National Collegiate Athletic Association

NCAA News Archive - 2010

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Jul 9, 2010 11:49:51 AM

The Western Athletic Conference recently announced that it will not consider expansion again until July 1, 2012, at the earliest. With Boise State set to leave the conference for the Mountain West at the end of the 2010-11 season, the WAC will have eight members for 2011-12.

Conference athletics directors and board members explored several membership options after Boise State made its announcement last month. Commissioner Karl Benson said the league and its member schools are "well positioned for the future."

"We believe it is in the best interests of the WAC to operate as an eight-team league for the 2011-12 season," Benson said. "We will now take several months to ‘drill down' on the various membership options before making any decisions that would affect the 2012-13 season."

The WAC was formed in 1962, and the league has operated as an eight-, nine- and 10-team conference in its 48-year history. Benson said that all options will be studied, including the possibility of expanding to 12 member schools with the option of conducting a football championship game.

"The future for the WAC is very bright, and we will continue to provide our student-athletes with the opportunities to compete on both the regional and national stages in all of our sports," he said.

Louisiana Tech on a quest for excellence: Louisiana Tech unveiled plans for a $20 million fundraising campaign for construction of a 90,000 square-foot multipurpose athletics facility in the south end zone of Joe Aillet Stadium.

The new facility will accommodate sports medicine, strength and conditioning, and an academic center. Coaches' offices, locker rooms for more than half dozen sports and administrative offices will also be housed in the new building.

More than $9 million has already been pledged from various sources, including former NFL quarterback and Louisiana Tech alum Terry Bradshaw.

President Dan Reneau touted the plan as proof of the university's commitment to creating an outstanding athletics program to complement its research facilities.

"Quest for Excellence is a watershed event in the history of our athletics program and, through the private contributions of our friends and supporters, will put our university shoulder-to-shoulder with some of the most progressive and respected programs in the nation," Reneau said.

Athletics Director Bruce Van De Velde said the facility will address the needs of current student-athletes and help with recruiting new ones. The athletics department began working with Populous, a design and architecture firm that has built many professional sports venues across the country, last year.

Officials hope the campaign will be complete within two years.

George Washington at World Cup: A group of George Washington student-athletes traveled to South Africa during the World Cup in conjunction with the Grassroot Project. The project educates middle school students about HIV/AIDS and included correspondence with students in the Grassroot soccer program in South Africa.

Soccer student-athletes Liz Hillin and Emily Gower and rower Jake Miner made the trip with 10 Washington, D.C.-area middle school students. The student-athletes met with the South African students, toured the home of Nelson Mandela, went on a safari and visited the Apartheid Museum. The group also attended a World Cup match.