The Utah Valley Wolverines became the latest college program to leave the Western Athletic Conference, announcing they will join the Big West as a full member starting on July 1, 2026.

The move leaves the WAC with just five members in 2026: Abilene Christian, Southern Utah, Utah Tech, Tarleton State, and UT Arlington. Previous departures include SeattleU going to the WCC, Grand Canyon leaving for the Mountain West, and Cal Baptist also going to the Big West.

“We are honored to join The Big West and begin an exciting new chapter in UVU Athletics,” said UVU President Astrid S. Tuminez in a news release. “This move reflects the progress we’ve made across our programs and the growing reputation of our university. One of the most enjoyable parts of my presidency has been watching our student-athletes compete, learn, and grow, often punching above their weight. I am confident that we will continue to thrive in The Big West. The future looks bright.”

The Big West brings in Cal Baptist and Utah Valley to replace the departures of UC Davis and Hawaii to the Mountain West, a shrewd move by a league that has rarely operated outside the state of California but will do so to bring in UVU - a school with a student population far bigger than any others in the conference.

Both Utah Valley and Cal Baptist appeared to make logical sense for the WCC as solid basketball programs on the west coast that do not support football, but instead both will join a football conference in the Big West - which further weakens the WCC's pool of candidates.

The WCC will lose Gonzaga to the Pac-12 in 2026-27 as well as affiliate members Oregon State and Washington State, which will cut the conference down to just nine programs: Saint Mary's, San Francisco, Santa Clara, LMU, Pepperdine, San Diego, Portland, Pacific, and newcomer Seattle University.

The conference could look at the five remaining WAC programs as potential backfill options, although only one of them is a non-football school and that's UT Arlington - a difficult fit geographically for a conference that is very tied to the west coast.

Cal Baptist and Utah Valley were both logical fits, but with both now onto the Big West it looks like the WCC will settle in with their nine members for the short term - while hoping the Pac-12 doesn't come sniffing around Saint Mary's to join Gonzaga as a non-football member of the new conference, which has been floated around as an option for the past few months.