North Dakota State looks to make a splash in the FBS, and the Mountain West Conference needs a quality team after the five-team defection to the Pac-12.
While the Bison have yet to write the first chapter of the storied program’s new journey, the Mountain West has a clear vision of what the league is amid a shifting college football landscape. As Bison insider Jeff Kolpack pointed out, the Mountain West “has no aspirations to become the SEC, Big Ten or Big 12,” and those are leagues that are speculated to become super leagues and drown out the Group of Six.
“That’s not who we are,” Mountain West commissioner Gloria Nevarez told Kolpack in a Fargo Forum article on Monday. “But you know what? We’re going to be as competitive at the top of what we are. And so that to me is really fun.”
Nevarez acknowledged that “it’s craziness” in college athletics during an era that features the NIL, transfer portal, big TV deals, and shifting conference landscapes. A longtime executive in college sports and former NCAA women’s basketball player, Nevaraz wants something different from the current trajectory of the Power Four conferences.
“But at the core, we are still educating young people through sport and higher education and that is our mission. I like that our Mountain West schools are staying true to that,” Nevaraz said.
NDSU joined the Mountain West as a football-only member, tied to a media rights deal that runs through 2031-2032.
NDSU Gearing Up For What’s to Come
After dominating the FCS with 10 national championships in 15 years, NDSU’s move up positions the program for what’s to come in college football.
“The line of demarcation for college athletics is 2032,” NDSU athletic director Matt Larsen told CBS Sports’ Brandon Marcello in a Feb. 19 article. “All of these major TV contracts come up. Is there going to be a new subdivision? Are you going to have a break off?”
“Even if that happens someday, we may end up playing some high-level FCS programs, but in our mind we’ve had a six-year head start getting in here and being established,” Larsen added. “We just felt the timing was right, given everything that’s going on. There is some uncertainty, a little bit of risk, but I really felt like it was a calculated risk in terms of positioning our football program.”
Whether or not that impacts NDSU’s future in the Mountain West between 2032 is a major unknown. The Bison’s other sports are remaining in the Summit League, except for wrestling, which is a Big 12 program.
NDSU Joins Mountain West in Major Flux
Kolpack pointed out that NDSU is joining a conference that has undergone massive changes in Nevarez’s two years as commissioner.
Only four of the charter members for the MWC, founded in 1991, Kolpack wrote, and Nevarez needed to find teams fast with five schools leaving for the Pac-12. That defection includes former CFP team Boise State. In response, she added Northern Illinois and UTEP before NDSU, and she likes what the Bison will bring to the league.
“The ability, year after year, to be at the top of the FCS, the level of recruitment,” Nevarez said. “Building a program that has translated into success has been really important.”
CFB Executive Makes Admission After NDSU’s Move Up