Mountain West Conference

"Mountain West" redirects here. For the geographic region of the United States, see Mountain States.

Mountain West Conference (MW)
Established	1999
Association	NCAA
Division	Division I FBS
Members	8 (9 full, 1 affiliate in 2012)
Sports fielded	18 (men's: 8; women's: 10)
Region	Western & Southern (TCU) 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 MWC 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, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, and Wyoming, and has announced expansion into Hawaii in 2012. The conference introduced a new logo for the 2011 season to reflect on 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.

History

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. After three football seasons, most of the pre-expansion members decided that the new WAC was oversized, and departed to form the Mountain West Conference. The MWC added a ninth team in 2005: TCU, also a former WAC and SWC member, which joined after four seasons in Conference USA.

See also: 2010–11 NCAA conference realignment: MWC

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.

In recent years, the Mountain West has been very successful in football. The MWC's 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.

On October 14, 2011 the Mountain West & Conference USA announced a football only alliance forming a 22 team league. ^[6]

Members

Current members

Institution	Nickname	Location	Type	Enrollment	Year Joined	Endowment	Research[7]
United States Air Force Academy	Falcons	Colorado Springs, Colorado	Public	4,417	1998	$24 million	$44.3 million
Boise State University	Broncos	Boise, Idaho	Public	21,179	2011	$61 million	$11.2 million
Colorado State University	Rams	Fort Collins, Colorado	Public	24,875	1998	$398 million	$295.3 million
University of Nevada, Las Vegas	Rebels	Las Vegas, Nevada	Public	29,069	1998	$114 million	$50.8 million
University of New Mexico	Lobos	Albuquerque, New Mexico	Public	34,674	1998	$279 million	$197.6 million
San Diego State University	Aztecs	San Diego, California	Public	33,790	1998	$109 million	$70.0 million
Texas Christian University	Horned Frogs	Fort Worth, Texas	Private	8,696	2005	$1,100 million	$3.6 million
University of Wyoming	Cowboys	Laramie, Wyoming	Public	12,496	1998	$220 million	$74.7 million

TCU will leave the conference in 2012 to become a member of the Big 12 Conference. This will leave the Mountain West without any private schools.

Future members

Former members

Institution	Nickname	Location	Type	Enrollment	Year Joins	Endowment	Research[7]
California State University, Fresno	Bulldogs	Fresno, California	Public	25,613	2012 [8]	$91 million	$8.0 million
University of Nevada, Reno	Wolf Pack	Reno, Nevada	Public	17,679	2012 [9]	$186 million	$102.0 million
Institution	Nickname	Location	Type	Enrollment	'Membership	Endowment	Research[7]
Brigham Young University	Cougars	Provo, Utah	Private	33,000	1999–2011	N/A	$25.6 million
University of Utah	Utes	Salt Lake City, Utah	Public	28,211	1999–2011	$513 million	$253.9 million

Membership timeline

Notes

• Powder Blue bars denote full members.
• Green bars denote football-only members.
• Purple bars denote former members

Sports

Locations of Mountain West Conference members in 2012.

The MW sponsors championships in baseball, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's cross country, football, men's and women's golf, women's soccer, softball, women's swimming and diving, men's and women's tennis, men's and women's indoor and outdoor track, and women's volleyball. Many of its member schools participate in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation for sports not sponsored by the Mountain West Conference. Two MW members have affiliate memberships with the Pacific-12 Conference - San Diego State for men's soccer and Boise State for wrestling.

Since the 2009-10 season, the Mountain West and Missouri Valley Conferences have held an annual challenge series between all members of the MWC 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.^[10]

Television network

See article MountainWest Sports Network

Conference championships

Men's championship winners

See also: Mountain West Conference Baseball Tournament and Mountain West Conference Men's Basketball Tournament

	Football	Men's Basketball	Baseball	Cross Country	Golf	Swimming & Diving	Tennis	Track & Field (Outdoors)	Indoor Track
1999-2000	BYU CSU Utah	Regular Season UNLV/Utah Tournament UNLV	Regular Season New Mexico Tournament SDSU	BYU	UNLV	BYU	Regular Season SDSU Tournament New Mexico	BYU	BYU
2000-2001	CSU	Regular Season BYU/Utah/Wyoming Tournament BYU	Regular Season and Tournament BYU	BYU	BYU	BYU	Regular Season SDSU Tournament BYU	BYU	BYU
2001-2002	BYU	Regular Season Wyoming Tournament SDSU	Regular Season SDSU Tournament BYU	BYU	UNLV	BYU	Regular Season and Tournament SDSU	BYU	CSU
2002-2003	CSU	Regular Season BYU/Utah Tournament CSU	Regular Season and Tournament UNLV	BYU	New Mexico	BYU	Regular Season and Tournament SDSU	BYU	BYU
2003-2004	Utah	Regular Season Air Force Tournament Utah	Regular Season SDSU Tournament UNLV	Air Force	New Mexico	BYU	Regular Season and Tournament New Mexico	BYU	BYU
2004-2005	Utah	Regular Season Utah Tournament New Mexico	Regular Season and Tournament UNLV	BYU	New Mexico	UNLV	Regular Season and Tournament SDSU	BYU	BYU
2005-2006	TCU	Regular Season and Tournament SDSU	Regular Season and Tournament TCU	BYU	New Mexico	UNLV	Regular Season SDSU Tournament TCU	BYU	BYU
2006-2007	BYU	Regular Season BYU Tournament UNLV	Regular Season and Tournament TCU	BYU	BYU	UNLV BYU	Regular Season SDSU Tournament UNLV	BYU	BYU
2007-2008	BYU	Regular Season BYU Tournament UNLV	Regular Season and Tournament TCU	BYU	CSU	Regular Season BYU Tournament UNLV	Regular Season New Mexico/TCU/Utah Tournament TCU	BYU	BYU
2008-2009	Utah	Regular Season BYU/Utah/New Mexico Tournament Utah	Regular Season TCU Tournament Utah	BYU	TCU	Regular Season and Tournament UNLV	Regular Season TCU Tournament New Mexico	BYU	BYU
2009-2010	TCU	Regular Season New Mexico Tournament SDSU	Regular Season and Tournament TCU	New Mexico	CSU	Regular Season TCU Tournament UNLV	Regular Season BYU Tournament TCU	BYU	BYU
2010-2011	TCU	Regular Season BYU/SDSU Tournament SDSU	Regular Season TCU Tournament New Mexico	New Mexico	SDSU	Regular Season and Tournament UNLV	Regular Season and Tournament BYU	BYU	BYU

Source:^[11]

Women's championship winners

	Women's Basketball	Softball	Soccer	Volleyball	Cross Country	Golf	Swimming & Diving	Tennis	Track & Field (Outdoors)	Indoor Track
1999-2000	Regular Season and Tournament Utah	Regular Season and Tournament Utah	Regular Season SDSU Tournament BYU	Regular Season BYU Tournament CSU	BYU	New Mexico	BYU	Regular Season SDSU Tournament UNLV	BYU	BYU
2000-2001	Regular Season Utah Tournament CSU	Regular Season and Tournament BYU	Regular Season and Tournament BYU	Regular Season CSU Tournament BYU	BYU	New Mexico	BYU	Regular Season and Tournament BYU	BYU	BYU
2001-2002	Regular Season CSU Tournament BYU	Regular Season SDSU Tournament Utah	Regular Season and Tournament BYU	Regular Season CSU Tournament Utah	BYU	New Mexico	BYU	Regular Season SDSU Tournament UNLV	BYU	BYU
2002-2003	Regular Season Utah Tournament New Mexico	Regular Season SDSU Tournament CSU	Regular Season and Tournament BYU	Regular Season CSU Tournament Utah	BYU	New Mexico	BYU	Regular Season UNLV Tournament SDSU	BYU	BYU
2003-2004	Regular Season Utah Tournament New Mexico	Regular Season CSU Tournament Utah	Regular Season Utah Tournament BYU	Regular Season and Tournament CSU	BYU	UNLV	BYU	Regular Season New Mexico Tournament BYU	BYU	BYU
2004-2005	Regular Season and Tournament New Mexico	Regular Season and Tournament BYU	Regular Season UNLV Tournament Utah	Regular Season and Tournament CSU	BYU	UNLV	UNLV	Regular Season and Tournament BYU	BYU	BYU
2005-2006	Regular Season BYU Tournament Utah	Regular Season SDSU Tournament Utah	Regular Season Utah Tournament UNLV	Regular Season BYU Tournament Utah	BYU	UNLV	Utah	Regular Season and Tournament TCU	BYU	CSU
2006-2007	Regular Season BYU Tournament New Mexico	BYU	Regular Season Utah Tournament UNLV	Regular Season Utah Tournament CSU	BYU	TCU	Regular Season Utah Tournament BYU	Regular Season BYU and TCU Tournament BYU	BYU	BYU
2007-2008	Regular Season Utah Tournament New Mexico	SDSU	Regular Season UNLV Tournament BYU	Regular Season CSU Tournament UNLV	CSU	New Mexico	Regular Season and Tournament BYU	Regular Season TCU Tournament UNLV	CSU	TCU
2008-2009	Regular Season Utah/SDSU Tournament Utah	BYU	Regular Season and Tournament BYU	Utah	New Mexico	New Mexico	Regular Season and Tournament BYU	Regular Season UNLV Tournament TCU	BYU	BYU
2009-2010	Regular Season TCU Tournament SDSU	BYU	Regular Season BYU Tournament SDSU	CSU	New Mexico	New Mexico	Regular Season and Tournament BYU	Regular Season Utah Tournament TCU	BYU	BYU
2010-2011	Regular Season BYU Tournament Utah	BYU	Regular Season New Mexico Tournament BYU	CSU	New Mexico	TCU	Regular Season and Tournament SDSU	Regular Season UNLV Tournament Utah	BYU	BYU
2011-2012	Regular Season Tournament	Regular Season Tournament	Regular Season and Tournament	Regular Season Tournament

Football Rivalries

Conference

Schools		First Meeting	Game	Trophy	Winner (Last Meeting)	All-time Record
Colorado State	Wyoming	1899	Border War	Bronze Boot	Wyoming	Colorado State leads 55-41-5
Air Force	Colorado State	1980		Ram-Falcon Trophy	Air Force	Air Force leads 27-19-1

Future Conference Rivalry Games

Schools		First Meeting	Game	Trophy	Winner (Last Meeting)	All-time Record
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
Fresno State	Hawaiʻi	1970	Battle of the Screwdriver	Golden Screwdriver	Hawaiʻi	Hawaiʻi leads 16-9-1
Fresno State	San Diego State	1923			Fresno State	San Diego State leads 26-20-4
Hawaiʻi	Wyoming	1979		Paniolo Trophy	Wyoming	Wyoming leads 12-8
Nevada	UNLV	1969	Battle for Nevada	The Fremont Cannon	Nevada	Nevada leads 21-15
Boise State	Wyoming	1969	Battle of the Bronco vs Cowboy	The Horse Shoe	Boise State	Boise State leads 3-0

Non-conference (including other sports)

Schools		First Meeting	Game	Trophy	Reigning Champion (Last Meeting)	Next Meeting
Air Force / Army / Navy		1972		Commander-in-Chief's Trophy	Air Force (2011)	2012
Boise State	Idaho	1971	Battle of Idaho	Governor's Cup	Boise State (2010)
Colorado State	Colorado	1893	Rocky Mountain Showdown	Centennial Cup	Colorado (2011)	2012
New Mexico	New Mexico State	1894	Battle of Interstate 25	Rio Grande Rivalry	New Mexico State (2010)	2011
New Mexico	Arizona	1908		Kit Carson Rifle	New Mexico (2008)
New Mexico	UTEP	1919	Rio Grande Championship		UTEP (2010)	2012
TCU	SMU	1915	Battle for the Iron Skillet	The Iron Skillet	SMU (2011)	2012
San Diego State	San Jose State	1935			San Jose State (2008)	2012

Future non-conference (including other sports)

Schools		First Meeting	Game	Trophy	Reigning Champion (Last Meeting)	Next Meeting
Fresno State	Louisiana Tech	2001	Battle for the Bone		Louisiana Tech (2011)
Fresno State	San Jose State	1921	Valley Rivalry		Fresno State (2010)	2011
Hawaii	BYU	1930			BYU (2002)	2011

Postseason records

Football Bowl Games School W L T Winning Percentage BCS National Championships Boise State 7 4 0 .636 2-0 (1980 FCS (then I-AA)) TCU 12 14 1 .461 1-1 2 (1935, 1938) Fresno State 10 10 0 .500 0-0 0 Air Force 9 9 1 .500 0-0 0 Wyoming 6 6 0 .500 0-0 0 Hawaii 5 5 0 .500 0-1 0 Colorado State 4 8 0 .333 0-0 0 UNLV 3 0 0 1.000 0-0 0 San Diego State 5 4 0 .535 0-0 3 (1966, 1967, 1968 Division 2) Nevada 4 7 0 .363 0-0 0 New Mexico 3 7 1 .318 0-0 0

Men's NCAA Basketball Tournament School Appearances W L Wins Per Appearance National Championships UNLV 17 33 17 2.0625 1 (1990) Wyoming 14 9 19 .643 1 (1943) New Mexico 12 7 13 .545 0 TCU 7 5 7 .714 0 Colorado State 8 3 9 .375 0 Nevada 6 4 6 .667 0 Fresno State 5 2 5 .400 0 San Diego State 7 2 7 .143 0 Boise State 5 0 5 .000 0 Air Force 4 0 4 .000 0

Women's NCAA Basketball Tournament
School	Appearances	W	L	Wins Per Appearance	National Championships
San Diego State	7	4	7	.364	0
New Mexico	8	3	8	.375	0
Colorado State	5	5	5	.500	0
TCU	8	5	8	.385	0
Boise State	2	0	2	.000	0
Fresno State	4	0	4	.000	0
UNLV	8	3	8	.273	0
Wyoming	1	0	1	.000	0
Air Force	0	0	0	.000	0
Nevada	0	0	0	.000	0

Future members in gray. Departing members in pink.

Bowl games

The Mountain West Conference will have agreements with the following bowls for 2010-17:

• The MWC 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 2007–08, and TCU in 2008-09 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.

• Maaco Bowl Las Vegas: Las Vegas, Nevada (MWC #1 pick against Pac-10 #5 pick)

• Poinsettia Bowl: San Diego, California (MWC #2 pick against WAC#1/2/3 pick (2011 & 2012) and Army (2013), with the WAC providing contingency selections in 2010 & 2013)

• Independence Bowl: Shreveport, Louisiana (MWC #3 pick against ACC #7 pick)

• Armed Forces Bowl: Fort Worth, Texas (MWC #4/5 pick against C-USA pick, also has preference for service academies)

• New Mexico Bowl: Albuquerque, New Mexico (MWC #4/5 pick against WAC #1/2/3 pick)

[1]

Bowl Challenge Cup

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.^[12]

Bowl Challenge Cup Champions Bowl Season Conference Record % 2002–03 Big Ten 5–2[13] 0.714 2003–04 ACC 5–1[14] 0.833 2004–05 Mountain West 2–1[14] 0.667 2005–06 Big 12 and ACC (Tied) 5–3[14] 0.625 2006–07 Big East 5–0[14] 1.000 2007–08 Mountain West 4–1[15] 0.800 2008–09 Pacific 10 5–0[16] 1.000 2009–10 Mountain West 4–1[17] 0.800 2010–11 Mountain West 4–1 0.800

Number of Bowl Challenge Cup Championships Conference Times Most Recent Mountain West 4 2010–11 Atlantic Coast 1½ 2005–06(1) Big Ten 1 2002–03 Big East 1 2006–07 Pacific 10 1 2008–09 Big 12 ½ 2005–06(1) Conference USA 0 Mid-American 0 Southeastern 0 Sun Belt 0 Western Athletic 0

⁽¹⁾ - Tied for 2005-06 championship.

Conference facilities

School	Football Stadium	Capacity	Basketball Arenas	Capacity	Baseball Stadium	Capacity
Air Force	Falcon Stadium	52,480	Clune Arena	5,939	Falcon Baseball Field	1,000
Boise State	Bronco Stadium	34,000	Taco Bell Arena	12,820	No baseball team
Colorado State	Hughes Stadium	34,400	Moby Arena	8,745	No baseball team
Fresno State	Bulldog Stadium	41,031	Save Mart Center	15,544	Pete Beiden Field	5,422
Hawaiʻi	Aloha Stadium	50,000	Football Member Only
Nevada	Mackay Stadium	29,993	Lawlor Events Center	11,784	William Peccole Park	3,000
New Mexico	University Stadium	40,094	The Pit	17,126	Isotopes Park	12,215
San Diego State	Qualcomm Stadium	71,400	Viejas Arena	12,414	Tony Gwynn Stadium	3,000
TCU	Amon G. Carter Stadium	44,358	Daniel–Meyer Coliseum	7,200	Lupton Stadium	3,500
UNLV	Sam Boyd Stadium	36,800	Thomas & Mack Center (men) Cox Pavilion (women)	18,776 2,500	Earl Wilson Stadium	3,000
Wyoming	War Memorial Stadium	30,514	Arena-Auditorium	15,028	No baseball team

Future members in grey. Members leaving in pink.

Elevation

The Mountain West's slogan is "Above the rest," and over half of the member institutions are at more than 4,000 feet above sea level (although the average elevation will drop to 3,822 feet in 2011-12 and 3,473 feet in 2012-13). This impacts endurance in sports like football, soccer, and the distance races in track & field and swimming meets, and aerodynamics in baseball, softball, golf, and the discus and javelin throws. The Mountain West's institutions have one of the highest average elevations in NCAA Division I sports.

Campus elevations

School	Elevation	Notes
Air Force Academy	7,258 ft.	Falcon Stadium is at 6,600 ft.
Wyoming	7,165 ft.	War Memorial Stadium is at 7,220 ft.
New Mexico	5,312 ft.
Colorado State	5,003 ft.
Nevada	4,505 ft.	Joins the MWC in 2012
Boise State	2,730 ft.
UNLV	2,057 ft.	Sam Boyd Stadium is at 1,600 ft.
TCU	653 ft.	Leaves the MWC in 2012
SDSU	400 ft.	Qualcomm Stadium is at 100 ft.
Fresno State	296 ft.	Joins the MWC in 2012
Hawaiʻi	10 ft.	Joins the MWC in 2012
Conference average	3,822 ft. 3,473 ft.	(2011) (2012)

Elevation by conference

Conference	Average campus elevation
Mountain West	3,822 feet (2011), 3,473 feet (2012)
Big Sky	3,495 feet
WAC	2,095 feet
The Summit	1,295 feet
Pac 12	1,205 feet

References

1. ^ http://espn.go.com/blog/ncfnation/post/_/id/24908/utah-state-turned-down-invite-to-mwc
2. ^ http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=5517305
3. ^ http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/40416658/ns/sports-college_football/
4. ^ "TCU Accepts Invitation To Join Big 12 Conference". TCU Athletic Department. October 10, 2011. http://gofrogs.cstv.com/genrel/101011aad.html. 
5. ^ http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/40611296/ns/sports-college_football/
6. ^ http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/7102822/mountain-west-conference-usa-announce-football-only-alliance/
7. ^ ^{a b c} http://mup.asu.edu/research_data.html
8. ^ http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=5735144
9. ^ http://www.themwc.com/genrel/081810aac.html
10. ^ "Missouri Valley, MWC to start basketball series". Las Vegas Review-Journal. January 15, 2009. http://www.lvrj.com/sports/37627364.html. Retrieved January 16, 2009. 
11. ^ Mountain West Conference Championships
12. ^ http://www.ncaa.com/news/football/2011-01-11/auburn%E2%80%99s-climb-unprecedented
13. ^ Bowl Challenge Cup 2002-03
14. ^ ^{a b c d} 2007 Bowl Challenge Cup standings
15. ^ Mountain West Posts Top Bowl Win Percentage Among FBS Subdivision Conferences
16. ^ 2008 Bowl Challenge Cup Standings
17. ^ 2009-2010 Conference Bowl Wins

External links

• Official website