The Mountain West Conference (MW) is one of the collegiate athletic conferences affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The MW officially began operations in July 1999. Geographically, the MW covers a broad expanse of the Western United States, with member schools located in California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. Craig Thompson has served as Commissioner of the MW since its founding in 1999.
The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an American collegiate athletic conference formed on July 27, 1962, and affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the western United States, with member institutions located in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Utah, and Washington, along with the "non-western" states of Missouri and Illinois, as well as Texas.
The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) is a college athletic conference with members located mostly in the western United States, although it now has members as far east as Oklahoma. The conference participates at the NCAA Division I level, primarily in Olympic sports that are not directly sponsored by a school's home conference.
The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. The conference was originally formed in 1969 as the Pacific Coast Athletic Association (PCAA), and in 1988 was renamed the Big West Conference. The conference stopped sponsoring college football after the 2000 season.
In college football, the term Power Five conferences refers to five athletic conferences whose members are part of the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of NCAA Division I, the highest level of collegiate football in the United States. The conferences are the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), Big Ten Conference, Big 12 Conference, Pac-12 Conference, and Southeastern Conference (SEC). The term "Power Five" is not defined by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), and the origin of the term is unknown. It has been used in its current meaning since at least 2006. The term is also occasionally used in other college sports, although in many non-football sports, most notably basketball, anywhere from six to eight conferences may be considered "high-major".
The Pacific Coast Softball Conference (PCSC) was an NCAA Division I conference that only sponsored women's softball. It was founded in 2002, beginning play in spring 2003, with six members in the Western United States. The PCSC expanded to 12 members for the 2009–10 school year, and maintained that size for three seasons, but major conference realignment first decimated the conference and then led to its demise after the 2013 softball season.
The Western Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year is a basketball award given to the Western Athletic Conference's (WAC) most outstanding player. The award was first given following the 1980–81 season. Keith Van Horn of Utah and Nick Fazekas of Nevada are the only players to have won the award three times. Three other players—Michael Cage, Josh Grant and Melvin Ely—have won the award twice. Danny Ainge, the first ever WAC Player of the Year, was also the John R. Wooden Award winner in 1980–81.
The CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners are the intercollegiate athletic teams of California State University, Bakersfield, located in Bakersfield, California.
The California Baptist Lancers are the 18 varsity athletic teams that represent California Baptist University, located in Riverside, California, in NCAA Division I intercollegiate sports. The Lancers compete as members of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) for most sports. Several Lancers teams compete in other conferences in sports that the WAC does not sponsor. Men's water polo competes in the Western Water Polo Association and women's water polo competes in the Golden Coast Conference.
The 2010–13 Western Athletic Conference realignment refers to the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) dealing with several proposed and actual conference expansion and reduction plans among various NCAA conferences and institutions from 2010 to 2013. Moves involving the WAC were a significant part of a much larger NCAA conference realignment in which it was one of the most impacted conferences. Of the nine members of the WAC in 2010, only two—the University of Idaho and New Mexico State University—remained in the conference beyond the 2012–13 school year, and Idaho departed for the Big Sky Conference after the 2013–14 school year. Five pre-2010 members are now all-sports members of the Mountain West Conference (MW), and another joined the MW for football only while placing most of its other sports in the Big West Conference. Another pre-2010 member joined Conference USA (C-USA) in July 2013.
The 2013 Summit League men's soccer season will be the 8th season of men's varsity soccer in the conference. The venue for the 2013 Summit League Men's Soccer Tournament has yet been announced.
The Texas–Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros is a collegiate athletic program that represents the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV). The Vaqueros inherited the NCAA Division I status of the Texas–Pan American Broncs and compete in the Western Athletic Conference.
The 2015 WAC Men's Soccer Tournament was the 7th edition of the tournament. It determined the Western Athletic Conference's automatic berth into the 2015 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship.
The 2013 Western Athletic Conference men's soccer season is the eighth season of men's varsity soccer in the conference. The conference first sponsored the sport in 1996, but after eight schools split from the WAC in 1999 to form the Mountain West Conference (MW), the WAC only played the 1999 season before disbanding its men's soccer league.
The 2016 WAC Men's Soccer Tournament, was the 9th edition of the tournament. It determined the Western Athletic Conference's automatic berth into the 2016 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship.
The 2017 WAC Men's Soccer Tournament was the 10th edition of the tournament. It determined the Western Athletic Conference's automatic berth into the 2017 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship. The defending champions were the UNLV Rebels.
The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Men's Soccer Tournament was the conference championship tournament in men's college soccer for the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. The tournament was held annually between 2009 and 2012. The conference was disbanded when MPSF membership ended in favor of teams joining the Western Athletic Conference.
The 2018 Western Athletic Conference men's soccer season is the 23rd consecutive competition of men's college soccer in the Western Athletic Conference under the 2018 NCAA Division I men's soccer season. The season will feature twelve teams, where five are affiliate members of the conference. Air Force, San Jose State, and UNLV will compete from the Mountain West Conference, while Houston Baptist and Incarnate Word come from the Southland Conference. Colleges in the WAC will begin competition on August 24, 2018, and conclude on November 9, 2018 after the 2018 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship. Prior to the NCAA Division I Tournament Championship, there will be a postseason conference tournament held in Seattle, Washington at the Championship Field, where the winner is guaranteed to represent the WAC in the NCAA Division I Tournament. The California Baptist Lancers are ineligible for postseason as they are in transition to the NCAA Division I level. Chicago State and New Mexico State have defunct programs in this season.
{{2018–19 WAC men's basketball standings}} The 2018–19 Western Athletic Conference men's basketball season began with practices in September 2018 and ended with the 2019 WAC Men's Basketball Tournament March 2019 at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, NV. The season marks 56th season of Western Athletic Conference.
The 2019 Western Athletic Conference men's soccer season will be the 37th season of men's varsity soccer in the conference. The regular season will begin on August 30, 2019 and conclude on November 2, 2019.
