Texas State University officials received a verbal offer to join the Mountain West Conference, according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel.
A decision from Texas State is expected in the upcoming days. If it leaves the Sun Belt, the school would have to pay an exit fee, which is an estimated $5 million. The Pac-12 also expressed interest in Texas State but has yet to make an offer.
Texas State has been in Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) play since 2012, joining the Sun Belt Conference in 2013 after playing one season in the Western Athletic Conference.
After struggling for nearly a decade, Texas State football found recent success under second year Head Coach G.J. Kinne, who led the team to its first bowl game in history in 2023, defeating Rice University 45-21 in the First Responder Bowl.
On top of winning its first bowl game in history, Texas State launched a new stadium deal with University Federal Credit Union and earned its first nationally televised regular season game in week three against Arizona State.
The Mountain West’s talks with Texas State escalated following UNLV’s and Air Force’s decisions to stay in the conference. Fresno State, Boise State, Colorado State, Utah State and San Diego State announced upcoming Mountain West departures.
Texas State would give the Mountain West its seventh full-time member, joining Air Force, Nevada, San Jose State, New Mexico, Wyoming and UNLV, with Hawaii being a football member. The conference needs eight full-time members to meet conference minimum requirements.
Despite back-to-back losses, Texas State has a football program on the rise, with the potential to join a conference that would bring more national recognition to San Marcos.
