Thompson: No further Mountain West expansion coming

By Ryan Greene

Thursday, June 17, 2010 | 9 p.m.

A week ago, Mountain West Conference Commissioner Craig Thompson was audibly chipper in a teleconference discussing the addition of Boise State as the league's 10th member.

Thursday, after Utah and Pac-10 brass celebrated their union in Salt Lake City with words, balloons and cheers, Thompson held another teleconference.

He said the right things but took a more somber tone this time around, noting that he was not blindsided or surprised by Utah's move.

The Mountain West indeed is back to where it was two weeks ago and plans on staying that way for the foreseeable future. What a week ago looked like a stable of programs strong enough to earn a BCS automatic bid took a hit as Utah — a program that is 2-0 in Bowl Championship Series games — will compete in the MWC for the last time in 2010.

"Our intention at this time is to prepare for the 2011 season with a nine-member conference," he said. "To compete annually in a BCS bowl game still remains our No. 1 goal as a league."

The 2011 season will be the league's first with Boise State as a competing member and its first without Utah. As for potential further expansion that may better the league's case for an automatic BCS bid in two years, Thompson was definitive.

"We are done," he said when asked if further expansion was on the horizon. "I think parroting what fellow commissioners in the Pac-10 said today, what was said by the Big 12, the Big Ten, I think our endeavor in terms of expansion is over for the time being."

There is interest from other schools in joining the league. Thompson said that while on a Wednesday flight to San Francisco, "eight to 10 institutions" had contacted him to inquire.

Many would speculate that those mystery schools included the likes of Nevada-Reno, Fresno State, SMU and Houston. But Thompson wouldn't say and made it clear that serious talk of expansion is not prominent on his future agenda.

"We're going to be a tremendous nine-team league in 2011," he said. "I don't know what the future's going to hold as far as where this league goes and how performances will play out and what our national reputation will be based upon. That's why we play the games, and we'll see how it progresses."