The Western Wrestling Conference (WWC) was an

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

Division I

wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...

-only conference that competed from 2006 through 2015. All of its past members are now associate members of the

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its ...

; all except Fresno State compete only in Big 12 wrestling (Fresno State added women's equestrian to its Big 12 membership in July 2019).

History

The conference was formed on April 27, 2006, by eight schools with wrestling squads that had formerly competed as independents since the WWC charter members were all members of conferences that did not sponsor wrestling except one true independent. The original members were the

United States Air Force Academy The United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) is a United States service academy in El Paso County, Colorado, immediately north of Colorado Springs. It educates cadets for service in the officer corps of the United States Air Force and Uni ...

and the

University of Wyoming The University of Wyoming (UW) is a public land-grant research university in Laramie, Wyoming. It was founded in March 1886, four years before the territory was admitted as the 44th state, and opened in September 1887. The University of Wyoming ...

of the

Mountain West Conference The Mountain West Conference (MW) is one of the collegiate athletic conferences affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) (formerly I-A). The MW officially began operations o ...

California State University, Fresno California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) is a public university in Fresno, California. It is one of 23 campuses in the California State University system. The university had a fall 2020 enrollment of 25,341 students. It offers bachelo ...

(more commonly known as Fresno State) of the

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Utah, Washington (state), Washington, and Texa ...

North Dakota State University North Dakota State University (NDSU, formally North Dakota State University of Agriculture and Applied Sciences) is a public land-grant research university in Fargo, North Dakota. It was founded as North Dakota Agricultural College in 1890 as t ...

and

South Dakota State University South Dakota State University is a public land-grant research university in Brookings, South Dakota. Founded in 1881, it is the state's largest and most comprehensive university and the oldest continually-operating university in South Dakota. The ...

of the

Summit League The Summit League, or The Summit, is an NCAA Division I intercollegiate athletic conference with its membership mostly located in the Midwestern United States from Illinois on the East of the Mississippi River to the Dakotas and Nebraska on the W ...

, the

University of Northern Colorado The University of Northern Colorado (UNC) is a public university in Greeley, Colorado. The university was founded in 1889 as the State Normal School of Colorado and has a long history in teacher education. The institution has officially changed ...

of the

Big Sky Conference The Big Sky Conference (BSC) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I with football competing in the Football Championship Subdivision. Member institutions are located in the western United States in the eigh ...

, the

University of Northern Iowa The University of Northern Iowa (UNI) is a public university in Cedar Falls, Iowa. UNI offers more than 90 majors across the colleges of Business Administration, Education, Humanities, Arts, and Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences and grad ...

of the

Missouri Valley Conference The Missouri Valley Conference (also called MVC or simply "The Valley") is the third-oldest collegiate athletic conference in the United States. The conference's members are primarily located in the midwest. History The MVC was established ...

, and independent

Utah Valley University Utah Valley University (UVU) is a public university in Orem, Utah. UVU offers master's, bachelor's, associate degrees, and certificates. Previously called Utah Valley State College, the school attained university status in July 2008. History ...

(then named Utah Valley State College). Fresno State dropped its wrestling program before competing in the conference. On October 22, 2006, the conference logo, designed by Flint Communications of Fargo, North Dakota, was introduced. The conference began competition in the 2006–07 school year. In 2012, Northern Iowa became an associate member of the

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I collegiate athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Nine of the twel ...

, reducing the WWC membership to six. Lacking the required minimum of seven member schools, the NCAA did not recognize the conference and required the WWC schools athletes to qualify for the

NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships The NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships have been held annually since 1928, except for a hiatus in 1943–45 during World War II and in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. In 1928 and from 1931–1933, there was only an unofficial team tit ...

through the Western Regional Tournament — a tournament which included only the six WCC schools and also served as the ''de facto'' conference championship . The

had been wrestling with only four teams since

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...

moved to the

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

in 2011, but the NCAA had annually granted a waiver for its conference championships to be recognized and its champions and runners-up to be granted automatic qualification to the national championships. In 2015, the NCAA declined to grant the waiver, and the Big 12 Conference coaches declined to have their athletes wrestle in the Western Regional Tournament. As a result, Big 12 wrestlers advanced to the NCAA Championships only as at-large invitees. At that time, talk began about the Big 12 inviting the Western Wrestling Conference teams to become affiliate members of the Big 12. On July 29, 2015, the Big 12 Conference and the six member schools of the WWC announced that Air Force, North Dakota State, Northern Colorado, South Dakota State, Utah Valley, and Wyoming were being added to the Big 12's wrestling competition as affiliates, joining Big 12 full-member schools Iowa State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and West Virginia to make a 10-team conference. While expanding the competition by 150%, the Big 12 ended its tradition (carried over from the prior

Big Eight Conference The Big Eight Conference was a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)-affiliated Division I-A college athletic association that sponsored football. It was formed in January 1907 as the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Associatio ...

) of holding the championships at campus sites, holding the 2016 Big 12 Wrestling Championships at the

Sprint Center T-Mobile Center (formerly Sprint Center) is a multi-purpose arena in downtown Kansas City, Missouri. It is located at the intersection of 14th Street and Grand Boulevard on the east side of the Power & Light District. It has effectively becom ...

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the 36th most-populous city in the United States. It is the central ...

. The WWC's absorption by the Big 12 was completed in 2017 when the Big 12 added Northern Iowa and the resurrected Fresno State wrestling program as associate members.

Final Members

Air Force Falcons The Air Force Falcons are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the United States Air Force Academy, located in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The athletics department has 17 men's and 10 women's NCAA-sanctioned teams. The current athl ...

(2007–2015) *

North Dakota State Bison The North Dakota State Bison are the athletic teams of North Dakota State University (NDSU), which is located in the city of Fargo, North Dakota. The teams are often called the "Thundering Herd". The current logo is a bison. Sports sponsored ...

(2007–2015) *

Northern Colorado Bears The Northern Colorado Bears are the athletic teams representing the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, Colorado in intercollegiate athletics. The university sponsors seventeen teams including men and women's basketball, cross country, gol ...

(2007–2015) *

South Dakota State Jackrabbits The South Dakota State Jackrabbits are the 19 intercollegiate teams representing South Dakota State University that compete in the U.S. National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I (for football: Football Championship Subdivision). SDSU ...

(2007–2015) *

Utah Valley Wolverines The Utah Valley Wolverines represent Utah Valley University in NCAA DI collegiate athletics and sponsor 16 sporting programs. The Wolverines participate in the Western Athletic Conference. The school mascot is the Wolverine, and the colors are gr ...

(2007–2015) *

Wyoming Cowboys The Wyoming Cowboys and Cowgirls are the sport, athletic teams that represent the University of Wyoming, located in Laramie, Wyoming, Laramie. Wyoming is a member of the Mountain West Conference (MW) and competes in NCAA Division I, fielding 17 ...

(2007–2015)

Former members

* Fresno State Bulldogs (never competed, dropped program) – program revived in 2017 in the Big 12, but set to be dropped again in 2021 *

Northern Iowa Panthers The Northern Iowa Panthers are the athletic teams of the University of Northern Iowa. The university is a member of the Missouri Valley Conference and competes in NCAA Division I (Division I FCS in football). History The school's mascot is t ...

(2007–2012) - moved to

, now in the Big 12

Membership timeline

DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:20 Period = from:2007 till:2015 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:20 left:20 bottom:20 top:0 Colors = id:barcolor value:rgb(0.99,0.7,0.7) id:line value:black id:bg value:white PlotData= width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s bar:1 color:powderblue from:2007 till:2007 text:

Fresno State California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) is a public university in Fresno, California. It is one of 23 campuses in the California State University system. The university had a fall 2020 enrollment of 25,341 students. It offers bachelo ...

(Never competed) bar:2 color:powderblue from:2007 till:2015 text:

North Dakota State North Dakota State University (NDSU, formally North Dakota State University of Agriculture and Applied Sciences) is a public land-grant research university in Fargo, North Dakota. It was founded as North Dakota Agricultural College in 1890 as th ...

(2007–2015) bar:3 color:powderblue from:2007 till:2015 text:

South Dakota State South Dakota State University is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Brookings, South Dakota. Founded in 1881, it is the state's largest and most comprehensive university and the oldest continually ...

(2007–2015) bar:4 color:powderblue from:2007 till:2015 text:

Air Force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an a ...

(2007–2015) bar:5 color:powderblue from:2007 till:2015 text:

Northern Colorado Northern Colorado is the name for a region in the state of Colorado and a proposed state in the northeastern portion of Colorado. Region Northern Colorado is a region in the northern portion of Colorado. It borders northwestern Colorado, nort ...

(2007–2015) bar:6 color:powderblue from:2007 till:2012 text:

Northern Iowa Iowa () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wiscon ...

(2007–2012) bar:7 color:powderblue from:2007 till:2015 text:

Wyoming Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...

(2007–2015) bar:8 color:powderblue from:2007 till:2015 text:

Utah Valley Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...

(2007–2015) ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:2 start:2007

Team dual meet champions

Team tournament champions

The NCAA West Regional served as the conference tournament.

References

External links

Official website
{{Western Wrestling Conference Sports leagues disestablished in 2015 Sports leagues established in 2006 2006 establishments in the United States 2015 disestablishments in the United States