NWAACC rebrands with new name, logo

The Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges has a new name, and a new acronym. The pronunciation of that acronym, however, will stay the same.

The Pacific Northwest’s league of two-year schools announced earlier this month that it’s changing its name to the Northwest Athletic Conference. Two letters will be cut off from the acronym – it’s the NWAC now – but people will still be able to call it the “en-wack.”

NWAC executive director Marco Azurdia, a former Wenatchee Valley College women’s basketball coach and athletic director, told the Vancouver Columbian that the name change has been in the works for quite some time, spurred by a desire to make the conference more recognizable as a brand.

“When I interviewed for the job, I had talked about branding and looking at that strategy as a whole,” Azurdia told the Columbian. “(Shortening the name) had been on my mind from Day One.”

There are new primary and secondary logos for the conference, along with a new website address: nwacsports.org.

Along with a new name, the NWAC is set to welcome a new member. North Idaho College, which has played in the Scenic West Athletic Conference, will join the NWAC for soccer, golf and softball this fall and for all other sports in 2015-16.