What were the teams in the old Southwest Conference?
Southwest Conference, former American collegiate athletic organization founded in 1914 with eight members: the University of Arkansas, Baylor University, the University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma Agriculture and Mining College (now Oklahoma State University), William Marsh Rice Institute (now Rice University), Southwestern …
What happened to the Southwest Conference?
In May 1996, after the completion of championship matches in baseball and track & field, the Southwest Conference was officially dissolved. Over the course of its 82-year history, teams of the Southwest Conference garnered 64 recognized national championships in collegiate sports.
When did the SWC break up?
1996
In 1996, the SWC officially disbanded and the teams dispersed, but their fans followed. The University of Texas, Texas A&M, Baylor, and Texas Tech joined the schools in the Big Eight to form the Big 12 Conference. SMU, TCU, and Rice joined the Western Athletic Conference.
Who was in Big 8 Conference?
Its membership at its dissolution consisted of the University of Nebraska, Iowa State University, the University of Colorado at Boulder, the University of Kansas, Kansas State University, the University of Missouri, the University of Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State University.
Why did the Southwest Conference collapse?
By 1994, league members realized a break-up was inevitable. The SWC was torn and tarnished by football recruiting scandals and NCAA probations, which hit all Texas members except Baylor and Rice in the ’80s and saw SMU’s program suspended for two years when hit by the NCAA “Death Penalty.”
Did Texas ruin the SWC?
The SWC had a lingering painful death not because of Texas, but because of a series of factors that together meant it was doomed. The resulting scandals, which included far more than the SMU Death Penalty, ruined the SWC’s reputation and finances.