History
2021 season as "AQ7"
After sponsoring major-college football (ultimately at the FBS level) from 1962 through 2012, the WAC suffered membership changes that transformed it into a non-football conference as of 2013, and it remained so for eight seasons. On January 14, 2021, the WAC announced the addition of five new members, all of which were already playing FCS football, and declared its intention to reinstate football as a conference sport at the FCS level. [1] The new members included the "Texas Four" of Abilene Christian University, Lamar University, Sam Houston State University, and Stephen F. Austin State University, all from the Southland Conference, along with Southern Utah University, from the Big Sky Conference. Initially, all five planned to join the WAC in July 2022, but the entry of the Texas Four was moved up to July 2021 after the Southland expelled its departing members. [2]
The same week that the WAC announced its plans to resume football, the Atlantic Sun Conference (then officially branded as the ASUN Conference) revealed plans to sponsor the sport for the first time, also at the FCS level. On January 29, 2021, the ASUN announced that it would be adding three football-playing schools: Eastern Kentucky University, the University of Central Arkansas, and former member Jacksonville State University. [3]
Both the WAC and the ASUN thus fell short of the minimum six football-playing members needed for an automatic qualifier to the FCS postseason. On February 23, 2021, they announced a partnership in which the WAC's Texas Four would join the three incoming ASUN football members for at least the 2021 season, in what was called the ASUN–WAC (or WAC–ASUN) Challenge. [4] [5] The Challenge was abbreviated as the "AQ7", as the top finisher of the seven teams would be an automatic qualifier for the FCS postseason. [6]
2022 season: AQ alliance renewed
For the 2022 season, the ASUN added former Big South members North Alabama and Kennesaw State, along with former Ohio Valley Conference member Austin Peay. [7] Meanwhile, the WAC added Southland Conference member Incarnate Word, former Division II schools Tarleton State and Utah Tech, and non-football playing UT Arlington from the Sun Belt Conference, [8] along with previously-announced Southern Utah. These additions should have given both conferences the minimum six eligible FCS football schools needed for a postseason AQ in 2022, but unexpected departures, and announcements of departures, left them short of this goal. On November 5, 2021, it was reported that Jacksonville State of the ASUN and Sam Houston State of the WAC would be leaving the FCS ranks for Conference USA, effective in fall 2023. [9] Then, on April 8, 2022, Lamar announced it was leaving the WAC after just one season to return to its former home, the Southland Conference. [10] [11] Finally, on June 24, 2022, Incarnate Word made a last-minute decision to stay in the Southland rather than join the WAC. [12]
The net result still left the WAC and ASUN each with six football-playing members, but the FBS transitions of Sam Houston State and Jacksonville State made them ineligible for the FCS postseason, and the WAC could not yet count Tarleton State and Utah Tech, both also ineligible because of their transitions from D2 to FCS. The mutual setbacks led the two conferences to renew their AQ alliance for the 2022 season with their eight remaining playoff-eligible members, five from the ASUN and three from the WAC. They kept separate football standings (with Jacksonville State eligible for the ASUN title and Sam Houston State eligible for the WAC title) but for playoff qualification purposes, only the joint ASUN-WAC Challenge standings mattered.
Merger as United Athletic Conference
On December 9, 2022, ESPN reported that the ASUN and WAC had agreed to form a new football-only conference to start play in 2024, with an initial nine-team lineup including Austin Peay, Central Arkansas, Eastern Kentucky, and North Alabama from the ASUN, and Abilene Christian, Southern Utah, Stephen F. Austin, Tarleton State, and Utah Tech from the WAC. [13] The ASUN's fifth AQ alliance participant from the 2022 season, Kennesaw State, was not included after announcing in mid-October that it would be following Jacksonville State and Sam Houston State to Conference USA, effective in fall 2024. [14] Kennesaw ended up playing the 2023 season as an FCS independent.
The new football conference reportedly planned to move "from what is currently known as FCS football to what is currently known as FBS football at the earliest practicable date." [15] On December 20, the ASUN and WAC confirmed their football merger, announcing that the new league would start to play in 2023 under the tentative name of "ASUN–WAC Football Conference." League members drafted a six-game schedule in 2023 and planned to start full round-robin play in 2024. Neither conference's official announcement of the football merger mentioned any plans to move to FBS. [16] [17]
The ASUN and WAC jointly announced on January 5, 2023, that the football conference had established a basic governing structure and had hired Oliver Luck as executive director. [18] On April 17, 2023, the ASUN-WAC football partnership formally rebranded as the United Athletic Conference (UAC). [19] Later the same month, the NCAA denied the UAC's waiver request to be recognized as a single-sport FCS football conference. [20] The UAC operated under its new name nevertheless, with the NCAA officially recognizing only the continuation of the ASUN-WAC partnership formed in 2021.
On September 8, 2023, the University of West Georgia announced it would transition from Division II and join the ASUN in 2024, with its football program joining the UAC. [21] Non-football WAC member UT Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) also planned to add the sport at the FCS level and join the UAC for 2024, [22] [23] but on March 25, 2024 announced its football program would debut instead in the Southland Conference, UTRGV's new all-sports home as of 2024–25. [24] Then, on May 29, 2024, Stephen F. Austin announced its intention to return to the Southland Conference, effective in fall 2024. [25] Thus, for the 2024 season, the UAC remained a nine-team league, with eight continuing members plus West Georgia replacing Stephen F. Austin.
Absorption Into an all-sports conference
On June 26, 2025, the Atlantic Sun Conference and the Western Athletic Conference jointly announced a new organizational structure scheduled to take effect on July 1, 2026. Under the agreement, the Western Athletic Conference will adopt the United Athletic Conference name and continue operating as an NCAA Division I multi-sport conference, maintaining the WAC’s historical continuity and Division I status. [26]
Beginning with the 2026–27 academic year, the rebranded conference will include Abilene Christian University, Tarleton State University, and the University of Texas at Arlington, along with a group of football-sponsoring institutions from the ASUN. Participating ASUN football programs will compete within the United Athletic Conference across multiple sports, while ASUN institutions that do not sponsor scholarship football will continue to operate under the Atlantic Sun Conference name.
In October 2025, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock announced it would join the United Athletic Conference as a non-football member beginning in 2026–27, expanding the conference’s membership under its new identity. [27]
Conference officials described the 2026 reorganization as a continuation and rebranding of the Western Athletic Conference rather than the creation of a new league. Under this structure, the WAC’s existing NCAA Division I recognition and championship qualification status will be retained by the renamed conference. [28]
The United Athletic Conference football alliance completed its final season operating as a standalone football competition during the 2025 campaign and will continue as the football division of the rebranded Western Athletic Conference under the United Athletic Conference name beginning in 2026–27.
Locations of United Athletic Conference members. Blue markers indicate football-playing members. Red markers indicate members departing in 2026.
