TXST ATHLETICS
In an official statement, Texas State has announced its intention to stay in the Sun Belt Conference.
This comes after reports that the Mountain West Conference had given Texas State a verbal offer to join the conference. The Pac-12 had also been in talks with Texas State as well.
“The recent interest shown in Texas State and its presence across the college athletics landscape speaks volumes about the university and the work our staff and student-athletes have done to build the Bobcat brand nationally,” Director of Athletics Don Coryell said in an official statement. “After preliminary discussion with an interested conference, we have decided not to make a change at this time. I’m looking forward to watching all of our sports continue to compete for the Sun Belt Conference and National Championships.”
This comes after the Pac-12 Conference added Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State and San Diego State of the Mountain West Conference in addition to Oregon State and Washington State.
The Pac-12 later added Utah State before the Mountain West conference received commitments from Air Force, Nevada, New Mexico, San Jose State, UNLV and Wyoming to stay in the conference in addition to football only member Hawaii.
The Pac-12 was in talks with AAC members Memphis, Tulane and South Florida about joining the conference before all three turned down the offer.
During the Bobcats game against Sam Houston, it was reported by ESPN’s Pete Thamel that Texas State “received a verbal offer to join the Mountain West. A decision is expected in the upcoming days, as the talks continue.” Thamel also reported that “The Pac-12 has also expressed interest, but that has yet to yield an offer.”
On Tuesday afternoon, the Mountain West added UTEP as the conference’s seventh member.
Later in the day the Pac-12 announced the addition of Gonzaga as a full time member despite the university not playing football.
Both the Pac-12 and Mountain West conferences will need to add one more FBS member in order to stay eligible for the postseason with both conferences at seven members each.
cmcwilliams @sanmarcosrecord.com Twitter: @ColtonBMc
