New year, new Mountain West Conference commissioner
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — After 24 years, the Mountain West Conference has a new commissioner. Gloria Nevarez officially took over as MW commissioner on Jan. 1 to succeed Craig Thompson, who had been the only commissioner in conference history up until that point.
“Excited to lead the Mountain West and embark on this new adventure!” Nevarez tweeted on New Year’s Day.
Nevarez comes to the Mountain West after serving four years as the commissioner of the West Coast Conference. There, she oversaw a rebrand, diversity hiring initiatives and new television contracts that “nearly doubled” the exposure of some WCC sports, according to the Mountain West.
“We are absolutely thrilled that Gloria will lead our membership into the future during a critical and challenging period in intercollegiate athletics,” Garnett Stokes, the chair of the MW’s board of directors, said in a press release in November. “We had an impressive pool of candidates, but in the end, Gloria had the vision, the experience, the desire and the ability to elevate our league and our twelve member institutions. She will be a great leader for the Conference and take us to unprecedented heights, after working closely with Craig in the upcoming transition.”
Nevarez is clearly looking toward the future and explained her enthusiasm for the job in a press release in November.
“We are well-positioned as a league thanks to the incredible legacy of Commissioner Thompson, but we cannot — and will not — rest on our success,” Nevarez said. “We will be aggressive, we will be innovative, we will be inclusive and we will keep our focus on the student-athletes who call the Mountain West Conference home.”
Nevarez previously worked at the Pac-12 Conference and at the universities of Oklahoma, California Berkeley and San Jose State University.
Thompson announced his plans to retire back in September after his confidence that the College Football Playoff would expand, which was confirmed in December. The new format will include 12 teams and the top six highest-ranked conference champions, which will pave the way for future Mountain West champions to earn a bid.
“My one remaining priority was expansion of the College Football Playoff and viable access for the Mountain West,” said Thompson in a press release in September. “With CFP expansion accomplished and having invested almost a third of my life in the Mountain West, the time is now right for me to conclude my tenure and allow the Conference to continue its momentum under new leadership.”
Thompson had been the commissioner since the MW was formed in 1998, overseeing changes and expansions including the addition of Utah State in 2013.
“To work with our conference staff and the leadership of our member institutions through the years as we have pursued our collective vision has been a rewarding experience,” Thompson said. “I am grateful to every person and institution who has been a part of our journey and I wish them — and the Conference — the very best in the years ahead.”
Submitted photo courtesy of the Mountain West Conference.