What If… UTSA Joins Mountain West in 2013

Previously in the What If Series: What If… No UTSA Football | What If… Traylor went to Tech | What If… UTSA became a Basketball School | What If… UTSA didn’t leave Conference USA | What If… Shaq takes up UTSA’s basketball offer | What If… UTSA baseball wins an earlier NCAA tournament game | What If… Some close UTSA wins were close losses | What If… UTSA blows the 2021 C-USA Championship Game

On July 1, 2013 the UTSA Roadrunners joined their third conference in as many years when they became members of Conference USA. It was the beginning of an up and down decade for the athletic program that ended with two straight football conference championships in the final two seasons as members before moving to the American Conference in 2023.

In 10 years as a member of Conference USA, UTSA teams won seven conference championships with Football and Women’s Golf leading the way with two. Baseball was runner-up in the conference tournament twice. UTSA had 11 of its 15 sports reach a national postseason tournament or bowl game including nine sports that made it to their respective NCAA tournaments.

UTSA’s time in Conference USA was formative for the program as its football team grew from a fledgling team with just two seasons of experience into one of the top teams in the conference. Every other sport benefitted in some way from the improved competition compared to the WAC and Southland. The 10 years in Conference USA also helped UTSA develop rivalries with Rice and North Texas that have continued into the American, as well as series with UTEP and Louisiana Tech that were heated while UTSA was a conference rival.

Just a few months before UTSA joined Conference USA there were rumors swirling in January of 2013 that the Mountain West Conference had interest in UTSA and possibly then-Conference USA members Tulsa in joining their conference if San Diego State and Boise State followed through on departing that conference for the Big East. Lynn Hickey, the UTSA athletic director at the time denied the rumors and it later turned out that UTSA had made its first down payment as members of Conference USA around January of 2013, confirming its place in that conference.

But what if Mountain West had come calling with a deal good enough for UTSA to accept? How might UTSA have turned out as a member of the Mountain West? What does it do for Football to have few local teams to build rivalries with? Where might UTSA be today if it were members of the Mountain West and not Conference USA?

What if UTSA joins the Mountain West in 2013?

A UTSA that joins the Mountain West in 2013 probably looks very different from the one we know today. For one thing rivalries with UTEP, Louisiana Tech, Rice and North Texas never develop. Instead UTSA would have possibly had Tulsa as its closest geographic rival. UTSA would have possibly built up a rivalry with New Mexico and maybe a rivalry with San Diego State develops after UTSA joins the Mountain West in 2013 and the Aztecs follow through with staying in the conference after the Big East collapses. UTSA and Boise State might have become rivals based on similar color scheme. Perhaps rivalries with San Jose State and Utah State are born after UTSA played both in their one year in the WAC in 2012.

It’s possible that UTSA’s growth as a football team is slower in the Mountain West, especially if the Mountain West is then able to convince the likes of Boise State and San Diego State to stay in the conference. UTSA would have also spent more on travel with their closest conference opponent being either Tulsa or New Mexico instead of Rice or North Texas. Instead of traveling to places like Huntington, West Virginia or Bowling Green, Kentucky UTSA would have had conference road trips to Casper, Wyoming and Colorado Springs, Colorado.

The Roadrunners also would spend quite a bit of time traveling through California which could have opened that state up for recruiting as opposed to the southeast which UTSA toured through as members of Conference USA. UTSA joining the Mountain West might lead to North Texas not joining Conference USA and instead opt to stay in the Sun Belt where they rekindle a long dormant rivalry with Texas State.

A Mountain West UTSA might hang on to Larry Coker a season longer and its possible the coaching line of UTSA is different if they were members of the Mountain West. By 2021 when another round of conference realignment comes along does a Mountain West UTSA contemplate possibly going east to either the Sun Belt, Conference USA or even the American if they consider a Mountain West UTSA as a quality add. Or perhaps UTSA decides to stay in the Mountain West in 2021 and then becomes one of the Mountain West teams that agree to join the two remnants of the Pac 12.

Maybe UTSA has as good an experience in Mountain West as they did in Conference USA. Maybe UTSA does better as a member of the Mountain West than they did in Conference USA. It’s fun to imagine what UTSA in the Mountain West might have been like but its probably for the best long term that UTSA followed the path it did with 10 years in Conference USA before moving up to the American.

Next Week: What If… Rivalry games with different outcomes