Mountain West Conference

Mountain West Conference (MW)
Established	1999
Association	NCAA
Division	Division I FBS
Members	10 (9 full, 1 associate in 2012 11 full, 1 associate in 2013)
Sports fielded	18 (men's: 8; women's: 10)
Region	Western United States
Headquarters	Colorado Springs, Colorado
Commissioner	Craig Thompson (since 1999)
Website	themwc.com
Locations

The Mountain West Conference (formally abbreviated MW since July 2011; informally MWC), popularly known as the Mountain West, is the youngest of the college athletic conferences affiliated with the NCAA’s Division I FBS (formerly I-A). The MW officially began operations in July 1999. Geographically, the MW covers a broad expanse of the western United States, with member institutions located in California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, and Wyoming, and will expand back into Utah when Utah State University joins the conference in 2013. The conference introduced a new logo for the 2011 season to reflect the changes. Craig Thompson has served as Commissioner of the MW since its founding in 1999.

Charter members included Air Force, BYU, Colorado State, New Mexico, San Diego State, UNLV, Utah, and Wyoming. Before forming the Mountain West Conference, seven of the eight charter members had been longtime members of the Western Athletic Conference; half were WAC charter members at its formation in 1962 - UNLV had only joined the WAC in 1996.

Contents 1 History 2 Member schools 2.1 Current members 2.2 Future Members 2.3 Former members 2.4 Membership timeline 2.5 Football Divisions 3 Sports 3.1 Men's Sports 3.2 Women's Sports 4 Conference champions 5 Football Rivalries 5.1 Conference 5.2 Future Conference Rivalry Games 5.3 Non-conference (including other sports) 5.4 Future non-conference (including other sports) 6 Postseason records 6.1 Football Bowl Games 6.2 Men's NCAA Basketball Tournament 6.3 Women's NCAA Basketball Tournament 7 Bowl games 7.1 Bowl Challenge Cup 8 Facilities 9 Elevation 9.1 Campus elevations 9.2 Elevation by conference 10 References 11 External links

History [edit]

The WAC expanded from 10 to 16 universities in 1996, absorbing three teams from the defunct Southwest Conference (SWC) (Rice, SMU, and TCU), adding two from the Big West (San Jose State and UNLV), and Tulsa from the Missouri Valley Conference. After three football seasons, most of the pre-expansion members decided that the new WAC was over-sized, and departed to form the Mountain West Conference. The MW added a ninth team in 2005: TCU, also a former WAC and SWC member, which joined after four seasons in Conference 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 Pacific-12 Conference. On August 18, 2010, amidst rumors that Brigham Young 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 and the University of Nevada, Reno. Fresno State and Nevada accepted and would become the tenth and eleventh members of the league.^[1] 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.^[2] On November 29, 2010, Texas Christian University announced all athletic teams would move to the Big East Conference effective in 2012.^[3] (Less than a year later, on October 10, 2011, TCU announced it would not join the Big East but would join the Big 12 in 2012 instead.)^[4] On December 10, 2010, the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa accepted a bid to become the 10th member of the conference for football only.^[5] These changes would leave the Mountain West Conference with 10 teams for the 2012 football season.

The MW champion has qualified for a BCS bowl four times since the BCS formula was tweaked to allow 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 & Conference USA announced a plan for a football only alliance.^[6]

On February 13, 2012, the Mountain West & Conference USA (C-USA) announced that both conferences would be dissolving after the 2012-2013 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.^[7] 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.^[8] As a result, the Mountain West and C-USA apparently 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",^[9] although the Mountain West and C-USA will now apparently remain separate legal entities.^[8]

On May 2, 2012, San Jose 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.^[10]

On January 2, 2013, it was reported that in the deal between Boise State and the Mountain West, SDSU would be the first team the MW could invite to expand the conference. On January 16, 2013 it was reported that SDSU had accepted the offer to remain/return to the Mountain West Conference in all sports. Keeping SDSU in the conference gives the Mountain West 12 football members, allowing for a Championship Game to be held. The MW expects to hold the first Championship Game in December 2013.^[11]

Member schools [edit]

Current members [edit]

Full Members
Institution	Nickname	Location	Type	Enrollment	Joined	Endowment[12]	Research[13]
Air Force !United States Air Force Academy (Air Force)	Falcons	Colorado Springs, Colorado	Federal	4,417	1999	N/A	$62.1 million
Boise State University	Broncos	Boise, Idaho	Public	21,179	2011	$72.5 million	$18.7 million
Colorado State University	Rams	Fort Collins, Colorado	Public	24,875	1999	$225.4 million	$302.9 million
Fresno State !California State University, Fresno (Fresno State)	Bulldogs	Fresno, California	Public	25,613	2012 [14]	$129.4 million	$8.7 million
Nevada !University of Nevada, Reno (Nevada)	Wolf Pack	Reno, Nevada	Public	18,004	2012 [15]	$238.2 million	$95.4 million
Unlv !University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV)	Rebels	Las Vegas, Nevada	Public	29,069	1999	$177.7 million	$44.5 million
New Mexico !University of New Mexico	Lobos	Albuquerque, New Mexico	Public	34,674	1999	$343.3 million	$211.8 million
San Diego State University	Aztecs	San Diego, California	Public	33,790	1999	$136.4 million	$99.1 million
Wyoming !University of Wyoming	Cowboys (men's) Cowgirls (women's)	Laramie, Wyoming	Public	12,496	1999	$358.5 million	$55.3 million
Football-Only Member
Institution	Nickname	Location	Type	Enrollment	Joined	Endowment[12]	Research[13]
Hawaii !University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (Hawaiʻi)	Rainbow Warriors (men's) Rainbow Wahine (women's)	Honolulu, Hawaii	Public	20,135	2012	$212 million	$303.1 million

Future Members [edit]

Full Members
Institution	Nickname	Location	Type	Enrollment	Joining	Endowment[12]	Research[13]
San Jose State University	Spartans	San Jose, California	Public	33,805	2013	$74.8 million	$38.2 million
Utah State University	Aggies	Logan, Utah	Public	28,994	2013	$209.2 million	$149.2 million

Former members [edit]

Institution	Nickname	Location	Type	Enrollment	Joined	Left	Current Conference	Endowment[12]	Research[13]
Brigham Young University	Cougars	Provo, Utah	Private	33,000	1999	2011	WCC (olympic sports) NCAA D-I Independent (football only)	N/A	$33.0 million
Texas Christian University	Horned Frogs	Fort Worth, Texas	Private	8,696	2005	2012	Big 12	$1.2 billion	$5.3 million
University of Utah	Utes	Salt Lake City, Utah	Public	28,211	1999	2011	Pac-12	$670.4 million	$379.2 million

Membership timeline [edit]

Full members Other Conference Associate members (football only)

Football Divisions [edit]

Beginning in 2013, the conference will split into two divisions of six teams for football. The Mountain West will also add a conference championship game pitting the winners of the Mountain and West divisions. This first championship game will take place December 7, 2013 at the home stadium of the divisional winner with the highest BCS ranking.^[16] Each team will play five divisional games and three cross-divisional contests annually.^[17]

Mountain Division	West Division
Air Force	Fresno State
Boise State	Hawaii
Colorado State	Nevada
New Mexico	San Diego State
Utah State	San Jose State
Wyoming	UNLV

Sports [edit]

The Mountain West Conference sponsors championship competition in eight men's and ten women's NCAA sanctioned sports.^[18] Hawai'i is an Associate member for football.

Men's Sports [edit]

Member	Baseball	Basketball	Cross Country	Football	Golf	Tennis	Indoor Track & Field	Outdoor Track & Field	Total
Air Force	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	8
Boise State	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	7
Colorado State	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	6
Fresno State	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	8
Nevada	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	N	N	5
UNLV	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	N	N	5
New Mexico	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	8
San Diego State	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	N	N	5
San Jose State	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	N	N	5
Utah State	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	7
Wyoming	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	6
Hawaii	N	N	N	Y	N	N	N	N	1
Total	7	11	8	12	11	8	7	7

Men's varsity sports not sponsored by the Mountain West Conference which are played by current and future full MW members:

School	Fencing[a 1]	Gymnastics	Ice hockey	Lacrosse	Rifle[a 2]	Skiing[a 3]	Soccer	Swimming & diving	Water polo	Wrestling
Air Force	Independent	MPSF	Atlantic Hockey	ECAC	Independent	No	MPSF	MPSF	WWPA	WWC
Boise State	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Pac-12
Nevada	No	No	No	No	Independent	No	No	No	No	No
New Mexico	No	No	No	No	No	RMISA	C-USA[a 4]	No	No	No
San Diego State	No	No	No	No	No	No	Pac-12	No	No	No
San Jose State	No	No	No	No	No	No	MPSF	No	No	No
UNLV	No	No	No	No	No	No	MPSF	MPSF	No	No
Wyoming	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	MPSF	No	WWC

Women's Sports [edit]

Member	Basketball	Cross Country	Golf	Soccer	Softball	Swimming & Diving	Tennis	Indoor Track & Field	Outdoor Track & Field	Volleyball	Total
Air Force	Y	Y	N	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	8
Boise State	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
Colorado State	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	9
Fresno State	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
Nevada	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
UNLV	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
New Mexico	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
San Diego State	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
San Jose State	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	N	Y	8
Utah State	Y	N	N	Y	Y	N	Y	N	N	Y	5
Wyoming	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	9
Total	11	10	9	10	9	10	11	9	9	11

Women's varsity sports not sponsored by the Mountain West Conference which are played by current and future full MW members:

School	Equestrian	Fencing[b 1]	Gymnastics	Lacrosse	Rifle[b 2]	Rowing	Skiing[b 3]	Water polo
Air Force	No	Independent	MPSF	No	Independent	No	No	No
Boise State	No	No	WAC	No	No	No	No	No
Colorado State	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	WWPA
Fresno State	Independent	No	No	MPSF	No	No	No	No
Nevada	No	No	No	No	Independent	No	No	No
New Mexico	No	No	No	No	No	No	RMISA	No
San Diego State	No	No	No	MPSF	No	WIRA[b 4]	No	Big West
San Jose State	No	No	WAC	No	No	No	No	MPSF
Utah State	No	No	WAC	No	No	No	No	No

Since the 2009-10 season, the Mountain West and Missouri Valley Conferences have held an annual challenge series between all members of the MW and an equal number of the 10 MVC teams in basketball. The first game was on November 13, 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.^[19]

Conference champions [edit]

Football Rivalries [edit]

Conference [edit]

Schools		First Meeting	Game	Trophy	Winner (Last Meeting)	All-time Record
Air Force	Colorado State	1980		Ram-Falcon Trophy	Air Force	Air Force leads 27-19-1
Boise State	Fresno State	1977	Battle of the Milk Can	Milk Can	Boise State	Boise State leads 10–4
Boise State	Nevada	1971	Boise State – Nevada rivalry		Boise State	Boise State leads 25-13
Colorado State	Wyoming	1899	Border War	Bronze Boot	Wyoming	Colorado State leads 55-43-5
Fresno State	Hawaiʻi	1970	Battle for the Screwdriver	Golden Screwdriver	Fresno State	Hawaiʻi leads 16-9-1
Fresno State	San Diego State	1923	Battle for the Oil Can	Oil Can	Fresno State	San Diego State leads 27-21-4
Hawaiʻi	Wyoming	1979		Paniolo Trophy	Wyoming	Wyoming leads 12-8
Nevada	UNLV	1969	Battle for Nevada	The Fremont Cannon	Nevada	Nevada leads 23-15
Hawaiʻi	Air Force	1966		Kuter Trophy	Air Force	Air Force leads 12-6-1

Future Conference Rivalry Games [edit]

Schools		First Meeting	Game	Trophy	Winner (Last Meeting)	All-time Record
Fresno State	San Jose State	1921	Valley Rivalry		San Jose State (2011)	Fresno State leads 39-34-3
San Diego State	San Jose State	1935	El Camino Real Rivalry		San Jose State (2012)	San Jose State leads 19-15-2
Utah State	Wyoming	1903			Utah State (2011)	Utah State leads 35-24-4

Non-conference (including other sports) [edit]

Schools		First Meeting	Game	Trophy	Reigning Champion (Last Meeting)	Next Meeting
Air Force / Army / Navy		1972		Commander-in-Chief's Trophy	Navy (2012)	2013
Boise State	Idaho	1971	Battle of Idaho	Governor's Cup	Boise State (2010)
Colorado State	Colorado	1893	Rocky Mountain Showdown	Centennial Cup	Colorado State (2012)	2013
New Mexico	New Mexico State	1894	Battle of Interstate 25	Rio Grande Rivalry	New Mexico (2012)	2013
New Mexico	Arizona	1908		Kit Carson Rifle	New Mexico (2008)
New Mexico	UTEP	1919	Rio Grande Championship		UTEP (2010)	2013
Fresno State	Louisiana Tech	2001	Battle for the Bone		Louisiana Tech (2011)
Hawaii	BYU	1930			BYU (2012)
San Diego State	BYU	1947			BYU (2012)

Future non-conference (including other sports) [edit]

Schools		First Meeting	Game	Trophy	Reigning Champion (Last Meeting)	Next Meeting
San Jose State	Stanford	1900	Bill Walsh Legacy Game		Stanford (2012)	2013
Utah State	BYU	1922	Battle for The Old Wagon Wheel	The Old Wagon Wheel	BYU (2012)	2013
Utah State	Utah	1892	Battle of the Brothers		Utah State (2012)	2013
Utah State / Utah / BYU		1971		Beehive Boot	Utah State (2012)	2013

Postseason records [edit]

Football Bowl Games [edit]

School Appearances W L T Win % BCS National Championships Fresno State 21 10 11 0 .476 0-0 0 Air Force 19 9 9 1 .500 0-0 0 Boise State 13 9 4 0 .667 2-0 2 - 1958 (NJCAA), 1980 (NCAA Division I-AA[20]) Wyoming 12 6 6 0 .500 0-0 0 Colorado State 12 4 8 0 .333 0-0 0 Nevada 12 4 8 0 .333 0-0 0 New Mexico 11 3 7 1 .318 0-0 0 Hawaii 10 5 5 0 .500 0-1 0 San Jose State 9 6 3 0 .667 0-0 0 San Diego State 8 2 6 0 .250 0-0 3 - 1966-1968 (NCAA College Division[21]) Utah State 8 2 6 0 .250 0-0 0 UNLV 3 3 0 0 1.000 0-0 0

Men's NCAA Basketball Tournament [edit] School Appearances W L Win % Wins Per Appearance National Championships Utah State 20 6 22 .214 0.300 0 UNLV 19 33 18 .647 1.737 1 (1990) Wyoming 14 9 19 .321 0.643 1 (1943) New Mexico 12 7 13 .350 0.545 0 Colorado State 8 3 9 .250 0.375 0 San Diego State 7 2 7 .222 0.143 0 Nevada 6 4 6 .400 0.667 0 Fresno State 5 2 5 .286 0.400 0 Boise State 5 0 5 .000 0.000 0 Air Force 4 0 4 .000 0.000 0 San Jose State 3 0 3 .000 0.000 0

Women's NCAA Basketball Tournament [edit] School Appearances W L Win % Wins Per Appearance National Championships New Mexico 8 3 8 .273 0.375 0 UNLV 8 3 8 .273 0.375 0 San Diego State 7 4 7 .364 0.571 0 Fresno State 6 0 6 .000 0.000 0 Colorado State 5 5 5 .500 1.000 0 Boise State 2 0 2 .000 0.000 0 Wyoming 1 0 1 .000 0.000 0 Air Force 0 0 0 .000 0.000 0 Nevada 0 0 0 .000 0.000 0 San Jose State 0 0 0 .000 0.000 0 Utah State 0 0 0 .000 0.000 0

Future members in gray. Departing members in pink.

Bowl games [edit]

The Mountain West Conference will have agreements with the following bowls for 2012–13:

• The MW champion will receive an automatic berth in one of the five BCS bowl games if they are the highest ranked non-automatic qualifying conference champion and either of the following:
  • Ranked in the top 12 of the BCS Rankings. (Utah qualified under this criterion in 2004-05 and 2008–09, and TCU in 2009-10 and 2010–11.)
  • Ranked in the top 16 of the BCS Rankings and its ranking is higher than that of an automatic qualifying conference champion.

Pick	Name	Location	Opposing Conference	Opposing Pick
1	Maaco Bowl Las Vegas	Las Vegas, Nevada	Pac-12	5
2	Poinsettia Bowl	San Diego, California	BYU (2012), Army (2013)	–
3	Armed Forces Bowl	Fort Worth, Texas	C-USA (2012), Navy (2013)	3, –
4	New Mexico Bowl	Albuquerque, New Mexico	Pac-12	7
5	Hawai'i Bowl	Honolulu, Hawaii	C-USA	2
6	Famous Idaho Potato Bowl	Boise, Idaho	MAC	3

If Hawai‘i is bowl eligible and not MW champions or selected for a BCS bowl, they will receive a berth in the Hawai‘i Bowl.

Bowl Challenge Cup [edit]

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 four times, more than any other. They finished 4-1 in bowl games in 2011, the best record out of all conferences.^[22]

Facilities [edit]

School	Football Stadium	Capacity	Basketball Arena	Capacity	Baseball Stadium	Capacity
Air Force	Falcon Stadium	52,480	Clune Arena	5,858	Falcon Baseball Field	1,000
Boise State	Bronco Stadium	37,000	Taco Bell Arena	12,480	Non-baseball school
Colorado State	Hughes Stadium	34,400	Moby Arena	8,745	Non-baseball school
Fresno State	Bulldog Stadium	41,031	Save Mart Center	15,544	Pete Beiden Field	5,422
Hawaiʻi	Aloha Stadium	50,000	Football-only member
Nevada	Mackay Stadium	29,993	Lawlor Events Center	11,784	William Peccole Park	3,000
New Mexico	University Stadium	40,094	The Pit	15,411	Isotopes Park	12,215
San Diego State	Qualcomm Stadium	71,400	Viejas Arena	12,414	Tony Gwynn Stadium	3,000
San Jose State	Spartan Stadium	30,456	Event Center Arena	5,000	San Jose Municipal Stadium	4,200
UNLV	Sam Boyd Stadium	36,800	Thomas & Mack Center (men) Cox Pavilion (women)	18,776 2,500	Earl Wilson Stadium	3,000
Utah State	Romney Stadium	25,513	Dee Glen Smith Spectrum	10,270	Non-baseball school
Wyoming	War Memorial Stadium	30,514	Arena-Auditorium	15,028	Non-baseball school

Note: Future members in grey.

Elevation [edit]

The Mountain West's slogan is "Above the rest," and over half of the member institutions are at more than 4,000 feet (1,200 metres) above sea level. This impacts endurance in sports like football, soccer, and the distance races in track & field and swimming meets, 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.

Campus elevations [edit]

School	Elevation	Notes
Air Force Academy	7,258 ft.	Falcon Stadium is at 6,640 ft.
Wyoming	7,198 ft.	War Memorial Stadium is at 7,220 ft.
New Mexico	5,174 ft.
Colorado State	5,007 ft.
Utah State	4,777 ft.	Joins the MW in 2013
Nevada	4,564 ft.
Boise State	2,697 ft.
UNLV	2,024 ft.	Sam Boyd Stadium is at 1,600 ft.
San Diego State	433 ft.
Fresno State	338 ft.
Hawai'i	105 ft.	football only
San Jose State	85 ft.	Joins the MW in 2013
Conference average	3,790 ft. 3,543 ft.	(2012) 3,421 ft. including Hawai'i (2013) 3,256 ft. including Hawai'i

Elevation by conference [edit]

Conference	Average campus elevation
Mountain West	3,790 ft. – 3,421 ft. including Hawai'i (2012) 3,543 ft. – 3,256 ft. including Hawai'i (2013)
Big Sky	2,968 ft.
WAC	1,967 ft.
Summit League	1,295 ft.
Pac 12	1,205 ft.

Elevation data obtained from the USGS Geographic Names Information System

References [edit]

External links [edit]

• Official website

v t e Mountain West Conference Mountain Division Air Force Falcons Boise State Broncos Colorado State Rams New Mexico Lobos Utah State Aggies Wyoming Cowboys/Cowgirls West Division Fresno State Bulldogs Hawaiʻi Rainbow Warriors* Nevada Wolf Pack San Diego State Aztecs San Jose State Spartans UNLV Rebels Former members BYU Cougars TCU Horned Frogs Utah Utes Championships & Awards List of Mountain West Conference champions *Football-only member

v t e NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision conferences BCS Automatic Qualifier Atlantic Coast Conference Big 12 Conference Big East Conference (American Athletic Conference in 2013) Big Ten Conference Pacific-12 Conference Southeastern Conference Non-Automatic Qualifier Conference USA Mid-American Conference Mountain West Conference Sun Belt Conference Western Athletic Conference (dropping football after 2012) Independents