Hill: Gloria Nevarez rewarded for keeping MW relevant after realignment

BOISE, Idaho — The immediate reward for Gloria Nevarez’s stewardship of the Mountain West through the turbulent waters of conference realignment is a new contract that will run through 2030.

But a potentially sturdy outlook could mean the real bounty might come with an opportunity to enjoy a period of relative stability after her first three years on the job coincided with some of the wildest times in college sports history.

“I think chaos might be our new normal,” Nevarez said Friday before crowning a football champion that will soon leave the league as part of an exodus to the Pac-12. “But, yes, our path forward is very clear now. We have our membership solidified, and we’re looking forward to announcing our new media rights deal.

“And all the other media deals in the other leagues are solidified, so hopefully we’ll get at least two or three years of consistency.”

In other words, a chance to take a breath and assess what has happened the past few years.

Sticking together

The Mountain West, of which UNLV will now find itself a flagship program, has not been immune to a dramatic shift in the landscape of college sports, which saw the Atlantic Coast Conference expand to the Pacific time zone, the Big Ten grow to 18 teams and the Pac-12 ravaged and rebuilt.

There’s no doubt a league that loses powers such as Boise State and San Diego State — along with Utah State, Colorado State and Fresno State — will take a hit. And if Nevarez were to be honest, she probably would admit that finding a way to broker peace and build a Group of Five power conference on the West Coast would have been the preferred path.

But in the end, she held the league together and kept it in position to remain relevant. It’s a major reason the Mountain West board of directors extended her deal this past week.

Nothing new

The truth is, the Mountain West getting raided by bigger and more powerful leagues is nothing new. TCU, BYU and Utah of the Big 12 were once part of the Mountain West.

Top players and coaches have always been plucked from the league, too. But it has grown to unprecedented levels, causing the Mountain West to adapt at a rapid rate.

And for that, Nevarez deserves credit, even if it was far from perfect.

And even though things should be less chaotic the next few years, her job is far from finished.

The new media rights deal needs to get finalized and put the remaining teams in position to compete.

That’s the next big test for Nevarez, but the board likely wouldn’t have extended her without confidence that was going to happen soon.

She also must usher the league to the finish line in the litigation with the Pac-12, as millions of dollars sits in limbo between contested exit fees and poaching fees.

Litigation ‘no hindrance’

That won’t keep the Mountain West from moving ahead, though. It is still collecting revenues on the current deal and withholding payments to departing schools as part of the process.

“There’s no hindrance in our day-to-day operations,” Nevarez said of the court cases. “No matter the outcome, we still have our grant of rights and our media deals going forward. So we kind of have tunnel vision about our future, but also trying to deal with this in the most expeditious way possible on the side.”

On a more national level, Nevarez sees governance and controls on the college sports landscape a major challenge that must be addressed.

The SCORE Act (Student Compensation and Opportunity through Rights and Endorsements) was pulled before a final vote this past week in the House of Representatives, delaying the implementation of potential guardrails.

“College athletics is in a tumultuous time,” Nevarez said. “But I loved my time as a college athlete, and I wasn’t even very good. But just being able to educate young people through sport and higher education is a model like nowhere in the world. And we’re in a great, competitive part of the ecosystem.

“We’re not the Power Four, but we’re right there.”

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on X.