The Mountain West Conference has experienced a turbulent start to the fall, with conference realignment dominating the college sports landscape. Unusually, the Mountain West has found itself at the forefront of this reshuffling, marking an unprecedented level of involvement for the conference.
About a month ago, the Mountain West lost five schools to the Pac-12: Boise State, Fresno State, Colorado State, San Diego State and Utah State. Additionally, the Pac-12 later announced the addition of Gonzaga, and the Mountain West gained UTEP and Hawaii as full members.Â
If one took this a little further back, the domino effect started when USC and UCLA announced their departures to the Big Ten. Washington and Oregon followed, which snowballed into what is now known as the “Pac-2,” leaving Oregon State and Washington State as the lone institutions within the conference.
With uncertain times for the Pac-12, Oregon State, Washington State and the Mountain West agreed to a scheduling agreement for football. The two schools became affiliate members of the West Coast Conference for basketball.
The Mountain West and West Coast Conference had a joint media day in Las Vegas at Resorts World. Along with all the teams, coaches and a couple of players from each squad, Mountain West Commissioner Gloria Nevarez was in attendance for both days of the event.
Along with local media, the Mountain West Network was in town, grabbing all the behind-the-scenes. After Nevarez finished with the network and all the media appearances there was no way to pass on the opportunity to get some answers on the recent moves the conference made.
One of, if not the biggest, sigh of relief for the conference was the ability to retain the Las Vegas market in keeping UNLV. The Thomas and Mack Center, home of the Runnin’ Rebels, and the city of Las Vegas have hosted the conference tournament every year since 2007.Â
“Las Vegas has reinvented itself into the home of a lot of sports,” Nevarez said. “Being in this market with our basketball tournament and certainly the might and power of the UNLV brand is really important.”
The Mountain West announced the addition of CUSA member UTEP. UTEP is 20-14 all-time against Mountain West schools. It will be a full member in the 2026-27 academic year.
“UTEP certainly has competed against our schools in previous iterations of conference realignment. They fit in our footprint,” Nevarez said. “I was so impressed with their leadership, AD, president and their excitement to be in the league.”
Nevarez also mentioned the “nice rivalry” between UTEP and New Mexico and how UTEP “fits” into the conference. She also raved about the addition of Hawaii.
The Mountain West brought in Hawaii as a full member of the Mountain West rather than the football-only agreement that has currently been in place.
“Certainly, there’s a synergy between Hawaii and Las Vegas in both athletics and culture,” Nevarez says. “We know them, they fit with us, it made a lot of sense.”
Hawaii, who is 153-185 all-time against Mountain West schools, rounds out the conference at eight full members, keeping the conference’s FBS status intact.
Uncertainty will always be at the back of minds in the Mountain West. No exhales of relief will take place until the deals are signed and done. Time will certainly tell how this plays out for the Mountain West. But right now, the conference recovered rather smoothly after the departure of the five schools.
