The History of the Mountain West

Following the departure of the Western Athletic Conference as one of college sports' two major college conferences west of the central time zone, the Mountain West, itself born from the WAC, thrust itself immediately into Rocky Mountain football. At times great, as can be seen with their basketball teams, and at times lowly, the Mountain West, while failing to have achieved the same heights its forefather did, has cemented itself as one of division one's "group of five" conferences, directly below the Power 5. But with power conference dynamics changing rapidly, the gap may or may not be closing between the Mountain West and the Big 12 and ACC---especially with potential additions of Oregon State and Washington State looming.

In this video, I aim to take a short walk down the history of this young conference to examine how things got to be the way they were, how they ended up stronger than the WAC, and how they could have become a superconference---or not---along the way.

0:00 Introduction
1:15 It All Started in the Denver Airport
3:05 The Mountain West Conference
6:35 The Mountain USA Merger Plan
7:40 The Modern Era (Rocky Mountain Way)
8:30 More Realignment?
12:05 Conclusion

No aspect of this video belongs to me. Video, imagery, and music are all utilized under fair use for the purpose of education. Two pieces of video were used: one belonging to BYU and Michigan athletics and airers of the 1984 Holiday Bowl; and another, belonging to the Mountain West Conference. Music was sourced through YouTube's free audio library.