![]() Given how much shuffling the WAC has endured, it seems fitting that this iteration of the conference enjoyed arguably its best season in 2019, perhaps as something of a payoff for some stability in its membership. It also includes North Dakota, which cut baseball at the end of the 2016 season. That includes not just longtime members like Hawaii, which had been in the conference since 1979, but also one-year members like Texas-Arlington, Texas-San Antonio, Texas State and Dallas Baptist. In total, just since the end of the 2012 season, 10 different baseball programs have left the WAC. Truthfully, it’s impressive that the conference has simply continued to exist, because the league spent the entirety of 2012-2014 fighting off mass defections that led to it having to discontinue playing football. ![]() For that matter, you only have to go back to 2012 to find a time when just two current members, New Mexico State and Sacramento State, were in the fold. That’s not the case with the Western Athletic Conference, which is quite literally a completely different conference than it was in 2005, when Rice, Fresno State, Hawaii, Nevada, San Jose State and Louisiana Tech made up the baseball membership. Most conferences that have undergone massive realignment still have a core of schools that have been part of the membership for as long as anyone can remember. All rights reserved.This offseason, we’re going to take deep dives into all 31 Division I baseball conferences, using five years’ worth of data to examine where each league has been and to try to project forward to where they might go. A native of Louisville, Ky., Thornton earned an undergraduate degree in business from Xavier in 2005 and added an MBA from that institution in 2007.īrian and his wife Kelsey have one daughter, Makayla, and one son, Brian Jr. He began his playing career at Vanderbilt University, where he was an SEC all-freshman selection in 2002 and played professionally for the Artland Dragons for the Basketball Bundesliga in Germany from 2006-07. Thornton was a standout men’s basketball player at Xavier University, where he was the 20 Atlantic-10 Student-Athlete of the Year, a CoSIDA Academic All-America selection and was a first-team all-conference pick for the Musketeers’ 2006 Atlantic-10 championship team. He additionally served as a liaison to the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball oversight committees, developing legislative concepts to foster the growth and development of college basketball. He was responsible for developing relationships with constituents in the men’s and women’s basketball communities, including coaches, apparel companies and professional basketball organizations. Thornton joined the American after two year as assistant director for basketball development at the NCAA National Office. “While the WAC name is certainly a storied one, the current mix of institutions share a common bond as growth-focused with a strong desire to compete at the highest level while also providing an elite student-athlete experience.” “I would like to thank the Western Athletic Conference Board of Directors for the opportunity to lead this historic conference during this unprecedented time in collegiate athletics.,” said Thornton. In that role, he served as the primary administrator for men’s and women’s basketball, including oversight of scheduling, officiating and game operations as well as compliance with NCAA governance. ![]() Thornton joins the WAC following one year as associate commissioner for basketball at the American Athletic Conference. His knowledge of NCAA athletics and his strong strategic view of the future is very impressive, and we all look forward to building a very bright future together.” “Brian is the perfect person to take the rebuilt WAC forward. He has always been there through the good and the challenging times,” said Grand Canyon University President Brian Mueller. “I would like to start by thanking Jeff Hurd for his incredible 30-plus years of dedicated service to the WAC. Thornton replaces Jeff Hurd, who will be ending a 10-year run as commissioner and 37 years overall at the conference on December 31, 2021. DENVER (PRESS RELEASE) – The Western Athletic Conference Board of Directors has announced Brian Thornton as the seventh commissioner in the 60-year history of the conference.
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