Grand Canyon Will Join the Mountain West Conference a Year Early (Including Women’s Swimming)

Grand Canyon has finalized an agreement to join the Mountain West Conference for the 2025-2026 season, a year earlier than previously intended. The school, which does not play football, is expected to be added to Mountain West schedules next season after the potential of competing as an independent in most sports next season.

GCU originally planned to leave the Western Athletic Conference for the West Coast Conference, but ultimately accepted a Mountain West Conference invite for 2026 as part of a monumental mid-major shakeup out west. The Mountain West formally received notice in June that five of its members would leave the conference for the reformed Pac-12, and the conference is currently in mediation over exit fees.

The women’s swimming & diving program will now compete in the Mountain West next season, while the men’s program will compete in the Big West as previously announced. The Mountain West Conference does not currently sponsor a men’s swimming & diving championship, though by the start of the 2026-2027 season, at least five members of the conference will (Air Force, UNLV, Wyoming, Grand Canyon, and Hawaii).

The announcement did not include any mention of adding a football team, though fans have been urging the school to do so on social media.

Grand Canyon is a a private university in Phoenix and has an enrollment of over 100,000 students, including around 25,000 on campus and the remainder as part of its robust online program.

Grand Canyon was previously the only for-profit university in NCAA Division I and one of a handful across all three divisions of the NCAA. In the last few years, it has converted to a non-profit model, and though that status has been challenged, it has ultimately been held up in court (including recently by the IRS).

Last season, the GCU men’s team finished 4th out of 6 teams at the WAC Championships and the women finished 3rd out of 9 teams. The Grand Canyon men have scored at the NCAA Division I Championships twice, led by a 32nd-place finish in 2019.