Mountain West Expansion Slows

Mountain West Conference Expansion Not Happening; Sorry, Utah State And San Jose State

With reports coming out that the Mountain West Conference was considering adding Utah State and San Jose State at some point this week, the conference released a statement Tuesday announcing it’ll stand pat for now.

Though the MWC is losing TCU, Utah, and BYU, they’re gaining Boise State, Fresno State, Nevada, and Hawaii. With 10 teams on board, they won’t be able to hold a football championship game, which would’ve been the conference’s only real reason for adding Utah State or San Jose State. In the past they’ve even considered North Texas as a potential filler school.

Over the past two days, the Board of Directors has engaged in a very thorough discussion of several key topics pertinent to the future of the Mountain West Conference. This has included, but not been limited to, issues related to television, the Bowl Championship Series and membership.

The Board feels strongly the membership configuration already established going forward creates outstanding prospects for future success. In addition, we are continuing with our strategic initiatives related to our television partnerships and the MWC’s efforts to effect change in the BCS structure. The Board is excited about what is undoubtedly a bright future for the Conference.

Whether this offseason’s conference realignment family fun will be as exciting as last year’s remains to be seen, but it sure is starting nice and early.

For more MWC, visit Mountain West Connection.

Utah State, San Jose State Could Join Mountain West Conference Within 24 Hours

The Mountain West Conference may not be done expanding. The conference is reportedly looking to add Utah State and San Jose State to form a 12-team football league. According to Utah State beat writer Tony Jones, this latest expansion move could be made within the next 24 to 48 hours. 

The MWC is currently holding its annual directors' meetings in Las Vegas, and a final decision is expected to be made when Comcast informs the league how much a 12-team league would be valued. One way or the other, that number will swat the Mountain West to either stay put at 10 teams or go to 12, which would include a conference title game.

Puzzled by the MWC's choice of possible new members? That's understandable. Utah State and San Jose State are being considered due to their market shares, a figure that doesn't necessarily convey how competitive they'd be in the MWC. SJSU sits in the sixth-largest media market in America, while USU is being added to keep the Utah market foothold after the exits of Utah and BYU.

The directors' meetings continue through Tuesday in Las Vegas.

Hawaii Football Will Join Mountain West Conference In 2012

In November, reports emerged that Hawaii's football program would move from the Western Athletic Conference to the Mountain West Conference, and on Friday, those reports have been confirmed. From CBS Sports:

The University of Hawaii is joining the Mountain West Conference for football and the Big West in other sports, abandoning the Western Athletic Conference after 32 years.

School President M.R.C. Greenwood said Friday that Hawaii will make the move in 2012, following Boise State, Nevada and Fresno State to the MWC.

As expected, Hawaii's other sports programs will remain in the Western Athletics Conference. Hawaii's football program was the oldest in the WAC.

In 2010, Hawaii finished 24th in the BCS rankings and put together a 10-3 record, including a 7-1 mark within the WAC. The Rainbow Warriors made school history in 2008, when they became the third non-BCS team to appear in a BCS bowl. On December 24th, they'll face Tulsa in the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl.

WAC Considers Inviting North Texas To Join Them; Still Trying To Keep Hawaii

The WAC has learned one thing by the repeated Mountain West raids on its membership: If you’re going to go for new teams, make sure you aim for those in a conference weaker than your own. This dramatically limits the WAC’s options, but it has found one team and one league that fit the bill: North Texas, a member of the woeful Sun Belt. The conference also wants to invite TCU as a football-only member, even though the Horned Frogs have made it clear that this is not an option. Oh, and the WAC is still trying to keep Hawaii football, of course.

The official confirmation of the various Texas-based rumors came in a conference call held by Karl Benson to tell everyone that the WAC is not about to die, which is perhaps the surest sign yet that the WAC is about to die.

“This is a very strong statement that the WAC is prepared to move forward and do whatever it takes to continue our operations.”

As things stand now, the WAC looks likely to lose its status as a Football Bowl Subdivision Conference, but its teams will remain FBS teams. This means they can go to bowls, and what a line-up the WAC is preparing for those who remain.

Regarding the WAC’s bowl tie-ins, Benson said the league has “an understanding” with the Boise-based Humanitarian Bowl for 2013-14. The league has a tie-in with the bowl through the 2012 season. Benson said he envisions a partnership with the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl in San Francisco and the Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego, but likely as secondary partners.

At this point, you have to say that the “Fight Hunger” Bowl is a perfect tie-in for the new Western Athletic (Quasi)Conference.

WAC To Hawaii: Please Don't Go, Girl

In the ongoing telenovela that is the Mountain West expansion/WAC contraction/WAC re-expansion rigamarole, we've now reached the point where all involved parties have acknowledged their adultery, Hawaii is lugging boxes out of the house and deliberately avoiding eye contact, and the WAC has reached the "bargaining" stage of grief: In between sobs, cutting out Hawaii's eyes in all conference group photos, and stress eating, they've offered the Warriors a football-only membership to keep the family together:

Hawaii and the Mountain West acknowledged Thursday night that they are negotiating to have the Warriors join the league as a football-only member.

The WAC's offer to its longest-serving current member came after athletic directors at Idaho, Louisiana Tech, New Mexico State, San Jose State and Utah State voted on a Thursday conference call.

Benson's e-mail also suggests that the Mountain West is still evaluating the impact of adding Hawaii on its television contract and the evaluation could take up to a month.

Our fervent hope, as always, is that this will stretch into the offseason to give us something to write about in March.

Hawaii Reportedly Leaving WAC To Join MWC

While the rest of the world sleeps, Hawaii is on the move, reportedly leaving the WAC and taking its football program to the MWC. The rest of Hawaii's athletic programs would move to the Big West Conference, completely cutting ties with the WAC. The reported move would be the latest in a giant game of small-conference survivor that's been happening quietly over the last few months.

How's the relationship between Hawaii and the WAC? At a press conference tonight, President M.R.C Greenwood told the press of the impending decision before informing the conference.

The deal still has to be finalized by the conference, but Hawaii was confident enough to hold a press conference championing the invitation and announcing they had entered into final talks with the MWC tonight.

This all began when Boise State switched allegiances from the WAC to the MWC during the summer. The WAC tried to pull a fast one when BYU took its football team independent by providing a landing spot for the rest of the Cougars' athletic program. The MWC struck back, raiding Fresno State and Nevada in a counter-move. At the end of the day, BYU shipped its basketball team and the rest of its athletic programs to the WCC, leaving the WAC standing at the scene of an explosion, wondering what happened.

And you thought the Pac-10, Big Ten and Big 12 were ruthless.

The departure of Hawaii all but assures the WAC is finished. Just days after the conference announced the additions of Texas State, University of Texas-San Antonio and Denver, the WAC will once again be scrambling to replace Hawaii. It's looking more and more like the WAC is on its death bed, due in large part to the actions of MWC commissioner Craig Thompson. For now, the MWC becomes the WAC and the WAC becomes some form of a Division I-AA conference.

For those keeping score at home, here's how the football conferences would look in 2012*.

*List subject to change by the minute. The MWC is ruthless.