Hawaiʻi Mānoa begins full Mountain West membership across athletics
The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa became a full member of the Mountain West Conference on July 1, 2026, formally beginning a new conference alignment for the school’s athletics program in the 2026–27 season.
The change ends Hawaiʻi’s split-conference arrangement. From July 2012 through June 2026, UH competed in the Mountain West in football while most of its other athletic programs competed in the Big West Conference.
Full membership places the UH Mānoa program in the Mountain West’s new 10-team structure. UC Davis and UTEP joined Hawaiʻi as the additions identified in the University of Hawaiʻi System’s announcement.
From split affiliations to full membership
The July 1 effective date is a full-conference membership change, not a new football-only affiliation. Hawaiʻi football had already been part of the Mountain West during the prior arrangement, while most of the school’s other sports maintained Big West affiliations.
Beginning in 2026–27, UH Mānoa’s conference designation is full Mountain West membership. The move therefore changes the conference framework for the broader athletics program after more than a decade in which football and most other teams were associated with different leagues.
The official announcement identifies the membership status and the conference’s 10-team composition. It does not provide complete 2026–27 schedules for every UH sport. The available material consequently does not establish a common schedule, identical opponent list or the same competition format for every team.
A farewell season for 14 Big West teams
The 2025–26 school year was the farewell campaign to the Big West for 14 UH Mānoa teams, according to a University of Hawaiʻi System season review published June 23, shortly before the full Mountain West membership took effect.
That review looked back at UH Mānoa athletics’ final season before the transition and reported national and conference honors earned by student-athletes. It provides the immediate athletic backdrop to the July 1 conference change, but it does not supply a sport-by-sport Mountain West schedule for 2026–27.
The transition marks an administrative and competitive alignment change for Hawaiʻi athletics: the program is no longer described through the former division in which football belonged to one conference and most other sports belonged to another.
What comes next
The next confirmed phase is competition in the 2026–27 athletic season under UH Mānoa’s full Mountain West membership. The official announcement names Hawaiʻi, UC Davis and UTEP as the additions that bring the league to 10 teams, but it does not list upcoming contests, dates or sport-specific conference opponents.
No financial or travel effects of the membership change were quantified in the available official source. It also does not offer a standings projection, forecast of competitive results or a claim that the transition will affect every sport in the same way.
For Hawaiʻi’s statewide university athletics program, the verified development is the end of the prior split model and the start of full Mountain West membership for 2026–27. Further details about individual teams’ schedules and competition formats would require additional conference or team announcements.
Sources
- UH Mānoa officially joins Mountain West as full member, University of Hawaiʻi System
- Our Team, Hawaiʻi’s Team: UH Mānoa Athletics celebrates historic 2025–26 season, University of Hawaiʻi System