Hawaii will become a full member of the Mountain West in 2026, giving the league the required eight full members to meet FBS requirements as an NCAA conference, sources told Action Network.
With Hawaii on board, the league will resume discussions with MAC schools Northern Illinois and Toledo to potentially become football-only members, sources said.
Last month, Action Network reported that Mountain West had notified the MAC of its interest in NIU and Toledo about joining as football-only members in 2026.
If the Mountain West adds NIU and Toledo, it would make the league the only conference with schools in five time zones — Hawaii plus the four time zones in the continental US. This could potentially increase the value of the Mountain West’s future media rights, sources said.
By getting Hawaii as a full member, the Mountain West’s rebuild is nearly complete.
For the past two weeks, the MWC and Hawaii had been discussing the Rainbow Warriors becoming full members. Hawaii has been a MWC football-only member since 2012 with its non-football sports competing in the Big West.
Even with Hawaii, the Mountain West still needs at least one football-only member to get to nine football members, so the conference may have eight league games.
In 2026, the Mountain West adds UTEP from Conference USA but loses Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State and Utah State to the Pac-12.
The Pac-12, which also added Gonzaga as a non-football member, still needs another football school. The Pac-12 sought Memphis, Tulane and USF, but those three AAC schools — plus UTSA — announced their commitment to remain in the AAC.
The Pac-12 has put its expansion plans on pause, sources said. The Pac-12 won’t add any more schools until its media rights evaluation is completed. That process could take up to three months, a source said.
More From Action Network's Brett McMurphy
