January 30, 2004

TCU joins Mountain West

Sporting a purple tie, MWC Commissioner Craig Thompson officially welcomed the TCU Horned Frogs to their future home: the Mountain West Conference. TCU's Board of Trustees approved the move to make the school the ninth member of the Mountain West, effective July 1, 2005. The Horned Frogs will begin MWC play for the 2005 season.

The Frogs join the MWC at a time when the conference is looking to further it's stature in the BCS pitcture.

"The Mountain West Conference wants to be a nationally [prominent] conference," Hyman said. "Their focus is on the BCS. This is what they aspire to be. These are the aspirations of TCU."

A surprising twist during the announcement was the confirmation that the MWC will not expand beyond nine members at this time. The Mountain West will may look to recruit members next year, but they're basically set with the addition of just TCU.

TCU will pay a fee of about $1 million to join the Mountain West. The exit fee for leaving C-USA hasn't been resolved.

The MWC may have added more than just a school, however as the PlainsCapital Fort Worth Bowl is expected to follow TCU to the Mountain West, but bowl officials have declined comment on the matter since they have a contract with Conference USA through 2004. The MWC commissioner indicated that he does expect the bowl to follow the Frogs to the MWC in 2005, giving the conference a fourth bowl tie-in.

The move was a disappointing loss to Conference USA, but the conference will continue to look to expand and improve the league.

ESPN.com's Andy Katz reports that Conference USA would look to fill TCU's position in the spring and still make the 2005-06 season. The candidates are likely to be Louisiana Tech or UTEP (WAC), North Texas (Sun Belt), Temple (A-10), Miami of Ohio (MAC) and Toledo (MAC).

For a mid-major program, this was a pretty substantial move. Say what you will about the Frogs, they are a teams that has gotten a lot of pub over the last few years. For C-USA, it's a big loss because it represents one of the more marketable teams in the most attractive TV & recruiting market the conference has. For the MWC, it signals that the conference is the "best of the rest" and may be a viable contender for BCS consideration down the road.

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