Grand Canyon University Athletics
Photo by: Stan Plewe/DSU Athletics, Tarleton Athletics
WAC welcomes Dixie State, Tarleton State
7/8/2020 12:00:00 PM | General, Paul Coro
Trailblazers, Texans join Lopes in 9-team conference for 2020-21
When the calendar turned to July, Grand Canyon found Lopes Athletics to be tied for the WAC's third most-tenured program.
GCU is just on the brink of its eighth year in Division I athletics but the look of the WAC has shifted since GCU and four other programs entered the conference in 2013 and now that Dixie State and Tarleton State officially joined the WAC this month.
Both programs are transitioning to Division I, restoring a nine-university configuration to the WAC for this academic year.
The 58-year-old conference's new members took strikingly different paths to be among GCU, WAC elders New Mexico State and Seattle, 2018 newcomer California Baptist and the Lopes' fellow 2013 entrants – Chicago State, UT Rio Grande Valley and Utah Valley.
Dixie State is a former junior college power that only moved to NCAA Division II in 2006 and moved from a college to a university in 2013. Located in southern Utah in one of the nation's fastest-growing cities, St. George, Dixie State carries an enrollment of 11,193 students and posted winning marks with each team record in 2019-20.
Tarleton, located 80 miles southwest of Fort Worth, Texas, in Stephenville, has been part of the Texas A&M system since 1917 and has an enrollment of 13,226 students. It has been a Division II program since 1994, amassing 36 titles, nine tournament championships and 14 regional championships. It also did not have a team losing record in 2019-20.
"Both institutions will be outstanding members of the conference, adding to the nearly 60-year legacy of the WAC and Division I athletics," WAC Commissioner Jeff Hurd said.
Dixie State will play 15 sports in the WAC with its football team competing as an independent. The Trailblazers were in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference for the past two years but previously were in the PacWest Conference, where GCU competed as a Division II program.
Dixie State has made eight national tournament appearances in men's basketball since 2006, playing at the 4,779-seat Burns Arena. The men's golf team has earned 11 consecutive national tournament appearances while its softball team won regional championships in 2014, 2015 and 2019 and its women's soccer team was a national quarterfinalist last season.
The Trailblazers claimed 22 conference team titles in 16 years of Division II competition.
"Our coaches, student-athletes and staff have worked tirelessly, especially in these uncertain times, to be ready for this transition," Dixie State Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Dr. Jason Boothe said. "It will be challenging, even more so now with the curveballs the pandemic is throwing at us, but we are ready. There is still a lot of work to do but we couldn't be more excited for the future of Trailblazers Athletics and what this momentous next step will bring."
Dixie State reportedly is considering a name change to the university. Its nickname was changed to Trailblazers in 2016 after a seven-year run as Red Storm, which replaced the original nickname of Rebels.
Tarleton enters the WAC with equally impressive credentials and made a major splash when it hired Billy Gillispie as its new men's basketball head coach on March 31, just two weeks after GCU named Bryce Drew as its new head coach.
Gillispie, 60, is a Division I head coach for the first time since 2012, when he coached at Texas Tech. Gillispie accumulated a 148-108 record at UTEP, Texas A&M, Kentucky and Texas Tech over eight seasons. He already has signed nine recruits, including three players who came with him from Ranger (Texas) College, the junior college where he coached the past four seasons.
Lonn Reisman, the Texans' Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics, has been with the university for 32 years, spending 24 of them in the dual role of men's basketball head coach and athletic director. He had been exploring a Division I move since 2003 with strong programs beyond basketball and several corporate sponsors.
Tarleton has boasted a dominant women's golf program, a softball NCAA Division II Sweet 16 team in 2015, 11 tennis regional bids and eight individual Division II track and field national champions.
The Texans field 13 WAC sports and will compete in football as an independent, have plans to add women's soccer and men's golf and will expand Wisdom Gym, which currently seats 2,400.
"This is a historic time for Tarleton State University and the beginning of great things ahead," Reisman said. "We are not a small college any more. We are a major university."
Dixie State and Tarleton are eligible immediately for WAC regular-season titles and can compete for WAC championships in individual sports. Each program is beginning the four-year Division I transition that GCU underwent from 2013 to 2017, for which California Baptist is two years from completing. In April, the WAC Board of Directors voted to shorten the eligibility period for participation in the WAC Basketball Tournaments, making California Baptist eligible in the spring and allowing Dixie State and Tarleton entry in 2023.
GCU is just on the brink of its eighth year in Division I athletics but the look of the WAC has shifted since GCU and four other programs entered the conference in 2013 and now that Dixie State and Tarleton State officially joined the WAC this month.
Both programs are transitioning to Division I, restoring a nine-university configuration to the WAC for this academic year.
The 58-year-old conference's new members took strikingly different paths to be among GCU, WAC elders New Mexico State and Seattle, 2018 newcomer California Baptist and the Lopes' fellow 2013 entrants – Chicago State, UT Rio Grande Valley and Utah Valley.
Dixie State is a former junior college power that only moved to NCAA Division II in 2006 and moved from a college to a university in 2013. Located in southern Utah in one of the nation's fastest-growing cities, St. George, Dixie State carries an enrollment of 11,193 students and posted winning marks with each team record in 2019-20.
Tarleton, located 80 miles southwest of Fort Worth, Texas, in Stephenville, has been part of the Texas A&M system since 1917 and has an enrollment of 13,226 students. It has been a Division II program since 1994, amassing 36 titles, nine tournament championships and 14 regional championships. It also did not have a team losing record in 2019-20.
"Both institutions will be outstanding members of the conference, adding to the nearly 60-year legacy of the WAC and Division I athletics," WAC Commissioner Jeff Hurd said.
Dixie State will play 15 sports in the WAC with its football team competing as an independent. The Trailblazers were in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference for the past two years but previously were in the PacWest Conference, where GCU competed as a Division II program.Dixie State has made eight national tournament appearances in men's basketball since 2006, playing at the 4,779-seat Burns Arena. The men's golf team has earned 11 consecutive national tournament appearances while its softball team won regional championships in 2014, 2015 and 2019 and its women's soccer team was a national quarterfinalist last season.
The Trailblazers claimed 22 conference team titles in 16 years of Division II competition.
"Our coaches, student-athletes and staff have worked tirelessly, especially in these uncertain times, to be ready for this transition," Dixie State Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Dr. Jason Boothe said. "It will be challenging, even more so now with the curveballs the pandemic is throwing at us, but we are ready. There is still a lot of work to do but we couldn't be more excited for the future of Trailblazers Athletics and what this momentous next step will bring."
Dixie State reportedly is considering a name change to the university. Its nickname was changed to Trailblazers in 2016 after a seven-year run as Red Storm, which replaced the original nickname of Rebels.
Tarleton enters the WAC with equally impressive credentials and made a major splash when it hired Billy Gillispie as its new men's basketball head coach on March 31, just two weeks after GCU named Bryce Drew as its new head coach.Gillispie, 60, is a Division I head coach for the first time since 2012, when he coached at Texas Tech. Gillispie accumulated a 148-108 record at UTEP, Texas A&M, Kentucky and Texas Tech over eight seasons. He already has signed nine recruits, including three players who came with him from Ranger (Texas) College, the junior college where he coached the past four seasons.
Lonn Reisman, the Texans' Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics, has been with the university for 32 years, spending 24 of them in the dual role of men's basketball head coach and athletic director. He had been exploring a Division I move since 2003 with strong programs beyond basketball and several corporate sponsors.
Tarleton has boasted a dominant women's golf program, a softball NCAA Division II Sweet 16 team in 2015, 11 tennis regional bids and eight individual Division II track and field national champions.
The Texans field 13 WAC sports and will compete in football as an independent, have plans to add women's soccer and men's golf and will expand Wisdom Gym, which currently seats 2,400.
"This is a historic time for Tarleton State University and the beginning of great things ahead," Reisman said. "We are not a small college any more. We are a major university."
Dixie State and Tarleton are eligible immediately for WAC regular-season titles and can compete for WAC championships in individual sports. Each program is beginning the four-year Division I transition that GCU underwent from 2013 to 2017, for which California Baptist is two years from completing. In April, the WAC Board of Directors voted to shorten the eligibility period for participation in the WAC Basketball Tournaments, making California Baptist eligible in the spring and allowing Dixie State and Tarleton entry in 2023.
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