AP reports that the Western Athletic Conference has announced the addition of three new teams: Texas State, University of Texas-San Antonio and the University of Denver, to replace outgoing Boise State, Fresno and Nevada in 2012. The two schools step up to the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) from the Southland Conference.
Texas State is just 4-5 this season (1-4 in conference), and UT-San Antonio does not currently have a football program. UTSA will be starting a new program in 2011 under former Miami coach Larry Coker. Denver apparently will not compete in football. Texas State and UTSA both have enrollments over 30,000 and offer large communities in Central Texas for media, fan bases and recruiting.
The addition of the two schools to the WAC brings the total number of Texas schools competing in the FBS to 12. Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech and Baylor compete in the Big 12, Houston, Rice, SMU and UTEP are members of Conference USA, TCU is in the Mountain West, and UNT is in the Sunbelt.
With Boise and Fresno leaving the WAC, Hawaii might be the highest profile program remaining in the conference. The Rainbow Warriors have publicly discussed going independent.