"UTEP Officially Joins Mountain West Conference"
According to reports, the Mountain West Conference is in the final stages of including UTEP as its seventh full-time member.
On Monday night, ESPN reported that the agreement has not yet been finalized, but an announcement is expected to be made soon.
The Miners, based in El Paso, Texas, have been part of Conference USA since 2005.
The Mountain West is reconstructing after five schools left for the Pac-12: Boise State, Fresno State, San Diego State, Colorado State, and Utah State.
This left the MWC with six full-time members - Air Force, Nevada, New Mexico, San Jose State, UNLV, and Wyoming - with Hawaii as a partial (non-football) member. In order to be recognized as a conference under NCAA rules, the league must add two more schools by 2028.
Adding UTEP would still leave the Mountain West one member short. Previous reports stated that the league has extended a verbal offer to Texas State, which has also attracted interest from the Pac-12.
The Miners' football team (0-4, 0-1 CUSA) has participated in 15 bowl games, most recently the New Mexico Bowl in 2021. The men's basketball program has made 17 appearances in the NCAA Tournament, including a national championship in 1966.
