Texas State is staying put in the Sun Belt — for now — after receiving interest from the Mountain West, Bobcats athletic director Don Coryell announced Tuesday night.
“The recent interest shown in Texas State and its presence across the college athletics landscape speaks volumes about the university and the work our staff and student-athletes have done to build the Bobcat brand nationally,” Coryell said in a statement. “After preliminary discussions with an interested conference, we have decided not to make a change at this time.”
The Mountain West announced Tuesday that UTEP has an accepted an invitation from the conference beginning in July 2026, a move that brought the league to seven full-time members. Adding Texas State would have gotten the league to the important threshold of eight, which is the minimum number of full members required to be recognized as an FBS conference.
The Bobcats are in their 13th season of FBS football and their 12th year as members of the Sun Belt. Their football program reached its first-ever bowl game last season, beating Rice in the First Responder Bowl to cap an 8-5 campaign in coach G.J. Kinne’s first season.
As it stands, the Mountain West has eight football-playing members, but Hawaii is not a full member, which means the league’s recruiting efforts must turn in a new direction amid a chaotic wave of realignment.
Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State and Utah State are each leaving the Mountain West in 2026 to join the Pac-12. But the Mountain West has managed to stay afloat by landing commitments its other members and adding UTEP, which has been a member of Conference USA.
Complicating matters in the conference’s pursuit of reinforcements is that the Pac-12 is also scouring the collegiate sports landscape for members after a group of AAC schools turned down overtures from the league. Both the Pac-12 — still at just seven full members after adding a non-football school in Gonzaga — and Mountain West much each still make on full member addition.
