Karl Benson leaves WAC, heads to Sun Belt Conference
Longtime Western Athletic Conference commissioner Karl Benson is calling is quits.
Benson was hired to replace Wright Waters as commissioner of the Sun Belt Conference, effective April 1, as Waters announced his retirement last year.
“It has been a privilege to serve the WAC,” Benson said in a press release, “and to share in the many successes of our member schools and student-athletes over the past 18 years.”
Benson was hired April 1994 as the WAC’s fifth commissioner and has seen the conference go through a variety of changes in the game of conference realignment, expanding the conference on several occasions. Three WAC football teams under Benson’s administration played in BCS bowl games.
New Mexico State President and WAC Chair Barbara Couture said a committee will be formed in the next few weeks to begin the process of finding Benson’s replacement.
“We will be looking for leadership that will continue to positively position the WAC as one of the nation’s top conferences, both academically and athletically, in this time of conference realignment,” Couture said.
– tavin.stucki@aggiemail.usu.edu