LARAMIE, Wyo. — The Mountain West Conference announced today that the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa will join the conference as a full-time member as of 2026. The Rainbow Warriors have previously participated only in football.
Conference Commissioner Gloria Nevarez said in the release that the Mountain West is excited to compete against the school in all participating sports.
“As the flagship institution on the islands, with extraordinary academics and a celebrated athletics tradition, we look forward to providing their student-athletes with exceptional educational and athletic experiences,” Nevarez said.
Since it was announced that the Mountain West was losing five of its full-time member institutions, including the University of Wyoming’s longtime rival Colorado State, the conference was down to just seven full-time schools. The University of Texas at El Paso became that seventh school after it announced its decision to join a few weeks ago.
With Hawaiʻi in the Mountain West full-time, it will now wear the MW logo in 15 sports. This includes basketball, cross-country, golf, track and field, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis, volleyball, football and baseball.
University of Hawaiʻi staff, including the president and athletics director, are calling the moment a momentous point for Hawaiʻi athletics.
“Now the majority of our sports will enjoy the same experience of competing in this exceptional conference,” Hawaiʻi Athletics Director Craig Angelos said in the release. “Joining the Mountain West allows us to renew historic rivalries, creates opportunities for increased exposure, and provides stability in the constantly evolving world of collegiate athletics.”
Because of Hawaii’s geographic distance and isolation, there are likely to be some logistical concerns regarding the travel for participating athletes. It was not addressed in the release how that would impact either the conference’s or the university’s athletics expenditures moving forward.
For now, though, the Mountain West conference is eligible to participate in NCAA athletics beyond 2026. Fans will certainly expect to see new dynamics play out, however, as the Mountain West’s athletic environment changes in the next two years. With Colorado State gone and headed for the Pac-12, Wyoming will be playing the school earlier in the academic school year and likely less often.
For more information on the Mountain West as it prepares for the next few years of college athletics, see the conference’s website.