Mountain West Conference

Colorado State University playing football against the United States Air Force Academy

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 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.

Current members

Eleven schools are "full members", meaning that they play almost all of their sports in the MW.

School	Location	Type	Joined MW	Nickname
Air Force United States Air Force Academy (Air Force)	Colorado Springs, Colorado	Federal	1999	Falcons
Boise State University	Boise, Idaho	Public	2011	Broncos
Fresno State California State University, Fresno (Fresno State)	Fresno, California	Public	2012	Bulldogs
Colorado State University	Fort Collins, Colorado	Public	1999	Rams
Nevada University of Nevada, Reno (Nevada)	Reno, Nevada	Public	2012	Wolf Pack
New Mexico University of New Mexico	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 University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV)	Las Vegas, Nevada	Public	1999	Rebels
Utah State University	Logan, Utah	Public	2013	Aggies
Wyoming University of Wyoming	Laramie, Wyoming	Public	1999	Cowboys & Cowgirls

Associate members

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

School	Location	Type	Joined MW	MW Sport	Nickname	Main Conference
Hawaii University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (Hawaiʻi)	Honolulu, Hawaii	Public	2012	Football	Rainbow Warriors	Big West Conference
Colorado College	Colorado Springs, Colorado	Private	2014	Women's soccer	Tigers	Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (NCAA Division III)

Former members

Two of the MW's first members, plus one school that joined later, are no longer in the conference.

School	Location	Type	Joined MW	Left MW	Nickname	Current Conference
BYU Brigham Young University (BYU)	Provo, Utah	Private	1999	2011	Cougars	West Coast Conference (Big 12 Conference in 2023)
TCU Texas Christian University (TCU)	Fort Worth, Texas	Private	2005	2012	Horned Frogs	Big 12 Conference
Utah University of Utah	Salt Lake City, Utah	Public	1999	2011	Utes	Pacific-12 Conference

Mountain West Conference Media

• 

  Craig Thompson was hired as the inaugural commissioner of the Mountain West on October 15, 1998, and served until his retirement on December 31, 2022. Before joining the MW, he had been commissioner of the Sun Belt Conference.

References

• "Mountain West Conference". themw.com. Retrieved 2014-07-03.