Consisted of primarilty 8
universities over its lifetime, from
1914 to
1996. They included:
University of Texas
Texas Tech University
Texas A&M
Baylor
Rice University
University of Arkansas
Texas Christian University
Southern Methodist University
and the
University of Houston
Over its 82 year history, SWC schools won 55
national championships. By the 1990's, however, most schools were struggling to
fund their multi-million dollar athletic programs as
TV ratings dropped. Arkansas withdrew in 1992 as
scandals and
NCAA probations were dropped on several schools leading to the eventual break-up of the conference in 1996.
The University of Texas, Texas A&M, Baylor, and Texas Tech joined up with the more prosperoce
Big 8 conference to create the
Big 12 Conference. SMU, TCU, and Rice moved to the
Western Athletic Conference (WAC), while Houston the new
Conference USA. Arkansas is now a member of the
Southeastern Conference (SEC).