Mountain West might consider adding Rice, UTEP

The Mountain West could be heading back to Texas.

The conference is considering adding Rice and Texas-El Paso, according to CBSSports.com. Texas Christian played in the Mountain West, but left for the Big 12 Conference in 2012.

Whether the Mountain West, currently at 12 teams in football and 11 in basketball, actually expands is another matter. Expansion will be discussed at the conference meetings Sunday and Monday in Phoenix, but the CBS Sports story said there wasn't a rush to add teams.

"I don't think it's any point where they're going to vote on it right now," one source told the website.

UNLV athletic director Tina Kunzer-Murphy certainly didn't sound in any hurry to expand.

"To add one institution or another institution without really talking it out and doing our due diligence, I think that's not a wise way to approach something as important at this," Kunzer-Murphy said.

She said one of her top concerns was whether expansion would help the conference in men's basketball, particularly when it comes to the Ratings Percentage Index. A team with a low RPI can help drag down the rest of the league.

Rice is 3-6 this season, and the Owls won a combined 19 games over the past two seasons.

UTEP, 6-2 this season, would be the far more attractive basketball candidate. The Miners won a combined 45 games over the past two seasons before being eliminated in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament each time.

In football, the other major revenue-producing sport, each school went 5-7 this season. Rice, however, did go 10-4 in 2013 and won the Conference USA championship, and followed that up last year with a 8-5 record and 30-6 victory over Fresno State in the Hawaii Bowl.

"I come back to our men's basketball program, and, by gosh, that's one of the things that we're doing really, really well," Kunzer-Murphy said of the Mountain West. "We need to figure out ways to stay strong and be nationally competitive and have some place in the college television landscape. In football, I think we took a step back this year even though we had a record eight teams (bowl) eligible. But, obviously, with some of the placements of our teams, I think it hurts all of us.

"We need to get better in football, and we need to continue to get better in basketball so we can be a relevant conversation as things move ahead."

Then there is the question of splitting the revenue with another one or two schools, which could be a difficult sell.

"The pie we have financially is not where we need it to be," Kunzer-Murphy said. "So to look at bringing in an institution that would take a bit of the pie that's already small and getting smaller, some of us are going to look at that really carefully."

The Mountain West could position itself should a future realignment syphon off some its teams. The conference already has gone through this, losing Utah to the Pac-12 Conference in addition to TCU to the Big 12. Brigham Young also left the conference for independence in football and the West Coast Conference in other sports.

"Everybody that is not in the power five is looking, 'What's going to happen next? How is that going to affect us more?'" Kunzer-Murphy said.

Should expansion come up for a vote, it would be UNLV president Len Jessup casting the school's vote. But it's likely he would listen to his athletic director.

Kunzer-Murphy wasn't ready to say she was for or against adding Rice and UTEP, but she didn't provide any ringing endorsements, either.

"Is it important to add schools?" she asked. "I think only if it makes sense. I think we need to look at that, and as a group, we haven't done that collectively. I believe we're going to start the conversation this weekend in Phoenix."

— Contact Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2914. Follow him on Twitter: @markanderson65