GCU accepts invitation to the Mountain West Conference

The extraordinary success story of Grand Canyon and its athletic department began a new chapter on Friday when GCU accepted an invitation to the Mountain West Conference.

GCU will join the Mountain West no later than July 1, 2026, but possibly as early as the second quarter of 2025 if the conference's charter allows.

The move marks another step in GCU's remarkable transformation into the largest private Division I university in the country. Located in the heart of Phoenix, the nation's fifth-largest city, GCU has grown from near closure 20 years ago to today enrolling nearly 25,000 students on campus and more than 95,000 students studying online. With approximately 16,600 students living in the 32 residence halls on campus, GCU is also the largest residential campus among private universities in the country.

“We are incredibly grateful for the Mountain West Conference’s interest in GCU and for their recognition of the value we bring to their membership,” said GCU President Brian Mueller. “Lope Nation has grown primarily because of the innovative strategies and creative delivery models that allow us to offer cutting-edge academic programs both on our campus and across the country. This has created tremendous momentum that will benefit our athletic programs.”

Mueller acknowledged that several conferences expressed interest in GCU, but said, “We felt that the long-term interests of the university would be best served by participation in the Mountain West Conference.”

The Lopes will participate in a top-tier conference comprised of competitive institutions with national brands, passionate fan bases and world-class facilities.

GCU will be centrally located in a western footprint that includes six existing members: Air Force, Nevada, New Mexico, San Jose State, UNLV and Wyoming. Hawaii and UTEP have also signed agreements to join the Mountain West.

“Grand Canyon is a tremendous asset to the Mountain West,” said Conference Commissioner Gloria Nevarez. “We are excited to expand our footprint to the city of Phoenix and the state of Arizona. Grand Canyon has been on an upward trajectory both academically and athletically for a decade, and its addition to the league will increase competition throughout the Mountain West as we strive to earn NCAA postseason bids and compete for national championships compete.”

GCU will join an elite trio of non-football universities that compete in FBS conferences, the highest prominence and competition level in college athletics. That list includes GCU, Wichita State (American Athletic Conference) and Gonzaga (Pac-12 Conference).

“GCU continues to grow rapidly as an academic institution and as an athletics program,” said Jamie Boggs, GCU vice president of athletics. “We want to best position ourselves to be nationally competitive, and we are excited about the vision and future of the Mountain West. We are participating in a conference that has had national success, developed a rich tradition over 26 years, and is financially well positioned.” We are committed to competing for competitive success with our future colleagues in the Mountain West.

The Mountain West built a strong basketball brand by advancing to one of the top seven men's basketball conferences in the country each of the last three seasons, earning at least four bids to the NCAA Tournament and peaking at six bids this year. Following upcoming membership changes, the Mountain West will continue to feature three men's basketball teams that were ranked in the top 50 in the country in the final 2023-24 NET rankings.

Even as Lopes teams leave the impressive athletic facilities of the GCU campus, they enter world-class venues to compete in street competitions. The revamped Mountain West's indoor arenas will seat an average of more than 10,800 fans and feature acclaimed men's basketball atmospheres like “The Pit” in New Mexico (filled to nearly 85% of its capacity of 15,411 fans in 2023-24) and Lawlor at Nevada Events Center (over 8,500 fans per game in 2023-24) and UNLV's Thomas & Mack Center (capacity 18,000).

Combined with the atmosphere at Global Credit Union Arena created by GCU's nationally known Havocs student division, the scenes from Mountain West basketball games will be among the sport's elite.

With nearly 25,000 students on its 300-acre Phoenix campus and more than 95,000 online students, GCU's rise as an academic institution is exemplified by the nearly 30,000 graduates it has produced each of the past three years.

Since 2008, the university has tripled the number of academic programs, concentrations and certificates to nearly 350 and increased the number of colleges from four to ten by focusing its curriculum on high-growth career fields such as engineering, computer science, cybersecurity and business. In addition, there are significant Investments made to address national workforce shortages in areas such as teaching, nursing and consulting.

GCU experienced an increase in enrollment while also raising admissions standards. In each of the last six years, GCU's Phoenix campus has achieved a grade point average of about 3.6. Additionally, GCU's Honors College has grown to include over 2,900 students with an average weighted grade point average of 4.1.

Athletically, GCU's rise mirrored that of the university. In its final two years at the D-II level, GCU was honored with the Learfield Directors' Cup as the top-performing athletics department in the country. At the Division I level, GCU has won 70 conference championships in the last four years, including 41. The WAC Commissioner's Cup, awarded to the conference's top-performing athletic department, has been won by GCU in the last six fully completed academic years. In the past calendar year alone, the Lopes have won NCAA tournament games in softball, baseball, men's basketball and men's volleyball.

After successfully completing a four-year transition to Division I, GCU has been eligible for postseason play since 2017-18. In these seven short years, twelve of GCU's programs have sent teams to the NCAA postseason, while five additional programs have qualified individual participants for the NCAA Championships. In the 2023–24 season, GCU finished the season ranked in the top 100 nationally in all eight sports using the NCAA Ratings Percentage Index or NCAA Evaluation Tool rankings.

Of GCU's 21 sports, 17 will find their new home in the Mountain West. The conference does not sponsor beach volleyball, men's soccer, men's swimming and diving, or men's volleyball. Men's volleyball will continue to compete in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, where the Lopes recently won a conference tournament title and reached the semifinals of the NCAA Tournament. Men's swimming and diving will continue in the Big West as previously announced. GCU's process to find conference homes for beach volleyball and men's soccer is already underway.

By joining the Mountain West Conference, GCU officially declined an invitation from the West Coast Conference, which would have resulted in the Lopes becoming WCC members on July 1, 2025.