LINDALE, Texas — Conference expansion was the key discussion of the annual Southwest Junior College Football Conference coaches' meeting Thursday at the Garden Valley Golf Club.
 
New Mexico Military Institute was unanimously accepted into the SWJCFC starting in the 2016 season. The Broncos, from Roswell, New Mexico, are leaving the Western States Football League.
 
The Bronco football program has been a member of the nine-team Western States Football League since the program's re-inception in 1992, after a 10-year hiatus. The Broncos will remain in the WSFL for the upcoming 2015 season.
"Once New Mexico Military comes into the conference, we'll only have to come up with two non-conference games to fill out the nine-game regular season," NEO athletic director Dale Patterson said. "Coach (Ryan) Held will have a few different options to consider to fill out the non-conference schedule."
"We are delighted to have been invited to such a prestigious conference, and look forward to the fall of 2016," NMMI athletic director Jose Barron said in a press release issued Thursday by the college.
The SWJCFC is currently comprised of seven schools: the Blinn College Buccaneers in Brenham, Texas; the Cisco (Texas) College Wranglers; the Kilgore (Texas) College Rangers; the Navarro College Bulldogs in Corsicana, Texas; the Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College Golden Norsemen; the Trinity Valley Community College Cardinals in Athens, Texas, and the Tyler (Texas) Junior College Apaches.
"I think it just makes sense from a geographic and competitive standpoint," Bronco head football coach Joe Forchtner said. "Six of the seven current members are Texas schools. Our basketball program, our volleyball program, our baseball program all play schools to the east of us; they're all playing Texas schools. That's a natural set of rivalries that our school has and I think it's important for our football program to be a part of that, too."
Coach Forchtner added that the SWJCFC is one of the top conferences in the nation for junior college football. That statement is backed up by NJCAA National Championship titles – 16 total by the current members of the SWJCFC, including three since 2006.
"It's always kind of nerve-wracking seeing what you're getting yourself into but we're excited," Forchtner said. "We've played Cisco and we've played Navarro, but we've never gone through that conference from start to finish for the length of a season. I know it it's a good conference, top to bottom, and it's going to be a challenge all the way through."
Coach Forchtner also wanted to thank the members of the SWJCFC committee for the invitation to join the conference.
"The support from the conference has been great," Forchtner said. "I think the coaches passed it unanimously, the presidents passed it unanimously. It's a move that will be beneficial both for us and for the SWJCFC, and obviously it feels good to be wanted, especially by such a great league."
One of those voting committee members is Brad Smiley, the athletic director and head football coach at No. 2 ranked and defending conference champion Trinity Valley Community College.
"The members of the Southwest Junior College Football Conference (SWJCFC) are extremely excited about the addition of New Mexico Military Institute to our league," Smiley said. "The opportunity to add a football program with such a great tradition and rich history only adds to what we feel is already one of the strongest junior college football conferences in the country."
Since the formation of the SWJCFC in 1995, twice the league has added teams from outside the state of Texas. NEO officially joined the conference in 1996 while Arkansas Baptist College of Little Rock was a member during the 2008 season.
For the first time since the creation of the conference in 1995, a preseason coaches' poll was not released.