LAS VEGAS — In the middle of Thursday's Mountain West media day, all 12 of the conference's head football coaches posed with commissioner Gloria Nevarez for a photo that will never be replicated again.
In the summer of 2026, Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State and Utah State are all leaving the Mountain West for a retooled Pac-12 Conference that was reduced to just Oregon State and Washington State in 2024.
As the five schools were being poached away from the Mountain West in the fall of 2024, Nevarez did some retooling of her own, adding five new schools to the conference, including the University of Hawai‘i.
In 2012, Hawai‘i departed the Western Athletic Conference to become a member of the Big West Conference with a football-only affiliation in the Mountain West. Starting on July 1, 2026, the Rainbow Warriors and Rainbow Wahine will be full-time members of the Mountain West, with men's volleyball, swimming and diving, beach volleyball and water polo remaining with the Big West as affiliate members.
Joining UH as new Mountain West members next summer are UTEP, Northern Illinois and UC Davis. UTEP will be a full member, while Northern Illinois joins as a football-only member. UC Davis will join as a full member, with the exception of football. Meanwhile, Grand Canyon, which does not have a football team, is joining a year early and is set to compete in the MW in the fall.
"We're really excited for all of our new members. We've really felt an excitement generating, both in philanthropy, investment, facilities, there's just some real halo effect happening at those campuses since the announcement," Nevarez told Aloha State Daily. "It's very important to us to add schools that matched us in mission, purpose, core values. We already had a deep familiarity with Hawai‘i, [former] president [David] Lassner had been with our league and in our council room, and so it just seemed like a very natural step to invite Hawai‘i as a full member."
The Mountain West and Pac-12 are currently in a legal dispute regarding poaching fees the Mountain West is seeking from the Pac-12. After failing to reach a settlement, the two conferences will meet again in court.
During her address to kick off media days on Wednesday, Nevarez said the Mountain West will pause adding schools for the time being as it negotiates its new media rights deal.
Regardless of who secures those new rights, change is coming Hawai‘i's way.
Hawai‘i's deal with Spectrum Sports, which has been the official television partner for UH sports since 2011, runs through July 31. Any extension of the deal will not go beyond 2026 as the timing aligns with UH joining the Mountain West as a full-time member.
New University of Hawai‘i athletics director Matt Elliott acknowledged to Aloha State Daily that negotiations between UH and Spectrum for a 2025-2026 deal are ongoing and he will comment further once it becomes official.
Spectrum airs at least 60 contests involving UH a year, covering a wide range of sports — the list has involved football, basketball, indoor and beach volleyball, soccer, tennis, baseball, softball and water polo.
The expectation is that when UH joins the Mountain West in 2026, the school's TV rights will have a clean slate.
"Once you become a full member, the conference owns all the rights to the games," Nevarez said. "We try to sell the national package, and then after several steps and selections, any remaining inventory then goes back to the campus. So, there is an expectation that they are part of the greater negotiation.
"Right now, all the sports are included. But as you know, the TV partners really value football number one, and then men's basketball right behind that. And we do have partners interested in picking up other sports and championships in bulk."
As one of the remaining members of the Mountain West, Hawai‘i football head coach Timmy Chang expressed optimism in the school's standing in the conference.
"It's pretty exciting that we get all the other sports in with the Mountain West. It's pretty exciting to know that the rest of the sports are coming to an exciting brand of athletics," Chang said. "The Mountain West has always been extremely, extremely competitive. And so I don't think there's any gonna be any change. It's sad to see the other teams leave, but we get another year with them. And right now, I know all these guys are shooting for one goal, and that's the Mountain West championship this year."
Among the other contingencies in UH becoming a full-time member of the Mountain West is having a new stadium in place by the summer of 2032, though developers have set their sights on 2028.
"Certainly adding a little more paradise to any league is wonderful, and our staff is really excited to go visit and watch some games," Nevarez said. "It's really exciting, the commitment to getting the stadium built, rebuilt, refreshed, whatever the words are, so very excited about that. I get out there at least once a year, previously only for football. So, now I'm going to try to get out there for some other events."
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Christian Shimabuku can be reached at christian@alohastatedaily.com.
