The Mountain West Conference (or MWC), the youngest of the college athletic conferences affiliated with the NCAA’s Division I FBS (I-A), officially began operations in July 1999. Geographically, the MWC covers a broad expanse of the western United States, with member institutions located in California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming. Craig Thompson has served as Commissioner of the MWC since its founding in 1999.

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

The WAC expanded from 10 to 16 universities in 1996, absorbing three teams from the defunct Southwest Conference (Rice, SMU, and TCU), adding two from the 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 the 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 member, joined after four seasons in Conference USA.

A lesser known “Mountain West Athletic Conference” existed from 1982-88, sponsoring championships for women’s sports at Big Sky Conference institutions. The Big Sky absorbed the MWAC in 1988, forming one league for both men’s and women’s competition.

Football Rivalries

Conference

Schools

First

 

 

 

 

Meeting

Game

Trophy

Winner

 

 

(Last Meeting)

 

 

 

 

 

Utah

BYU

1896

The Holy War

Beehive Boot

BYU

Colorado State

Wyoming

1899

Border War

Bronze Boot

Wyoming

Wyoming

BYU

1922

 

 

BYU

New Mexico

Utah

1938

The Bowl

 

New Mexico

Air Force

Colorado State

1980

 

Ram-Falcon Trophy

Air Force

 

Non-Conference

Schools

First

 

 

 

 

 

Meeting

Game

Trophy

Reigning Champion

 

 

 

(Last Meeting)

Next

 

 

 

 

 

Meeting

 

 

 

 

 

 

Air Force

Army & Navy

1972

 

Commander in Chief’s Trophy

Navy (2006)

2007

Utah

Utah State

1892

Battle of the Brothers

Beehive Boot

Utah (2007)

2008

Colorado State

Colorado

1893

Rocky Mountain Showdown

Centennial Cup

Colorado (2007)

2008

New Mexico

New Mexico State

1894

Battle of I-25

Rio Grande Rivalry

New Mexico (2007)

2008

New Mexico

Arizona

1908

 

Kit Carson Rifle

New Mexico (2007)

2008

TCU

SMU

1915

Battle for the Iron Skillet

Iron Skillet

TCU (2007)

2008

New Mexico

UTEP

1919

Rio Grande Championship

 

UTEP (2007)

2010

BYU

Hawaiʻi

1930

 

 

BYU (2002)

 

BYU

Utah State

1922

Battle for the old Wagon Wheel

Wagon Wheel

BYU (2006)

2008

Wyoming

Hawaiʻi

1978

 

Paniolo Trophy

Wyoming (1997)

 

San Diego State

San Jose State

1935

 

 

San Jose State (2006)

 

UNLV

Nevada

1969

Battle for Nevada

Fremont Cannon

Nevada (2007)

2008

 

Postseason Records

Football Bowl Games

School

W

L

T

Winning

Percentage

 

 

 

 

Utah

9

3

0

.750

TCU

9

13

1

.413

Air Force

8

8

1

.500

BYU

8

16

1

.340

Wyoming

5

6

0

.455

Colorado State

4

8

0

.333

UNLV

3

0

0

1.000

San Diego State

3

4

0

.429

New Mexico

2

7

1

.250

               

Men’s NCAA Basketball Tournament

School

Appearances

W

L

Wins Per

 

Appearance

National Championships

 

 

 

 

Utah

28

35

29

1.346

1 (1944)

UNLV

15

32

14

2.133

1 (1990)

BYU

22

11

25

.440

0

Wyoming

14

9

19

.643

1 (1943)

New Mexico

11

6

12

.545

0

TCU

7

5

7

.714

0

Colorado State

8

3

9

.375

0

San Diego State

5

0

5

.000

0

Air Force

4

0

4

.000

0

 

Conference Facilities

School  

Football Stadia  

Capacity  

Basketball Arenas  

Capacity   

Baseball Stadia  

Capacity 

Air Force

Falcon Stadium

52,123

Clune Arena

5,939

Falcon Baseball Field

1,000

BYU

LaVell Edwards Stadium

64,045

Marriott Center

22,700

Larry H. Miller Field

2,300

Colorado State

Hughes Stadium

35,000

Moby Arena

8,745

No baseball team

 

New Mexico

University Stadium

42,000

University Arena (The Pit)

18,018

Isotopes Park

11,124

San Diego State

Qualcomm Stadium

71,294

Cox Arena

12,414

Tony Gwynn Stadium

3,000

TCU

Amon G. Carter Stadium

46,083

Daniel-Meyer Coliseum

7,200

Lupton Stadium

3,500

UNLV

Sam Boyd Stadium

40,000

Thomas & Mack Center (men)

 

 

 

Cox Pavilion (women)

18,776

 

 

 

 

 

2,472

Earl Wilson Stadium

3,000

 

 

 

 

Utah

Rice-Eccles Stadium

45,017

Jon M. Huntsman Center

15,000

Franklin Covey Field

15,500

Wyoming

War Memorial Stadium

33,500

Arena-Auditorium