Western Athletic Conference Press Conference
July 14, 2011
Good afternoon. Thank you all for being here to celebrate the
future of UT Arlington Athletics and the significant next step we’re poised to
make.
I’m proud to announce that earlier this
afternoon the UT System Board of Regents approved UT Arlington’s request to
join the Western Athletic Conference…and so today, Commissioner Benson, we enthusiastically
accept your invitation. We will
begin competing in the WAC in all sports on July 1st, 2012.
This is a great day for the Western Athletic Conference…and a historic one for UT Arlington.
UT Arlington is honored to join the WAC. This is a tremendous opportunity that’s in the best interests of our university. And it’s significant recognition of the growing national prominence of our university and its athletics program.
This move is also entirely consistent with our strategic initiative to become a major national research university. Tier One institutions are Tier One across the board, and that includes athletic teams—and student-athletes—that compete at the highest levels, both on and off the field.
The Western Athletic Conference has an excellent reputation and a strong competitive profile, both in athletics and in academics, which made moving the WAC particularly attractive for us. As members of the WAC, our ability to recruit and retain outstanding student-athletes will be significantly enhanced.
UT Arlington’s entry into the Western Athletic Conference in 2012 coincides with our first full basketball and volleyball seasons in the new College Park Center. This combination of a new conference and a new events center will generate pride among our students, alumni, fans, and the community.
It will also give our fans the chance to see challenging new opponents come to Arlington in every sport.
But we will also be able to continue two great rivalries, with UT San Antonio and Texas State University also being new members of the WAC.
Competing in the Western Athletic Conference will leverage our efforts to upgrade the competitiveness of all sports. It is part of our new vision for intercollegiate athletics at UT Arlington.
Let me say a word about the Southland Conference, which has been our home for almost 50 years. Our decision to leave the Southland Conference is bittersweet. We were a charter member of the conference in 1963, and we continue to have the utmost respect and admiration for Commissioner Tom Burnett, his leadership team, and the other member institutions of the Southland Conference.
We appreciate every opportunity that the Southland Conference has afforded us over the years, and we wish them all the best.
But today, we look forward to new opportunities and new horizons in the Western Athletic Conference. And that’s an exciting prospect.
I appreciate all of you joining us today, and I look forward to seeing you at our WAC opener—in volleyball—in 2012. Thank you.
I look forward to taking your questions in a few minutes. At this time, I’d like to introduce our athletics director, Pete Carlon.