SAN DIEGO – The San Diego State men's soccer program will join the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) as an affiliate member beginning with the 2024-25 academic year.
The Aztecs, who have played in the Pac-12 for the last 19 years, played in the WAC from 1996-98 before joining the MPSF.
"We are thrilled to be joining the WAC," SDSU head coach Ryan Hopkins said. "We are grateful to the conference, their coaches and our administration for finding such a great solution for our program's student-athletes."
"We're excited to be joining the WAC in men's soccer," SDSU director of athletics John David Wicker said. "The league has regularly sent multiple teams to the NCAA tournament and gives us a chance to continue to fight for conference championships."
The addition of San Diego State gives the WAC 10 teams for men's soccer, including Mountain West counterparts Air Force, San Jose State and UNLV. The conference slate will feature a single round-robin schedule with the top six teams qualifying for the WAC Tournament.
"We are excited to welcome San Diego State back as an affiliate member of the WAC in men's soccer," WAC Commissioner Brian Thornton said. "San Diego State has proven to be a very competitive program nationally in recent years, which pairs well with our current men's soccer membership. Their inclusion is another step in our goal of regularly placing multiple teams in the NCAA Championship field, as we have done in three of the last four seasons."
The WAC, which reintroduced men's soccer in 2013 after a 13-year hiatus, has sent multiple teams to the NCAA tournament in five of the last seven years. The conference has also produced MLS Superdraft picks in five of the last six seasons, including a WAC-record six in 2022.
"The accessibility to the NCAA tournament coupled with the ample professional exposure makes the WAC a great landing spot," Hopkins explained. "We plan to bolster our non-conference schedule to give ourselves the best chance to make the NCAA tournament as an at-large bid."
The Aztecs have been nationally ranked in two of the past three seasons while boasting some of the best recruiting classes in the country, which helped SDSU garner back-to-back Pac-12 Freshman of the Year awards (CJ Fodrey and Reid Fisher).