New Mexico St. Makes It Official: The Aggie Football Team Is Joining the Sun Belt Conference

New Mexico State has announced it will join the Sun Belt Conference as a football-only member beginning in the 2014 season.

School officials said at a campus news conference Wednesday that the move is pending approval by the state Board of Regents.

New Mexico State played eight years in the Western Athletic Conference and will play as an independent this fall after the WAC gave up trying to field a football league in 2013.

The Aggies went 1-11 last season and haven’t appeared in a bowl game since 1960.

Offensive coordinator Doug Martin took over as head football coach in January after DeWayne Walker stepped down following four losing seasons to take a job as an assistant with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Martin was Kent State’s head coach from 2004-10.