Mountain West Conference

The Mountain West Conference (abbreviated as either "MW" or "MWC") is a group of colleges and universities in the Western United States, who play NCAA Division I sports against one another. In football, the MW plays in the top-level Division I FBS.

The league was formed in 1999 when eight schools split from the Western Athletic Conference (WAC). Most of the original members had been members of the WAC before it grew from 10 schools to 16 in 1996.

Due to a major realignment of Division I conferences, the MW and Conference USA (CUSA) announced plans to merge into one conference, possibly for the 2013–14 school year. However, because of money issues, the conferences backed away from a full merger. They planned to form an alliance for scheduling and television purposes. After both conferences added more schools, they backed out of the planned alliance.

During the 2020s conference realignment, the MW survived an attempted raid from the American Athletic Conference, which had courted four of its members, but would later be raided by the Pac-12 Conference, which had lost all but two of its 12 members in 2024. In September 2024, the Pac-12 announced that Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, and San Diego State would join the Pac-12 in 2026. Utah State soon became the fifth MW member to announce its departure for the Pac-12, also effective in 2026.

The MW started a rebuilding process in October 2024 by announcing that UTEP would join from CUSA in 2026. Later that month, football associate Hawaii announced it would become a full MW member in 2026. On November 1, Grand Canyon, which had previously announced it would join the West Coast Conference in 2025, went back on that move, instead accepting an invitation to join the MW no later than 2026. GCU would join in 2025. Unlike the other current and future MW members, Grand Canyon has no football team. In December, UC Davis announced it would join the MW in 2026, though without its football team, which will stay in the second-level Division I FCS as an associate of the Big Sky Conference. Then, in January 2025, the MW announced that Northern Illinois would join as a football-only member in 2026.

Current members
Twelve schools are "full members", meaning that they play almost all of their sports in the MW. Departing schools are highlighted in pink.

 School  Location  Type  Joined MW  Nickname (Air Force) USAF Academy, Colorado  Federal 1999 Falcons Boise State University Boise, Idaho Public 2011 Broncos (Fresno State) Fresno, California Public 2012 Bulldogs Colorado State UniversityFort Collins, Colorado Public 1999 Rams Grand Canyon University Phoenix, Arizona Private 2025 Antelopes  (Nevada) Reno, Nevada Public 2012 Wolf Pack  Albuquerque, New Mexico Public 1999 Lobos San Diego State University San Diego, California Public 1999 Aztecs San Jose State University San Jose, California Public 2013 Spartans  (UNLV) Las Vegas, Nevada Public 1999 Rebels Utah State University Logan, Utah Public 2013 Aggies  Laramie, Wyoming Public 1999 Cowboys &Cowgirls

Future members

 School  Location  Type  Joining MW  Nickname  Current conference (Hawaiʻi) Honolulu, Hawaii Public 2026 Rainbow Warriors / Rainbow Wāhine Big West Conference (UC Davis) Davis, California Public 2026 Aggies Big West Conference (UTEP) El Paso, Texas Public 2026 Miners Conference USA

Associate members
Three schools are "associate members", meaning that they play in the MW in some sports while playing most other sports in another league. Two play only one sport in the MW, and the other houses two sports in the MW.

 School  Location  Type  Joined MW  Sport  Nickname  Main Conference (Hawaiʻi) Honolulu, Hawaii Public 2026 Football Rainbow Warriors Big West Conference Colorado College Colorado Springs, Colorado Private 2014 Women's soccer Tigers Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference(NCAA Division III) Washington State University Pullman, Washington Public 2024 Baseball Cougars Pac-12 Conference Women's swimming & diving

 Future associate members 

 School  Location  Type  Joining MW  Sport(s)  Nickname  Current conference Northern Illinois University DeKalb, Illinois Public 2026 Football Huskies Mid-American Conference  Utah Tech University  Public 2026 Baseball Trailblazers Western Athletic Conference 

Former members
Two of the MW's first members, plus one school that joined later, are no longer in the conference. All three are now members of the Big 12 Conference.
 School  Location  Type  Joined MW  Left MW  Nickname  Next conference  Current conference (BYU) Provo, Utah Private 1999 2011 Cougars West Coast Conference(FBS independent) Big 12 Conference (TCU) Fort Worth, Texas Private 2005 2012 Horned Frogs Big 12 Conference  Salt Lake City, Utah Public 1999 2011 Utes Pac-12 Conference Big 12 Conference

 MountainWest Sports Network 
The MountainWest Sports Network was an American college sports television channel. It was dedicated to the Mountain West Conference, including studio programs following the conference, live events, and documentary-style programs profiling the conference's members. It was launched on September 1, 2006. The channel shut down on May 31, 2012.

Notes

References

Other websites


Category:1999 establishments in the United States