LSC to add Incarnate Word in 2010
The Lone Star Conference will expand to 16 member institutions as league officials announced Tuesday the University of the Incarnate Word has accepted an invitation to join the conference in July 2010.
The Lone Star Conference Council of Presidents gathered at the NCAA Convention in Washington D.C. on January 16 for their annual winter meeting, where they unanimously voted to extend an invitation to the University of Incarnate Word.
"Our expansion committee's recommendation was to invite Incarnate Word, both because they satisfy the primary needs of the Conference and they present an opportunity for mutual gain," said LSC Commissioner Stan Wagnon. "For our Presidents to approve that recommendation unanimously speaks to the value we believe UIW brings as a new member. Incarnate Word is a great fit for our membership on a number of levels, but most importantly because of the way they fit with regard to academic reputation, sports sponsorship, and geographic and economic viability."
The expansion to include UIW represents the LSC's first membership change since 2000, when Harding (Ark.) and Ouachita Baptist (Ark.) departed the league. UIW will be the 28th institution to compete as a member of the 78-year-old LSC, and the second San Antonio school to play in the league. Trinity was a member from 1931-34 and 1946-49.
UIW sponsors 19 sports (nine men's and 10 women's) including the recent addition of football. The Cardinals will play their first football game on August 29, 2009, and compete as an independent in 2009 with games scheduled against three current LSC members - Eastern New Mexico, Midwestern State and East Central.
"Incarnate Word currently sponsors all 16 sports in which the Lone Star Conference conducts championships, something that none of our current members can claim," stated Wagnon. "Certainly their location in San Antonio will tighten our league from a geographic standpoint, but it also provides our conference and all members with increased exposure in one of the largest markets of this region."
A former NAIA program, UIW joined the NCAA Division II ranks as a member of the Heartland Conference in June 1999. The Cardinals have seen 27 teams advance to NCAA postseason play since then.
The LSC, founded on April 25, 1931, started as a five-team conference of Texas-based schools and with UIW will become a 16-member league with nine members in Texas, six in Oklahoma and one in New Mexico.
