After a 16-year membership in the Western Athletic Conference, San Jose State University accepted an offer to join the Mountain West Conference, according to SJSU's website.
The school, which currently has 450 student-athletes, will be one of nine full-time members and 10 football-playing members of the Mountain West starting in the 2013-2014 academic year.
"We are not joining this conference simply to compete," SJSU President Mohammad Qayoumi said. "We are joining to win, and to build upon our current record of success"
SJSU's Interim Athletics Director Marie Tuite said this historic move will continue the school's "long and rich history of offering our student-athletes and coaches the opportunity to compete at the Division I-A level."
Fourteen of SJSU's 17 NCAA Division I programs will compete for Mountain West championships, acording to SJSU's website.
Utah State will also be joining the Mountain West as the conference considers a possible future alliance with Conference USA, according to Mountain West Commissioner Craig Thompson.
"As we have developed the strategy for the future of the Conference, the long-standing rivalries with our current members and the fit within our geographic footprint made these two institutions the optimal choices to strengthen our membership and position ourselves for the next steps," Thompson said.
