‘It doesn’t make sense’: Ex-college czars baffled by UNLV’s Pac-12 snub

Two former leading college administrators on Thursday expressed surprise that UNLV was not included in the recent expansion of the Pac-12.

Longtime athletic director Jim Livengood and former Mountain West commissioner Craig Thompson said they couldn’t understand why the Rebels were not invited to join the conference.

The Pac-12 last week added Mountain West teams Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State and San Diego State beginning in the 2026-27 academic year.

Along with holdovers Oregon State and Washington State, that puts the Pac-12 at six schools.

Two more must be added to reach the minimum number of eight to qualify as a conference and be eligible for NCAA championship play and the College Football Playoff.

More than eight

Livengood, who spent 24 years in the Pac-12 as athletic director at Washington State and Arizona and nearly four at UNLV in the same position, isn’t convinced that’s where the Pac-12 will stop.

“It’s probably more a case of them looking for four more schools,” Livengood said. “And maybe beyond that. In my heart of hearts, I think this is going to be a bigger expansion than most people believe. And everybody I have talked to — nobody understands why UNLV wouldn’t be in that mix.

“I’m baffled by (UNLV not being one of the four). It doesn’t make sense to anyone. There has never been a time, and I’m serious about this, when UNLV has had better leadership. From the president to the athletic director to coaches to staff. UNLV has never been in better position for a move like this.”

According to a source within the Mountain West, among the reasons floated for why UNLV wasn’t selected thus far was the fear of a market over-saturation in the coming years.

That should the Oakland Athletics indeed move to Las Vegas and the NBA soon follow to join established NHL and NFL teams, what place would there be for college athletics?

This, despite there being other such examples across the country where college athletics thrive among multiple professional teams.

“I could see that being a topic of conversation, and I’m not trying to criticize any leadership or athletic directors, but that’s overthinking things and not looking at the big picture,” Livengood said. “Everyone can come up with all sorts of reasons, but this isn’t five to 10 years ago. There is no better time for UNLV than right now.

“With the strides they have made in academics and facilities and football, I don’t think there has been a time when they’ve had more positive things going on both from a standpoint of leadership and connectivity with the community.”

Thompson was the Mountain West commissioner for nearly 24 years, having retired from the post in December 2022. He also doesn’t understand UNLV being left out of this first Pac-12 expansion phase.

“From an individual perspective, with the way the (Las Vegas) market has grown and the fact the Pac-12 plays its football championship game there and its basketball tournament there … it’s puzzling,” Thompson said. “I know they need two more members, but it could be four more. Who knows?

“I personally think Oregon State and Washington State had two options — add Mountain West institutions or join the Mountain West. That’s all they had.”

Why not now?

And as for the conference UNLV still resides in?

Thompson said the Mountain West should have its concerns sitting at eight members with the eventual defection of the four. That eight is a precarious number. That the conference can ill afford to lose anybody else.

That it already should be talking with other schools that could eventually be added. “Which,” he said, “I’m sure they are.”

“Let’s look at the (Mountain West) scorecard,” Thompson said. “I started in October of 1998. We added TCU. Then we lost BYU, Utah and TCU. We added several former WAC members back into the fold. Boise State and San Diego State left for the Big East and then they came back. In 2021, Air Force and Colorado State was almost a done deal for going to the American. We stopped that.

“The point is, this is not new. People have been looking for a change and a new home several times in the history of the Mountain West. So this doesn’t surprise me at all.”

What does surprise Thompson and Livengood and so many others is how UNLV was not one of the four schools that received Pac-12 invitations last week.

“There are some really good people involved here, so I don’t know who’s driving the bus,” Livengood said. “But it does make me wonder. The biggest thing that bothers me is … Why not UNLV, and why not right now?”