Sources: Mountain West in deep talk with add UTEP

• Pete Thamel, ESPNSep 30, 2024, 11:38 PM ET

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  College Football Senior Citizen Author for ESPN. Expert for College Gameday.The Mountain

West is in deep conversations about adding UTEP as a complete member, sources told ESPN, and there’s shared interest between the sides.A deal has yet to be settled, per ESPN sources, but a response on UTEP signing up with the league is expected soon.The potential

addition of UTEP has loomed as an obvious target for the league from both a geography and tradition perspective. The school would provide the Mountain West an addition in Texas as the league restores after five schools announced they were leaving for the Pac-12.

The addition of UTEP would provide the league seven full-time members– joining UNLV, San Jose State, Wyoming, Nevada, New Mexico and Air Force. The Mountain West needs to develop to eight members to become an official conference. (Hawaii stays a football-only member.)

The Mountain West is looking for to get to 8 members, the minimum for a league, after Utah State, Boise State, San Jose State, San Diego State and Fresno State announced their departures.Editor’s Picks 2 Associated The Mountain West has also provided a verbal deal to Texas State in recent days, according to sources. No clarity or timeline has actually emerged on Texas State’s choice. The Pac-12 has likewise expressed interest in Texas State, according to ESPN sources.In UTEP, the Mountain West will get a school with a strong football and

basketball family tree. UTEP’s football opener against Southern Utah drew 41,633 fans to the Sun Bowl.In football, UTEP has reached 15 bowl games, and its previous coaches consist of everybody from Bum Phillips to Mike Price. UTEP is currently in Conference USA, where it has actually lived because 2005, when it jumped over from the WAC.UTEP’s basketball history is even stronger, as it has appeared in 17 NCAA competitions and won the national

champion in 1966, when the school was referred to as Texas Western. The Miners were the first string with a starting 5 of all African American players to win the national title. The coach of that team, Don Haskins, remains in the Basketball Hall of Fame.UTEP has a strong fan base, and El Paso, Texas, has a population of almost 679,000, which makes it one of the leading 25 most populated cities in the United States.