The answer may be a simple, "No, they never did," and that would be that. The reason I'm asking is that I read at some point on csnbbs that the Mountain West approached UTEP to join at some point in the early 2010's to join, but UTEP said no. Allegedly, the MW then invited San Jose State.

Is there any truth to this? Can anyone share a link, because I can't find one.

I too recall reading that on this site somewhere. It may have been when the MWC was looking pretty shaky after the departure of Utah and BYU (later followed by TCU). In that case, I could buy the MWC reaching out to UTEP and UTEP in turn declining in favor of what seemed like a more stable CUSA. I don't know if it actually happened though.

It seems that UTEP made a huge mistake

(07-02-2020 08:33 PM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  I too recall reading that on this site somewhere. It may have been when the MWC was looking pretty shaky after the departure of Utah and BYU (later followed by TCU). In that case, I could buy the MWC reaching out to UTEP and UTEP in turn declining in favor of what seemed like a more stable CUSA. I don't know if it actually happened though.

Some of the moves have been ten years now, so the details are a little hazy, but I remember things went roughly in this order:

Sometime in June 2010: Boise State announces it is joining MW
Days later: Pac-10 invites Utah, who accepts.
August 2010: BYU says it will go independent for FB, probably WAC for non-FB
Days later: MW sweeps in and invites Fresno and Nevada, who both accept
Days later: BYU accepts invitation to WCC for non-FB
Late fall 2010: TCU announces it will go to Big East

Can't remember the exact order of events from there, but...
- In late fall 2011, SDSU and Boise announce they'll join Big East for FB only
- That same day, C-USA members SMU, Houston, and UCF announce they'll join the Big East; UTEP would have been aware of the C-USA losses as well as the MW changes at this point.
- Hawaii joins MW for FB only
- Utah State and San Jose State join full time (this is when UTEP allegedly turned down the MW)
- Late fall 2012: Boise and SDSU renege on plans to leave MW

(07-02-2020 08:50 PM)Michael in Raleigh Wrote:  

(07-02-2020 08:33 PM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  I too recall reading that on this site somewhere. It may have been when the MWC was looking pretty shaky after the departure of Utah and BYU (later followed by TCU). In that case, I could buy the MWC reaching out to UTEP and UTEP in turn declining in favor of what seemed like a more stable CUSA. I don't know if it actually happened though.

Some of the moves have been ten years now, so the details are a little hazy, but I remember things went roughly in this order:

Sometime in June 2010: Boise State announces it is joining MW
Days later: Pac-10 invites Utah, who accepts.
August 2010: BYU says it will go independent for FB, probably WAC for non-FB
Days later: MW sweeps in and invites Fresno and Nevada, who both accept
Days later: BYU accepts invitation to WCC for non-FB
Late fall 2010: TCU announces it will go to Big East

Can't remember the exact order of events from there, but...
- In late fall 2011, SDSU and Boise announce they'll join Big East for FB only
- That same day, C-USA members SMU, Houston, and UCF announce they'll join the Big East; UTEP would have been aware of the C-USA losses as well as the MW changes at this point.
- Hawaii joins MW for FB only
- Utah State and San Jose State join full time (this is when UTEP allegedly turned down the MW)
- Late fall 2012: Boise and SDSU renege on plans to leave MW

Ah OK, my timing was off. UTEP turning them down at that point makes less sense.

(07-02-2020 08:50 PM)Michael in Raleigh Wrote:  

(07-02-2020 08:33 PM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  I too recall reading that on this site somewhere. It may have been when the MWC was looking pretty shaky after the departure of Utah and BYU (later followed by TCU). In that case, I could buy the MWC reaching out to UTEP and UTEP in turn declining in favor of what seemed like a more stable CUSA. I don't know if it actually happened though.

Some of the moves have been ten years now, so the details are a little hazy, but I remember things went roughly in this order:

Sometime in June 2010: Boise State announces it is joining MW
Days later: Pac-10 invites Utah, who accepts.
August 2010: BYU says it will go independent for FB, probably WAC for non-FB
Days later: MW sweeps in and invites Fresno and Nevada, who both accept
Days later: BYU accepts invitation to WCC for non-FB
Late fall 2010: TCU announces it will go to Big East

Can't remember the exact order of events from there, but...
- In late fall 2011, SDSU and Boise announce they'll join Big East for FB only
- That same day, C-USA members SMU, Houston, and UCF announce they'll join the Big East; UTEP would have been aware of the C-USA losses as well as the MW changes at this point.
- Hawaii joins MW for FB only
- Utah State and San Jose State join full time (this is when UTEP allegedly turned down the MW)
- Late fall 2012: Boise and SDSU renege on plans to leave MW

Sounds about right.

It’s too bad UTEP isn’t in MWC with their historical peers:
New Mexico
Wyoming
Colorado St
Air Force
Fresno St
Hawaii
I’d even throw UNLV in there...
They were in the WAC with SJSU and Boise St as well

(07-02-2020 09:11 PM)billybobby777 Wrote:  It’s too bad UTEP isn’t in MWC with their historical peers:
New Mexico
Wyoming
Colorado St
Air Force
Fresno St
Hawaii
I’d even throw UNLV in there...
They were in the WAC with SJSU and Boise St as well

UTEP and UNLV only spent 3 years in the WAC together.

Back before Boise St and San Diego St announced they were staying their was definitely some debate on here about whether San Jose St or UTEP would get invited as the MWC’s 10th member.

I don’t recall that there was any hard proof that UTEP was the first choice but turned them down. Prevailing thought was that San Jose St got the nod due their market.

Now the C-USA/MWC merger, that’s another story. UTEP really wanted that to happen as it would have given them the best of both worlds. There were some mock ups of that plan that would have put the Miners with the Front Range schools and others that kept them with the Texas ones.

At one point it was:

ECU, Marshall, UAB, USM,Tulane, Memphis, Rice, Tulsa

UTEP, UNM, AFA, Colo St, Wyo, UNLV, Nevada, Fresno St

Hawaii?

Then when Memphis dropped out UTEP was going to back with C-USA cohort.

(07-02-2020 09:24 PM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  

(07-02-2020 09:11 PM)billybobby777 Wrote:  It’s too bad UTEP isn’t in MWC with their historical peers:
New Mexico
Wyoming
Colorado St
Air Force
Fresno St
Hawaii
I’d even throw UNLV in there...
They were in the WAC with SJSU and Boise St as well

UTEP and UNLV only spent 3 years in the WAC together.

Prior to the famous WAC expansion to 16, this was the WAC membership:

UTEP
New Mexico
Air Force
Colorado State
Wyoming
Utah
BYU
Fresno State
San Diego State
Hawaii

The original MW membership was this:

NM
AFA
CSU
WYO
Utah
BYU
SDSU
UNLV

To say the least, there must have been some hurt feelings among Fresno, UTEP, and Hawaii, especially the latter two because they'd been in the same league with them since at least 1979.

With the Mountain West, iirc, there was still some uncertainty with Air Force, as well. You had MWC losing stock fast, but, I thought the conference had already taken on what it did with the WAC and with BYU, TCU, Utah, SDSU, and Boise all gone at the time, and AFA still not fully known, it's what speared that MWC-CUSA "merger" or shared CCG chatter. The rumor was, MWC came to UTEP and asked if they were interested. Where CUSA was at that point and where MWC was at the time, and the "equal" status CUSA and MWC seemed to be, UTEP apparently said "no."

Yeah, it's like so much of this story disappeared or went behind a paywall or something. Weird things float out there, like this blog from 2011, where a UNLV fan/writer said:

Quote:Should the Mountain West expand? Yes. But not right now. Right now UTEP has stated that they would stay in C-USA if they got an invite.

UTEP is torn between it's front rim rivals Wyoming, Colorado State, Air Force New Mexico (and New Mexico State) and their Texas alumni mostly to the east in the "Fall line" cities (San Antonio to Dallas) or in Houston. CUSA addresses the latter (UTSA, UNT, Rice), but it has to be remembered Houston and Dallas are as far from El Paso as San Diego is.

UTEP in the MW makes perfect sense. A few years ago I found a document on the UTEP website about them wanting to be a charter member of the conference. Maybe one of the UTEP alumni here can find it.

Anyway, a quick google search gives these articles.

2015: Bloomquist: UTEP would jump at Mountain West

2013: Mountain West expansion: UTEP really wants to join MWC

2012: UTEP to the Mountain West; Its Now or Never

(07-02-2020 09:24 PM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  

(07-02-2020 09:11 PM)billybobby777 Wrote:  It’s too bad UTEP isn’t in MWC with their historical peers:
New Mexico
Wyoming
Colorado St
Air Force
Fresno St
Hawaii
I’d even throw UNLV in there...
They were in the WAC with SJSU and Boise St as well

UTEP and UNLV only spent 3 years in the WAC together.

But UNM and UTEP played UNLV regularity in hoops and and FB though out the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s until the WAC finally invited UNLV in, In the mid 90’s.
UNLV was invited into the WAC in the 70’s, but their academics caused them to not actually get in a couple years later as expected. They didn’t make the necessary academic changes the WAC expected them to meet.

Don’t forget the MWC/C-USA merger almost came to reality. The consensus was UTEP was going to be on the MWC side. Boise, SMU, etc already announced their intentions to join the Big East. C-USA still had Memphis, ECU, Tulane and Tulsa. It made sense back then.

The rumor coming from Utah State, and it was a rumor because it was never confirmed nor denied by the UTEP AD and President at that time, was that the MWC approached UTEP to join along with Utah State. UTEP said no. San Jose State got the call instead. Whether it was true or not, we will never know.

Another rumor was when Boise State decided to go back to the MWC, San Diego State was still committed to the Big East and already found a home in the Big West for basketball/Olympic sports. They were given an ultimatum that they had x number of days to make a decision or “we’ll call UTEP.” Again, that was a rumor on the MWC board and it was never confirmed nor denied by the UTEP administration.

With that being said, UTEP is extremely lucky to be in C-USA 3.0. We only have to look at NMSU to realize we don’t have it as bad as them. Yes, most of us would rather be in the MWC with our rival New Mexico and renew the historic rivalry in basketball. But honestlo UTEP has nothing to offer the MWC in both revenue sports. We had at least basketball and fan support before. We don’t even have that anymore. Just the on campus facilities.

I often wonder if the rumors out of Utah State were true and had UTEP said yes, what would’ve happened to SJSU. Independence? Drop down to FCS like Idaho? Or disband the football program?

(07-02-2020 10:35 PM)billybobby777 Wrote:  

(07-02-2020 09:24 PM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  

(07-02-2020 09:11 PM)billybobby777 Wrote:  It’s too bad UTEP isn’t in MWC with their historical peers:
New Mexico
Wyoming
Colorado St
Air Force
Fresno St
Hawaii
I’d even throw UNLV in there...
They were in the WAC with SJSU and Boise St as well

UTEP and UNLV only spent 3 years in the WAC together.

But UNM and UTEP played UNLV regularity in hoops and and FB though out the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s until the WAC finally invited UNLV in, In the mid 90’s.
UNLV was invited into the WAC in the 70’s, but their academics caused them to not actually get in a couple years later as expected. They didn’t make the necessary academic changes the WAC expected them to meet.

UNLV was playing a full WAC schedule in the early 80’s, they didn’t get their basketball arena funded and were dropped. It had nothing to do with academics.


From 1977:
The council said Hawaii would join the conference July 1,1978, and Nevada-Las Vegas on July 1, 1980, provided the schools meet certain conditions. WAC officials said Nevada-Las Vegas would have to attain Division I football status, insure the availability of adequate football and basketball facilities and assure compliance with NCAA and WAC rules and policies.

From 1981:
This season, UNLV was unable to secure use of the Las Vegas Convention Center, where the Rebels play their home games, for the Miner game during the conference season. When no agreement could be reached, the WAC presidents ruled UTEP had to play UNLV on Dec. 8. That was on a Monday after the Miners played in the Holy Cross tournament in Massachusetts Friday and Saturday. UTEP won that game, probably in one of their best performances in recent years. Bowden pointed out that New Mexico had to play at UNLV the day after Christmas this season, again because of a scheduling conflict.

If San Jose St had been left out of the MWC there is real possibility that they’d end up in the Big West with football in the Big Sky or the Big Sky for everything.

There is a tiny possibility that with San Jose St still in the WAC that they might have lured their California brethren up. That might have signaled to the Montana’s that the WAC was stable enough to join:

NMSU
Idaho
Montana
Montana St
San Jose St
Sacramento St
UC Davis
Cal Poly

Non-fb: Seattle, Denver

That would have been a pretty nice league.

The MWC should expand to 14 for all sports with UTEP and NMST. NMST would add to their BB profile. It would prep the conference for a potential AAC raid should the AAC not get the legislation they are looking for to stay at 11 FB teams once the waiver runs out.

(07-02-2020 09:36 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  Back before Boise St and San Diego St announced they were staying their was definitely some debate on here about whether San Jose St or UTEP would get invited as the MWC’s 10th member.

I don’t recall that there was any hard proof that UTEP was the first choice but turned them down. Prevailing thought was that San Jose St got the nod due their market.

Now the C-USA/MWC merger, that’s another story. UTEP really wanted that to happen as it would have given them the best of both worlds. There were some mock ups of that plan that would have put the Miners with the Front Range schools and others that kept them with the Texas ones.

At one point it was:

ECU, Marshall, UAB, USM,Tulane, Memphis, Rice, Tulsa

UTEP, UNM, AFA, Colo St, Wyo, UNLV, Nevada, Fresno St

Hawaii?

Then when Memphis dropped out UTEP was going to back with C-USA cohort.

I distinctly remember a live stream of the UTEP brass during the height of yhe merger talk and Bob Stull, the AD at the time, was saying the merger was going to happen and UTEP would be in the middle of the conference and in a division with front range MWC schools and some Texas schools which, as you said, would have been ideal. Our thought was that when Boise St and SDSU returned, the merger collapsed.

(07-03-2020 10:57 AM)panite Wrote:  The MWC should expand to 14 for all sports with UTEP and NMST. NMST would add to their BB profile. It would prep the conference for a potential AAC raid should the AAC not get the legislation they are looking for to stay at 11 FB teams once the waiver runs out.

No need for the MWC to expand now because NMSU, UTEP and the other Texas C-USA schools have no where else to go and will accept an MWC invitation if it comes.

And if the AAC goes nationwide by adding BYU and the top programs from the MWC, the remaining MWC might still look like an attractive alternative for the C-USA Texas schools.