SUU, Utah Tech Next In Conference Realignment Moves
Jun 25, 2025, 11:59 AM | Updated: 2:18 pm
Utah Tech and Southern Utah are reportedly on the move in conference realignment to the Big Sky. (Spenser Heaps, Deseret News)
(Spenser Heaps, Deseret News)
SALT LAKE CITY – The conference realignment dominoes continue to fall, and a pair of in-state universities are next to move.
Southern Utah University and Utah Tech are leaving the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) for the Big Sky Conference.
Southern Utah, Utah Tech are leaving the WAC for the Big Sky Conference
A volley of non-FBS realignment moves are coming.
Per sources, the ASUN & WAC are forming an “alliance,” where 5 FB-playing ASUN members will move in 2026 into the WAC, which will then rebrand as United Athletic Conference.
Southern Utah & Utah Tech are leaving WAC for Big Sky.
— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) June 25, 2025
According to Yahoo’s Ross Dellenger, the move would occur in 2026.
Southern Utah and Utah Tech have football programs currently in the United Athletic Conference. Those teams would go into the Big Sky as well.
Blazing a new ELEVATED trail to the @BigSkyConf in 2026-27!
📰 – https://t.co/8zRV8IjXdG#UtahTechBlazers | #ExperienceElevated pic.twitter.com/qsDsaM5H5g— Utah Tech Athletics (@UtahTech_Sports) June 25, 2025
The Big Sky is backfilling after losing Sacramento State, which took all its sports besides football to the Big West Conference.
Southern Utah was a member of the Big Sky Conference for a decade from 2012 to 2021, before it left for the WAC in 2022. Meanwhile, Utah Tech is in its early years as a Division I athletic department.
Welcome Home, Southern Utah#ExperienceElevated pic.twitter.com/HFCxsEylaq
— Big Sky Conference (@BigSkyConf) June 25, 2025
The Trailblazers moved up to Division I from Division II in 2020 and have been members of the WAC since then.
Conference realignment continues to move
These reported moves would pair Southern Utah and Utah Tech with in-state foe Weber State, a founding member of the Big Sky since 1963.
That gives the state of Utah three institutions within the Big Sky, the most of any state in the league’s footprint. The Big Sky’s headquarters are based in Farmington.
Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and hosts the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (12–3 p.m.) on KSL Newsradio. Follow Mitch’s coverage of BYU in the Big 12 Conference on X: @Mitch_Harper.
