According to Commish, WAC Lying On Deathbed

Disbanding a fifty year old conference may seem unnecessary when it carries a long line of tradition and history.  When it comes to the Western Athletic Conference, it has been a long time coming.  According to Commissioner Jeff Hurd, the once-sixteen member conference is entering its final season playing football with enrollment hitting an all-time low in 2013, and the other sports are also in jeopardy.  Like many FBS conferences, the WAC was deeply involved in the conference realignment that began in 2010, but it did not work in their favor.

Established in 1962, the WAC experienced its height as a conference in the 1990s when it reached sixteen full-time members.  The conference's top athletic programs joined its geographic neighbor, the Mountain West Conference, and never reached its potential.  Although Denver, Seattle, Texas State, UT-San Antonio, and UT-Arlington joined the conference in July, three of the schools reached agreements in the spring to join another conference in 2013 (Texas State and UT-Arlington will join the Sun Belt, while UT-San Antonio joins Conference USA).  Some long tenured members will also be lost in 2013, as Louisiana Tech heads to Conference USA, San Jose State and Utah State head to the Mountain West Conference, and Idaho becomes a FBS Independent.  Denver, New Mexico State and Seattle have yet to act on Commissioner Hurd's statement today.  It's going to be an interesting fifty-year anniversary this year as the conference awaits its unwanted death.