UNLV Rebels AD Erick Harper Says The Pac-12 Is "Not The Same Conference"

It was a busy offseason for UNLV Rebels athletic director Erick Harper. Not only did he have to deal with in-house issues like hiring a new head football and men's basketball coach. On top of dealing with those kinds of duties, he also has had to deal with the constantly changing landscape of college football and, more specifically, the Mountain West Conference.

The Mountain West is looking at conference realignment in 2026. He had the opportunity to move Rebels to the Pac-12 along with Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State, and Utah State. However, he decided to stay put in their G5 conference. Harper recently took the time to speak about the realignment and his decision to stay where they were at in the Mountain West with the UNLV official website.

UNLV Rebels Athletic Director On Conference Realignment And Deciding To Stay In The Mountain West Conference

"When it comes to conference realignment, I’m someone who looks at and considers everything — short term and long term — before ultimately determining what’s best for us. And based on the current landscape, we felt the best decision for us was to stay in the Mountain West.

For one thing, the Pac-12 is not what the Pac-12 once was. It’s the same logo but without USC, UCLA, Oregon, Washington, Utah, it’s not the same conference. And that’s no disrespect to those schools that are in the Pac-12 right now.

Also, there’s going to be another conference realignment — everybody knows that. What that’s going to look like, who knows? If anyone tells you they know exactly how everything is going to shake out, they’re absolutely full of it. The only certainty is that those programs that have a strong history of success, reside in strong media markets and are consistently ranked at seasons end are not changing conferences. However, there can be surprises as we have seen in recent years.

The good news for us is that we no longer have to worry about paying an exit fee if we receive an offer to join a power conference.

For now — and as I’ve said many times when the topic of conference realignment comes up — we simply have to continue being the best possible UNLV that we can be. And wherever things fall, they fall."

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