Grand Canyon University Athletics
Insider: Tarleton State joins WAC
11/13/2019 6:42:00 AM | General, Lopes Insider Blog
Texans become 9th conference member for 2020-21
The WAC just became a lot more purple.
Grand Canyon has a conference color match with the addition of Tarleton State, whose "Next Level Ready" celebration announced Tuesday that it will add its purple to the WAC starting on July 1.
Tarleton State is based in Stephenville, Texas, about 80 miles southwest of Fort Worth. The university, with 13,409 students, has been competing successfully in Division II since 1994 with 36 Lone Star Conference championships and eight individual national champions in track and field. The Texans' men's basketball team has posted 18 consecutive winning seasons with four Division II Elite Eight visits.
Tarleton State will compete in the WAC in baseball, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's cross country, women's golf, men's and women's track and field (indoor and outdoor), women's soccer, softball, women's tennis and women's volleyball, as well as being an independent in football.
Tarleton Vice President of Intercollegiate Athletics Lonn Reismann said a piece of paper that read "Division I" has been on his desk since 2003 with a quote above it: "Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up."
"The 16-year dream has become a reality," Reismann said.
Tarleton State will maintain a nine-member structure to the WAC, joining Dixie State in the four-year reclassification process as CSU Bakersfield and Kansas City leave the WAC next year. The conference's academics and media markets appealed to Tarleton State President Dr. James Hurley.
"That's the reason I was bullish on the WAC," Hurley said. "Academic enterprises are more attractive to me."
Follow Paul Coro on Twitter: @paulcoro.
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Grand Canyon has a conference color match with the addition of Tarleton State, whose "Next Level Ready" celebration announced Tuesday that it will add its purple to the WAC starting on July 1.
Tarleton State is based in Stephenville, Texas, about 80 miles southwest of Fort Worth. The university, with 13,409 students, has been competing successfully in Division II since 1994 with 36 Lone Star Conference championships and eight individual national champions in track and field. The Texans' men's basketball team has posted 18 consecutive winning seasons with four Division II Elite Eight visits.
Tarleton State will compete in the WAC in baseball, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's cross country, women's golf, men's and women's track and field (indoor and outdoor), women's soccer, softball, women's tennis and women's volleyball, as well as being an independent in football.
Tarleton Vice President of Intercollegiate Athletics Lonn Reismann said a piece of paper that read "Division I" has been on his desk since 2003 with a quote above it: "Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up."
"The 16-year dream has become a reality," Reismann said.
Tarleton State will maintain a nine-member structure to the WAC, joining Dixie State in the four-year reclassification process as CSU Bakersfield and Kansas City leave the WAC next year. The conference's academics and media markets appealed to Tarleton State President Dr. James Hurley.
"That's the reason I was bullish on the WAC," Hurley said. "Academic enterprises are more attractive to me."
Follow Paul Coro on Twitter: @paulcoro.
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