Murray: Grand Canyon joining MW a year early shows conference has a new power structure

A lot of predictable things happened Tuesday.

Grand Canyon joined the Mountain West a year early, .

The MW's seven remaining members trumpeted the move with commissioner Gloria Nevarez calling it "a significant win for the student-athletes at GCU and in the Mountain West" while Wolf Pack athletic director Stephanie Rempe said the Antelopes "raise the competitive bar in conference play for our Wolf Pack programs."

And the heavy hitters among the five MW members leaving for the Pac-12 in 2026 threw a hissy fit, with Boise State saying Grand Canyon's addition will aid its legal case against the conference and San Diego State adding "the university was not consulted or permitted to vote."

Shockingly, the MW did not allow the five schools leaving for the Pac-12 to vote on what's best for the MW after those schools already gave their official exit notice to the league, which, per the MW bylaws, also meant they lost their Board of Directors vote. Somehow, these schools believed they should have voting rights in the MW and Pac-12 simultaneously even after the Pac-12 has done everything it can to try and kill the MW. That's delusional.

In their media statements, Boise State and San Diego State said the MW misled them. SDSU said Grand Canyon's immediate addition was" surprising and disappointing given prior representations that the Mountain West and its commissioner made to SDSU." Boise State added "the Mountain West's actions are also contrary to express representations the Mountain West and its commissioner made to the departing universities." Did these schools not read Grand Canyon's statement last November when the Antelopes agreed to join the MW? That statement said, in part, Grand Canyon would join the MW "as early as the second quarter of 2025 if permitted under the conference's bylaws." This was foreshadowed.

It appears Boise State and San Diego State believe the MW lied to them, which is the pot calling the kettle black given the behind-the-scenes maneuvering — many in the MW would call lying — both schools engaged in to try and destabilize the MW on their way out to the Pac-12. Turnabout is fair play. And, yes, this move could help the Pac-12's legal case in the ongoing mediation between the conferences as the MW fights for the roughly $145 million its contractually owed. So what.

The MW has to do what's best for itself, and adding Grand Canyon to the league in 2025-26 is what's best for the MW — in the short term and long term.

In the short term, the MW adds a school that should immediately compete for league championships. No, Grand Canyon doesn't play football. But the sports it does sponsor are played at a high level. The Antelopes have won five straight WAC Commissioner's Cups, something Nevada accomplished just once during its 12 seasons in the WAC. In 12 seasons in the league, Grand Canyon won seven WAC Commissioner's Cups.

Last year, Grand Canyon won seven conference titles. The year before it was 12. The year before it was seven. The year before it was 11. The last time the Antelopes failed to win at least a half-dozen conference titles in a non-COVID season was 2016-17. Even that year, Grand Canyon won five championships. And Grand Canyon sent five teams to the NCAA Tournament last year, which was tied with the most of any MW school, that being New Mexico, which was deemed not good enough for the new Pac-12.

And it's not like Grand Canyon was dominating tertiary sports. The Antelopes are good at the most important non-football sports. Its men's basketball team has reached three straight NCAA tournaments. Its women's basketball team went 32-3 last season and reached the NCAA Tournament. Its softball team was ranked in the Top 25 last season and has reached four straight NCAA Regionals, averaging 46 wins per year during that period. Its baseball team has won eight conference titles since 2015 with three NCAA Regional berths in the last five seasons. And its volleyball team has averaged 21 wins per year over the last five full seasons.

Grand Canyon is going to make an awesome men's basketball conference even better and might bump the MW into two-bid territory in some other sports this season. The MW will get more NCAA Tournament spots in 2025-26 due to Grand Canyon’s presence. Don’t let anybody spin that into a bad thing.

Grand Canyon shouldn't have much trouble competing at the top of the MW this year. As we learned from the , there's not a huge difference between the Pac-2, the Mountain West, the West Coast Conference and the top of the WAC from a competitive standpoint.

That's the short term. In the long term, Grand Canyon will be better off from this immediate move. The Antelopes had no conference to compete in during the 2025-26 season after giving notice it was leaving the WAC to join the West Coast Conference in 2025. But after Gonzaga left the WCC for the Pac-12, Grand Canyon switched directions after getting an offer from the MW. That left it league-less this year, which could have stunted the Antelopes' momentum.

Adding Grand Canyon now allows the school to adjust to its new league and play for postseason berths in 2025-26. Grand Canyon is the best addition the MW landed after losing five schools to the Pac-12. The conference should be trying to bolster that department and is doing so by providing a much-needed lifeline as the Antelopes for the Pac-12 vs. MW battle that will ensue starting in 2026-27.

This move doesn't come without some minor annoyances. The MW had already released conference schedules for volleyball and women's soccer. Those must be reworked. But Boise State's claim that Grand Canyon's addition "significantly and negatively impacts the schedules, opportunities and budgets of Boise State and the other departing universities" is hyperbolic. Schools might have to cancel one women's soccer non-league game. That's about it. You know what "significantly and negatively impacted" the MW? Four schools collaborating to leave the league as Boise State, San Diego State, Colorado State and Fresno State did last September.

Adding Grand Canyon this year doesn't hurt the departing Pac-12 schools as I doubt you'll see the MW increase its number of conference games in any sport except for soccer since the rest of its sports except men's basketball and tennis are already unbalanced. Men's basketball will stay at 20 games and play a slightly unbalanced schedule as it did for a decade prior to last year's change. The conference tournament will give our four byes instead of five.

This is not the great hardship Boise State and San Diego State are making it out to be. They're just upset they've lost control of the MW after trying to dictate how the league would act over the last several years, from Boise State getting an extra $1.8 million per year in media-rights money to only to later claim it didn't say that when the Pac-12 showed no interest in the Aztecs a couple of years ago.

Those departments earned that power through their play on the field. Those schools were used to being the BMOCs (big members on top of conference). Now they have no control over what the MW does. And they don't like it. But there are consequences for leaving a conference. The MW adding Grand Canyon a year earlier than they wanted is one of those.

Columnist Chris Murray provides insight on Northern Nevada sports. Contact him at crmurray@sbgtv.com or follow him on Twitter @ByChrisMurray.

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