 
| ||||||||||||
This is the Mountain West
From its inception in 1999, the Mountain West Conference has been committed to excellence in intercollegiate athletics while promoting the academic missions of its member institutions. As the league celebrates its 10th anniversary in 2008-09, the MWC continues to cultivate opportunities for student-athletes to compete at the highest level, while fostering academic achievement and sportsmanship. Over its nine-year history, the MWC has been assertive in its involvement with the NCAA governance structure and has taken a leadership role in the overall administration of intercollegiate athletics.
Progressive in its approach, the MWC has marked several achievements over its first decade of existence, most notably becoming the first to establish a sports network dedicated solely to an intercollegiate athletic conference. The Mountain West was the first to experiment with the coaches challenge in the college football instant replay system and was the first non-automatic-qualifying BCS conference to participate in and win a BCS bowl game when Utah defeated Pittsburgh in the 2005 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl. The Mountain West was also the first conference to have a member institution with No. 1 overall picks in both the NFL and NBA drafts in the same year (Utah's Alex Smith and Andrew Bogut, respectively).
The Mountain West Conference is noted for its geographic diversity. Some of the most beautiful terrain and landscapes in the nation can be found within Mountain West Conference boundaries, including the majestic Rocky Mountain range, which borders four MWC schools (Utah, BYU, Air Force and Colorado State). The high plains of Wyoming (elevation 7,220 feet - the highest Division I campus in the nation) contrast with the desert city of Las Vegas (the fastest growing metropolitan area in the West) and the Pacific Ocean locale of San Diego State. The southwestern flavor of New Mexico complements the western heritage and culture of Fort Worth, Texas, home of the MWC's newest member, TCU.
History
The Mountain West Conference was conceived on May 26, 1998, when the presidents of eight institutions - Air Force, BYU, Colorado State, New Mexico, San Diego State, UNLV, Utah and Wyoming - decided to form a new NCAA Division I-A intercollegiate athletic conference. The split from the former 16-team conference re-established continuity and stability among the membership within the new league and signaled the continuation of its tradition-rich, long-standing athletic rivalries. Five of the MWC's eight original members have been conference rivals since the 1960s (BYU, Utah, New Mexico, Wyoming, Colorado State), while San Diego State (1978) and Air Force (1980) were longtime members as well. UNLV and TCU entered the fold in 1996 and the Rebels continued as one of the original eight institutions that formed the MWC in 1999. TCU rejoined the group with its first year of competition in the Mountain West in 2005-06, completing the Conference membership as it stands today.When the MWC officially began operations on July 1, 1999, the new league had in place a seven-year contract with ESPN, giving the broadcaster exclusive national television rights to MWC football and men's basketball, and three-year agreements to send the league's football champion to the Liberty Bowl and a second team to the Las Vegas Bowl. Commissioner Craig Thompson also arranged a third bowl tie-in each of the first three years (1999 Motor City, 2000 Silicon Valley, 2001 New Orleans) before securing a four-year deal with the Emerald Bowl in San Francisco in 2002. An innovator in the postseason bowl structure, the MWC engineered many "firsts," as league teams have participated in five inaugural bowl games (2000 Silicon Valley, 2001 New Orleans, 2002 San Francisco (Emerald), 2005 Poinsettia, 2006 New Mexico), as well as placing the first non-automatic-qualifying BCS team into a BCS bowl game with Utah's appearance in the 2005 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl.
2007-08 in Review
The 2007-08 campaign provided several notable moments for Mountain West teams and individuals. The MWC sent a record five teams to bowl games and posted a 4-1 mark in those contests to capture the Bowl Challenge Cup for the second time in four years, registering the best win percentage among the 11 conferences that make up the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision. League champion BYU finished the season with an 11-2 record and national ranking for the second consecutive year, closing out the year at No. 14 in both the Associated Press and USA Today Top 25 polls. The Cougars also ended the season with the nation's longest active home and overall win streaks at 12 and 10 games, respectively.BYU became the first team to claim back-to-back outright MWC regular-season men's basketball crowns while finishing the year with the nation's longest active home win streak at 47 games. UNLV captured the MWC Tournament title and earned the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive season, advancing past the first round for the second straight year. BYU earned an at-large bid to NCAA postseason play, marking the eighth time in the last nine years the MWC has sent multiple teams to the NCAA Tournament. In women's basketball, Utah posted a perfect 16-0 mark en route to capturing its sixth MWC regular-season title. The Utes were ranked for seven straight weeks in the Associated Press and USA Today Top 25 polls, finishing the season at No. 18 in the final AP poll. Overall, the league sent four teams to the postseason, including three to the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive year. TCU became the second Mountain West team in as many years to advance to the Elite Eight of the WNIT, following on the heels of the Wyoming Cowgirls, who claimed the 2007 WNIT Championship.
First-time MWC regular-season champion UNLV led a trio of women's volleyball teams into the NCAA Tournament, marking the eighth time in nine years the league has sent at least three squads into postseason play. BYU became the first MWC squad to advance to the NCAA regional finals and finished the season with a No. 12 ranking in the AVCA Top 25 poll. BYU clinched its fifth MWC Tournament title in women's soccer and earned the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, marking the Cougars' eighth appearance in nine years in the NCAA field. The Colorado State women's cross country team finished 15th at the NCAA Cross Country Championships, while the BYU men turned in a 22nd-place effort in the 2007 NCAA postseason.
Nineteen MWC student-athletes earned All-America honors at the 2008 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships. The TCU 4x400 men's relay team finished second, while BYU's Kyle Perry took third in the 3,000-meter run, TCU's Jonathan Jackson recorded a third-place effort in the triple jump and Wyoming's Mark Korir placed fourth in the 5,000-meter run. On the women's side, San Diego State's Karoline Koehler finished third in the triple jump while the BYU distance medley relay team turned in a fifth-place effort.
Student-athletes from BYU and UNLV represented the MWC in the NCAA Women's Swimming and Diving Championships, while BYU, TCU and UNLV provided participants on the men's side in NCAA postseason action. Four MWC men's and women's golf teams each were invited to the 2008 NCAA Regionals, with three teams (San Diego State men, TCU women and UNLV women) advancing to the NCAA Championships. Multiple MWC women's tennis teams appeared in the NCAA Tournament for the seventh consecutive year with TCU and UNLV qualifying in 2008. TCU was the MWC entrant in the NCAA Men's Tennis Championship, while the MWC qualified another 10 men and women for individual postseason competition.
The league sent BYU and regular-season champion San Diego State to the NCAA Softball Tournament with the Cougars advancing to the regional finals for the second consecutive year, while the Aztecs finished the year with a No. 24 ranking in both the USA Today/NFCA and ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 polls. TCU represented the league for the third straight year in the NCAA Baseball Championship. Seventeen MWC student-athletes earned All-America honors at the 2008 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. New Mexico's Katie Coronado and San Diego State's Stephanie Bagan finished second in the women's javelin and pole vault events, respectively, while Air Force's Nick Frawley tied for second and BYU's Leif Arrhenius placed fourth in the discus on the men's side.
Exposure
The MWC television package will reach a national audience in 2008-09 through a combination of telecasts on The MountainWest Sports Network (The Mtn.), CBS College Sports Network (formerly CSTV) and VERSUS. The Mtn. has been available to cable subscribers in the MWC footprint since it first aired in 2006-07 and will be available nationally on DIRECTV starting August 27, 2008. On Aug. 26, 2004, College Sports Television (CSTV) and the Mountain West Conference announced a visionary partnership that revolutionized the college sports landscape. The landmark agreement was the first NCAA Division I football and men's basketball conference-wide deal for CSTV and provided the network exclusive rights to all Conference events, including cable and satellite television coverage, national over-the-air and satellite radio, video-on-demand and online broadcast rights.A succession of events since the fall of 2004 has improved the television model, including CSTV's merger with Comcast SportsNet to create The Mtn. - MountainWest Sports Network and CBS Corporation's purchase of CSTV. CBS acquired CSTV in January 2006, and on Feb. 12, 2008 incorporated CSTV's cable, broadcast and online activities into its world-famous brand as the CBS College Sports Network (CBS C). The Mtn. is co-owned by CBS College Sports Network and Comcast SportNet.
The relationship with Comcast SportNet also delivered a new national broadcast partner in VERSUS. The MWC was the first exclusive college programming provider for the Comcast-owned entity, with football and both men's and women's basketball games. The CBS C/MWC partnership has guaranteed greater levels of television exposure for all league sports and has resoundingly met the fundamental goals of more exposure and preferred start times and dates.
In the summer of 2006, the centerpiece of this historic relationship was realized with the launch of The Mtn. - the first sports network dedicated to serving a single collegiate athletic conference. The Mtn. provides sports fans blanket coverage of MWC athletics across multiple sports, including football, men's and women's basketball, and men's and women's Olympic sports. The Mtn. features more than just live games and has added its own original programming. Fans get a comprehensive array of news, features and analysis about their favorite MWC teams and players. In 2007-08, more than 250 MWC events were shown live on The Mtn., CBS C and VERSUS. CBS C is currently available in over 65 million homes, while VERSUS is in more than 73 million households.
The MWC has remained steadfast in its mission to promote the league's athletic events to national and regional television audiences and will continue to grow its new TV model. Previously, ESPN served as the league's inaugural official television partner, while in-house productions guaranteed coverage for several MWC Olympic sports. Through the league's first nine years, excluding institutional local packages, 1,200 football, volleyball, men's basketball and women's basketball events have aired on television, with 178 football games and over 159 men's basketball contests broadcast nationally.selected games from their respective championships televised in that span.
Education Initiatives
Not only is the MWC committed to the highest academic standards for its member institutions, the league also launched an education initiative utilizing the platform of college athletics to provide a relevant teaching resource for Kindergarten-through-8th grade students. This web-based learning program is available to every public and private, elementary and middle school in the seven-state MWC region, impacting more than 6.5 million students. Designed by Learning Through Sports, Inc., "Kid's College" captivates and motivates children using their favorite sports with Mountain West teams and mascots reinforcing skills taught in the classroom.
Academic Consortium
From the outset, the MWC's member institutions were committed to creating academic relationships, as well as athletic competition. To that end, the chief academic officers of each institution meet on an annual basis and have explored academic exchange programs, library crossovers and shared research. In addition, the faculty athletics representatives routinely provide academic assistance and test-taking services for student-athletes visiting from fellow member institutions for competition.
Opportunity
The MWC provides a first-class athletic and academic experience for more than 4,000 student-athletes each year. Over the past nine years, 36 student-athletes from Mountain West institutions have earned NCAA Postgraduate Scholarships, and since the league's inception in 1999, an additional 18 student-athletes have been named MWC Student-Athlete of the Year and awarded league-sponsored postgraduate scholarships. Two student-athletes have earned distinction as Rhodes Scholars (Jessica Mellinger, Wyoming and Delavane Diaz, Air Force).Conference student-athletes are also given a voice regarding pertinent issues within the MWC and NCAA governance structure through representation on the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC). The Mountain West Conference SAAC consists of 10 representatives; one student-athlete from each member institution and one faculty athletics representative. The committee reviews and reacts to legislation and to other topics referred by the Conference constituent groups or committees related to the student-athlete experience.
Achievement
The MWC has produced 554 All-America selections among its 19 sponsored sports in the last nine years, including a league-record 84 All-America honorees in 2004-05. A total of 93 MWC student-athletes have also earned Academic All-America accolades in that span, while 28 MWC student-athletes have earned NCAA postgraduate scholarships. The MWC has sent at least 30 teams to NCAA postseason events each of the past nine years. Mountain West institutions have captured seven NCAA team championships over the last nine years. BYU has claimed three national titles in women's cross country and two in men's volleyball, while New Mexico and Utah have one national crown each in skiing. Additionally, the MWC has had several NCAA individual national champions in the sports of men's golf, indoor track and outdoor track.MWC members have participated in 31 bowl games in nine years, led by Utah's 7-0 mark in postseason contests. The MWC has earned 39 postseason bids in men's basketball, including 20 NCAA Tournament appearances. MWC women's basketball has tallied 41 postseason bids, including 24 NCAA bids, four Sweet 16 appearances and one Elite Eight berth since 2000. Wyoming won the MWC's first WNIT championship in 2007 with a win over Wisconsin. In women's volleyball, the MWC has had 26 NCAA bids with seven Sweet 16 appearances. Women's soccer has earned 20 NCAA bids since 1999, including multiple berths in five of the last six years, with BYU advancing to the Sweet 16 in 2000 and the Elite Eight in 2003. MWC men's golf has had at least four representatives in the NCAA Golf Regionals each of the last nine years. In women's golf, the Conference sent four teams to the NCAA Regionals for the fourth consecutive year with two institutions (TCU and UNLV) moving on to the National Championships.
Sportsmanship
Named a Sports Ethics Fellow by the Institute for International Sport in 1998, Commissioner Thompson has been a driving force for sportsmanship within intercollegiate athletics. As part of its continuing growth and development, the Mountain West Conference implemented an extensive Sportsmanship Initiative, developed by the league's Ethics and Sportsmanship Committee and ultimately endorsed by both the MWC Joint Council and MWC Board of Directors. The program is made up of several elements, which are both practical and philosophical in nature. While the MWC has significant penalties in place to deal with violations, the Sportsmanship Initiative is primarily promotional and educational in nature. The goal is to develop an environment that fosters appropriate behavior from all Conference constituencies.In addition, the MWC has teamed up with Learning Through SportsTM to launch the award-winning STAR Sportsmanship - the first in a new, seven-part Character Development Series on CD-ROM. An interactive learning program for 6-to-14 year-old boys and girls, STAR Sportsmanship was recently honored with the BESSIE Award as best physical education software for upper elementary students. The program is based on an analysis of young athlete's needs and aptitudes, research literature and instructional content as well as extensive dialogue with coaches, parents, educators and young athletes. STAR Sportsmanship effectively provides young athletes the ability to apply the appropriate ethical attitudes and decision-making abilities in sports and in real-world social environments. It teaches courtesy, diligence, humility, integrity, respect and teamwork. The MWC also has partnered with mysportsmanship.com to help foster, promote and provide examples of good sportsmanship.
