UTEP will will leave Conference USA and join the Mountain West Conference beginning in July 2026, it was announced on Tuesday. The Mountain West Conference entered serious discussions with UTEP about joining the league over the weekend, sources confirmed to CBS Sports. The move gives the MWC eight members with seven holding full-time status (Hawai’i is a football-only member). The NCAA requires eight full members for a league to be recognized as an FBS conference.
The development comes on the heels of the Mountain West reportedly pursuing Northern Illinois and Toledo as football-only members. The MW is also in the exploratory phase with Texas State, which would be a full-time member in the conference should discussions become serious, sources told CBS Sports.
“Joining the Mountain West Conference will bring us back into competition with historic rivals in the west,” UTEP president Heather Wilson said in a statement. “There’s no doubt this will be better for our student athletes, our fans, and for El Paso.”
UTEP will owe about $2 million to Conference USA in an exit fee. The El Paso, Texas, television market is viewed as a plus for the MW and a decision is expected soon.
UTEP has long looked to the Mountain West as a potential home well before the latest round of realignment began earlier this month with the Pac-12 snagging five members away from the current MW lineup. UTEP joined Conference USA in 2005 after spending the previous 38 years in the WAC. The Miners were left out of the MW at the time and joined C-USA.
The UTEP program won a championship in the WAC in 2000 and last advanced to a bowl game in 2021, when it lost to Fresno State in the New Mexico Bowl. UTEP is 0-4 this season under first-year coach Scotty Walden, who was hired from FCS Austin Peay.
The Mountain West announced Thursday that its remaining members have signed a memorandum of understanding to stay with the league through 2032 as the conference still needs to bolster its ranks amid the departures of five schools for the Pac-12.
“We are excited to welcome The University of Texas at El Paso to the Mountain West as the next step in our strategic membership initiatives,” Mountain West commissioner Gloria Nevarez said. “The addition of UTEP restores historic rivalries with several of our member institutions within the geographic footprint, provides valuable exposure in the great State of Texas, and contributes to our priority of maximizing the student-athlete academic and athletics experience.”
Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State and Utah State announced last week they will leave the MW for the newly reformed Pac-12 starting July 2026. The Pac-12 is suing the MW over a “poaching penalty” that could push the total monetary penalty for their departures to the Pac-12 to about $140 million.
