UH to become full member of Mountain West in 2026

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – A big move for the University of Hawaii Athletics program.
The ‘Bows will play the majority of their sports in the Mountain West Conference in 2026. Athletics Director Craig Angelos addressed the media Tuesday morning to formally announce the move.
“We believe the full membership in the Mountain West conference is the best place for all of our sports to be,” Craig Angelos told reporters.
Angelos laid out discussions between himself and Mountain West officials to bring football back together with most of the school’s non-football sports.
UH opened the possibility of full membership when the MWC lost five of its programs to the PAC-12 last month.
“The president and I, along with all the community leaders, have discussed the matter, and I believe that this is the right move for the University of Hawaii’s athletic program,” Angelos said. “I think it brings two things to us: one, it brings stability for our program as a full-fledged member of an FBS conference, and two, I think it will strengthen our financial picture.”
One of the main points in negotiations was the elimination of travel subsidies. When UH football joined the Mountain West after leaving the Western Athletics Conference in 2012, UH agreed to pay a fee for conference opponents to travel to the islands to play — which can cost roughly $175,000 per team.
“Certainly, it’s going to help financially for us, but I don’t think anyone here who especially been around a lot longer than I have felt good about the fact that we were kind of taxed, taxed along the way to pay for our competitors come out,” Angelos said. “Nobody else has to do that in the conference.”
Most of UH’s sports will move to the MWC, with the exception of Men’s Volleyball, Women’s Water Polo, Beach Volleyball, and Men’s Swimming and Diving.
These are sports the Mountain West doesn’t sponsor. The hope is for those teams to remain in the Big West.
In a statement, Big West Commissioner Dan Butterly says:
Hawaii has a proud history in The Big West that includes 36 conference titles and three national championships, and we look forward to having the Rainbow Warriors and Rainbow Wahine compete for Big West titles in all sports over the next two seasons. Discussions regarding Hawaii’s possible affiliate membership in men’s volleyball, beach volleyball, women’s water polo, and men’s swimming and diving will begin today, and we will have further comments on that subject at the appropriate time.
“We would like to stay in the Big West conference for those other four sports if we can,” Angelos said. “But that’s up to the vote of the presidents and chancellors of the Big West conference.”
For football, they are the only team at UH with experience traveling the conference’s multiple time zones.
“Excited for the other sports to get on board and be a part of what football has been a part of,” UH football head coach Timmy Chang said. “So they’re going to see the other schools are great.”
The move to unify under the Mountain West and the football team ultimately helps Hawaii solidify its footing in the ever-changing landscape of college athletics.
“We’ll get there, and I think if we can get that stadium built and increase the level of our football performance, you know, we’re going to be right up there and should have the ability to be as good as anybody in the league if you think about it.” Angelos said.
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