Mountain West Conference

Mountain West Conference

Association	NCAA
Founded	May 26, 1998; 26 years ago (1998-05-26)
Commissioner	Gloria Nevarez (since January 1, 2023)
Sports fielded	19 men's: 8 women's: 11
Division	Division I
Subdivision	FBS
No. of teams	11 (9 in 2026)
Headquarters	Colorado Springs, Colorado
Region	Western United States
Official website	themw.com
Locations

The Mountain West Conference (MW) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the United States, participating in NCAA Division I. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The MW officially began operations on January 4, 1999. Geographically, the MW covers a broad expanse of the Western United States, with member schools located in California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, and Hawaii. Gloria Nevarez took over as commissioner of the MW on January 1, 2023, following the retirement of founding commissioner Craig Thompson.^[1][2]

The charter members of the MW included the United States Air Force Academy, Brigham Young University, Colorado State University, San Diego State University, the University of New Mexico, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, University of Utah and the University of Wyoming. Before forming the Mountain West Conference, seven of its eight charter members had been longtime members of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) and half of these had been charter members of that conference from 1962. Overall, each school that has ever been either a full or football-only member of the MW spent at least three years in the WAC before joining the Mountain West.

San Diego State

San Jose State

Fresno State

UNLV

Nevada

Boise State

Utah State

New Mexico

Colorado State

Air
Force

Wyoming

UTEP

Grand Canyon

Colorado College

Washington State

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Mountain West Conference member locations (Western United States)
– Full member
— Departing member
— Future member
– Associate member (women's soccer)
– Associate member (baseball & women's swimming)

Hawaii

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Mountain West Conference member locations (Hawaii)
– Football-only and future full member

The creation of the MW was a delayed aftereffect of the 1996 NCAA conference realignment, which had initially been triggered two years earlier when the Big Eight Conference agreed to merge with four members of the Southwest Conference (SWC) to create the Big 12 Conference, which would begin competition in the 1996–97 school year.

The Western Athletic Conference, which had initially announced plans to expand beyond its then-current 10 members to at least 12, ended up with even more potential expansion prospects. Ultimately, the WAC took in three of the four SWC schools left out of the Big 12 merger—Rice University, Southern Methodist University (SMU), and Texas Christian University (TCU). Three other schools were added to bring the total membership to 16, namely Big West Conference members San José State University and UNLV, plus the University of Tulsa, an NCAA football independent and otherwise a member of the Missouri Valley Conference. The WAC's 16 teams were divided into four four-team "quadrants", two of which rotated between the Mountain and Pacific Divisions every two years. However, the newly expanded WAC was soon wracked by tension between the established and new members.^[3]

In spring of 1998, BYU and Utah proposed a permanent split into two eight-team divisions. The proposal would have forced some schools into an unnatural alignment because of the geographic distribution of the conference.^[3] Air Force was the most strident opponent of this proposal, threatening to become an independent.^[3] Soon after the proposal by BYU and Utah, the presidents of Air Force, BYU, Colorado State, Utah, and Wyoming met at Denver International Airport to discuss their future, and they agreed to break away from the WAC to form a new conference.^[3] They invited the WAC members New Mexico, San Diego State, and UNLV to join them in what became the Mountain West Conference.

The next move for the MW came in 2005, when the conference added TCU, who had spent the previous four seasons in Conference USA (C-USA).

On June 11, 2010, Boise State University agreed to join the conference as its tenth member. On June 17, 2010, Utah announced it would be leaving the Mountain West to join what would become the Pac-12 Conference. On August 18, 2010, amidst rumors that BYU was considering leaving the Mountain West to go independent in football and rejoin the Western Athletic Conference in all other sports, the Mountain West Conference officially extended invitations to California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) and the University of Nevada, Reno (Nevada). Both schools accepted and would become the tenth and eleventh members of the league.^[4][5] BYU announced on August 31, 2010, that it would leave the Mountain West Conference and go Independent in football and become a member of the West Coast Conference (WCC) in other sports starting in 2011.^[6] On November 29, 2010, TCU announced all athletic teams would move to the Big East Conference effective in 2012.^[7] (Less than a year later, on October 10, 2011, TCU announced it would not join the Big East but would join the Big 12, home to fellow former SWC members Baylor, Texas, Texas Tech, and formerly Texas A&M, in 2012 instead.)^[8] On December 10, 2010, the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa accepted a bid to become the 10th member of the conference for football only.^[9] These changes would leave the Mountain West Conference with 10 teams for the 2012 football season.

During the era of football's Bowl Championship Series (BCS), which was replaced by the College Football Playoff (CFP) in 2014, the MW champion qualified for a BCS bowl four times after the BCS formula was tweaked to allow teams from non-BCS conferences to play in BCS bowls if ranked in the top 12. However, two of the three schools that qualified are no longer with the conference.

On October 14, 2011, the Mountain West and C-USA announced a plan for a football only alliance.^[10] On February 13, 2012, the two leagues announced that both conferences would be dissolving after the 2012–13 season to reform into one conference with at least 15 members for all sports, and a 16th team, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa as a football-only member.^[11] However, when the two conferences discussed their plans with the NCAA, they were told that due to NCAA rules, they would forfeit substantial revenues. Specifically, the new conference would receive only one automatic bid to NCAA championships; at least one of the former conferences would lose future revenue distributions from the NCAA men's basketball tournament; and at least one former conference would not be able to collect exit fees from any members that departed to join the new conference.^[12] As a result, the Mountain West and C-USA backed away from a full merger. In late March of that year, the commissioners of both conferences stated that all 16 schools had entered into binding agreements to form a new "association",^[13] although the Mountain West and C-USA would have apparently remained separate legal entities.^[12] In the end, this alliance never materialized due to both conferences soon adding new teams.

On May 2, 2012, San José State and Utah State agreed to join the conference for the 2013–14 academic year. On December 31 of that year, Boise State announced that it had backed out of its previously announced move to the Big East for football and the Big West for other sports, and would remain in the MW.^[14]

On January 16, 2013, San Diego State accepted an offer to remain/return to the Mountain West Conference in all sports. Keeping SDSU in the conference gave the Mountain West 12 football members, allowing for a Championship Game to be held. The first championship game took place on December 7, 2013.^[15]

In February 2018, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that the MW was looking to expand in the near future. In the report, commissioner Craig Thompson revealed that the conference had discussed expansion with six schools, with WCC member Gonzaga (which has not sponsored football since World War II) the only school mentioned by name. Thompson added that Gonzaga could potentially join the MW as a full but non-football member as early as July 2018. While Thompson said that BYU had not contacted the conference, the report indicated that BYU would be open to an MW return, at least in non-football sports, should Gonzaga join.^[16] A later Union-Tribune report indicated that talks were advanced enough that the conference's presidents planned a vote on an invitation to Gonzaga during the MW men's and women's basketball tournaments in Las Vegas, but decided to delay the vote until after the Final Four.^[17] However, on April 2, the day of the Division I men's title game, Gonzaga athletic director Mike Roth notified the MW, the WCC, and media that the school would remain in the WCC for the immediate future.^[18]

On June 30, 2022, UCLA^[19] and USC^[20] announced their departure from the Pac-12 Conference to the Big Ten Conference beginning in the 2024–25 academic year. After that announcement, San Diego State had been considered one of the top candidates for Pac-12 expansion. On June 16, 2023, Pete Thamel of ESPN reported that San Diego State had given the Mountain West Conference notice that the school would be departing from the conference and asked for an extension for the departure deadline of July 1, 2023, to avoid paying extra exit fees.^[21] The Mountain West Conference denied the request for a deadline extension and considered the letter from San Diego State as a formal notice of departure and began to proceed with the separation process; however, San Diego State disputed that its letter of intent was a formal notice.^[22] On June 30, 2023, with the Pac-12 still lacking a media rights agreement for 2024–25, ESPN reported that San Diego State would remain in the Mountain West Conference, rescinding the intention to withdraw from the conference.^[23] The MW and San Diego State reached a settlement of their dispute the following month, with SDSU remaining a member for the immediate future.^[24]

In September 2023, after a mass exodus from the Pac-12 left Oregon State and Washington State as its only remaining members, MW commissioner Gloria Nevarez began discussions with the two schools regarding various options for partnership, affiliation, or merger.^[25][26] On December 1, 2023, the conference announced that it would enter into a football scheduling agreement with the two schools for the 2024 season. All 12 Mountain West members will play one game against either Oregon State or Washington State next season, giving both schools three home games and three away games. These games will not count towards Mountain West conference standings, and Oregon State and Washington State will remain members of the Pac-12.^[27] On April 16, 2024, it was also announced that Washington State would be joining the MW as an affiliate for baseball and women's swimming.^[28]

On September 12, 2024, it was announced that Boise State, Fresno State, Colorado State, and San Diego State would be leaving the MW and joining the Pac-12 in 2026.^[29] On September 23, Utah State also accepted an offer to join the Pac-12 in 2026 as its seventh member.^[30]

On October 1, 2024 it was announced that the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) will be joining the Mountain West starting in the 2026–27 academic year.^[31] On October 14, Craig Angelos, athletic director of football-only member Hawaii, confirmed outside reports that the school would upgrade to full MW membership in 2026.^[32] This move was officially announced the next day.^[33] On November 1, 2024, Grand Canyon University announced it was joining the Mountain West no later than July 1, 2026. ^[34]

  Members departing for the Pac-12 Conference in 2026.

Notes

Notes

 Full members  Full members (non-football)  Associate members (football only)   Associate members (other)  Other conference  Other conference 

Excluded from this list are all national championships earned outside the scope of NCAA competition, including Division I FBS football titles, women's AIAW championships (17), equestrian titles (0), and retroactive Helms Athletic Foundation titles.^[38]

The Mountain West Conference sponsors championship competition in eight men's and 11 women's NCAA sanctioned sports.^[39] Hawai'i is only an associate member for football, and Colorado College is only an associate member for women's soccer.

Future members in gray.

Future members in gray.

Total revenue includes ticket sales, contributions and donations, rights and licensing, student fees, school funds and all other sources including TV income, camp income, concessions, and novelties.

Total expenses includes coach and staff salaries, scholarships, buildings and grounds, maintenance, utilities and rental fees, recruiting, team travel, equipment and uniforms, conference dues, and insurance.

The following table shows institutional reporting to the United States Department of Education as shown on the DOE Equity in Athletics website for the 2021–22 academic year.^[42] However, since Air Force is not available from that source, it was obtained from Knight Commission for the 2020–2021 academic year.^[43]

Totals and records following the completion of the 2022 football season.

Beginning in 2013, the conference split into two divisions, named the "Mountain Division" and "West Division," of six teams each for football. The Mountain West also added a conference championship game, pitting the winners of the two divisions. This first championship game took place on December 7, 2013, at Bulldog Stadium in Fresno, California, the home stadium of Fresno State, the divisional winner with the higher BCS ranking.^[44] Each team played five divisional games and three cross-divisional contests annually.^[45] The 2015 championship game featured the Air Force Academy Falcons against the San Diego State University Aztecs. The 2016 championship game featured the San Diego State University Aztecs against the University of Wyoming Cowboys.

On May 20, 2022, the conference approved a new football schedule format, set to take effect in the 2023 season.^[46][47] Under this format, the conference will remove divisions, and instead play a 2–6 format, where each team plays 2 designated rivals every year along with six separate 6-team rotations that flip every other year, such that every team will have at least one home game and one away game against every other team in a three-year cycle (less than the standard length of a college player's career). The MW Championship will also no longer be determined by the winners of the two divisions; the two teams with the highest conference winning percentage will play instead.^[48][49] The designated rivals under this system are as follows:

Prior to this, the division format was as follows:

• No other MW sport is split into divisions—including women's soccer, the only other conference sport with 12 competing schools (with Colorado College as the 12th member).

The Mountain West Conference has agreements with six bowls.

Since the 2014 season, the Mountain West champion is eligible for an at-large berth in the Cotton Bowl Classic, Fiesta Bowl, or Peach Bowl, if it is the highest-ranked conference champion among the "Group of Five" conferences (which also includes The American, C-USA, MAC, and Sun Belt) in the final College Football Playoff rankings, if it is not in the top 4. In the 2014 season, Boise State became the first team to receive this berth, being selected for and winning the Fiesta Bowl.

As of 2020,

• If Hawaii is bowl eligible and not MW champions or selected for a CFP bowl, they will receive a berth in the Hawaii Bowl.
  • The MW will only send a team to the Cactus or San Francisco Bowls if one of the primary conferences affiliated with those bowls is unable to fill their slots.

As of the 2019–20 bowl games

ESPN created the Bowl Challenge Cup in 2002 for the conference that had the best college football bowl record among Division I Football Bowl Subdivision conferences. The conference has won it five times, more than any other conference, by finishing with bowl game records of 2–1 in 2004–05,^[50] 4–1 in 2007–08,^[51] 4–1 in 2009–10,^[52] 4–1 in 2010–11^[53] and 5–1 in 2021–22.^[54]

The Mountain West and Missouri Valley Conferences hold an annual challenge series that was renewed in the 2015–16 season after a two-year hiatus. The series began in the 2009–10 season but temporarily ended when the original contract ran out after the 2012–13 season, During the first four seasons of the series, it involved all members of the MW and an equal number of the 10 MVC teams in basketball. With the MW now having 11 basketball members to the MVC's 10, the renewed series involves all MVC teams, with one MW team sitting out.

The first game was on November 13, 2009, featuring the Bradley Braves and the BYU Cougars in Provo and it concluded on December 23 with the Wyoming Cowboys visiting the Northern Iowa Panthers in Cedar Falls, Iowa. The challenge is similar to the ACC-Big Ten Challenge, which pits men's basketball teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference and the Big Ten Conference.^[55]

As of the 2023–24 NCAA Division I men's basketball season

Notes

The Mountain West's slogan is "Above the rest", and over half of the member institutions, plus women's soccer-only member Colorado College, are at more than 4,000 feet (1,200 meters) above sea level. This impacts endurance in sports like football, soccer, and the distance races in track & field and swimming meets; air resistance in sprints and horizontal jumps in track & field; and aerodynamics in baseball, softball, tennis, golf, and the discus and javelin throws. The Mountain West's institutions have the highest average elevations in NCAA Division I sports.

Schools in italics are single-sport members. In the case of women's soccer-only member Colorado College, "stadium elevation" refers to the school's soccer venue.

• Official website