Sam Morris/Las Vegas News Bureau
From left, former UNLV Athletic Director Jim Livengood, Mountain West Commissioner Craig Thompson, and UNLV Athletic Director Tina Kunzel-Murphy chat during the NCAA basketball game between UNLV and Duke Saturday, Dec. 10, 2016, at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Duke won 94-45.
Published Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2022 | 10:46 a.m.
Updated Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2022 | 11:31 a.m.
Mountain West Conference Commissioner Craig Thompson announced today that he is stepping down effective Dec. 31, after nearly 24 years at the helm of the conference.
Thompson, 66, is the only commissioner in the history of the Mountain West, which started in January 1999 and was the second NCAA Division I conference Thompson launched.
“Craig has provided important leadership to the MWC since its inception,” said UNLV President Keith Whitfield, vice chairman of the Conference Board of Directors. “We are stronger because of his work as we go forward into a quickly changing landscape in the NCAA and the College Football Playoff discussions.”
The conference did not immediately announce plans for seeking a new commissioner. Thompson will remain available as a consultant to the MWC, officials said.
“My one remaining priority was expansion of the College Football Playoff and viable access for the Mountain West,” Thompson said in a statement. “I take considerable pride in my committed engagement to this effort over the past two-and-a-half decades and look forward to the finalization of those details in the coming months."
"With CFP expansion accomplished and having invested almost a third of my life in the Mountain West, the time is now right for me to conclude my tenure and allow the conference to continue its momentum under new leadership," Thompson said.
Under Thompson’s leadership, the MWC negotiated nearly $600 million in television revenue to support its member schools, the conference said.
Conference teams have participated in five Bowl Championship Series /College Football Playoff bowl games, as well as six inaugural bowl contests, and Thompson led successful member expansion efforts to strengthen the conference, officials said.
“The entire Mountain West Conference owes a debt of gratitude to Craig for his selfless service over the history of our conference,” University of New Mexico President Garnett Stokes, chairman of the board, said in a statement. “His fingerprints are on every accomplishment and every initiative we have undertaken, and he has positioned the Conference to continue to be among the nation’s elite.”
As conference realignment spread a decade ago, Thompson positioned the Mountain West for the future with the additions of Fresno State and the University of Nevada on July 1, 2012, and San Jose State University and Utah State University on July 1, 2013, officials said.
The University of Hawaii joined the league as a football-only member on July 1, 2012, while Colorado College became a member in women’s soccer on July 1, 2014.
Thompson has been instrumental in strengthening the position of the Mountain West in college football — both in the previous BCS format and in the current CFP structure, officials said.
In 2006, he spearheaded an effort that resulted in better access for the Mountain West and more than doubled the annual BCS revenue on an annual basis for non-automatic-qualifying conferences.
Thompson also helped the conference enhance its television revenue and exposure, officials said. In January 2020, the Mountain West announced a $270 million, six-year media-rights agreement with CBS and Fox Sports.
A 43-year veteran of athletic administration, Thompson has spent all but eight of those years sitting in a commissioner’s chair, making him the only active FBS commissioner with more than 30 years of experience leading a multisport conference.
Prior to his current role, Thompson served as commissioner of the Sun Belt Conference for nearly eight years and as the only commissioner of the American South Conference prior to the merger of those two leagues in 1991.
