfield - currently a D1 independent but has Big West dreams, would give San Jose St an in-state member.

Houston Baptist and or UT Pan American - these Texas based Great West Conference schools could be in the mix for a WAC invite which would help reduce some of the travel for the Texas/Louisiana schools (A&M Corpus Christi in the SLC could be a long shot here as well)