Coaching Changes in the Mountain West

The 2006-2007 Mountain West Conference Basketball Regular Season has not even ended yet and already two head coaches have been dismissed with additional dismissals looming ahead.

At New Mexico, Head Coach Richie McKay was told by University athletic officials that he would not be back next season on 22 February. And just on Friday, 3 March, Utah Head Coach Ray Giacoletti was asked to resign after only three seasons at the helm. A couple of other head coaches appear to be on thin ice. At Wyoming, Steve McClain may be on his way out after nine years; the Cowboys have underachieved and have not been a factor for the regular season MWC hoops crown and attendance has been lackadaisical at best. In Fort Collins, Colorado State may get rid of Dale Layer after several seasons of mediocre finishes in the conference and a limited presence in postseason while Layer has been at the coaching helm of the Rams. TCU could also make a coaching change, and a change is not out of the question at San Diego State, although it would seem remote. Brigham Young, Air Force, and Nevada-Las Vegas would appear to be staying the course with their coaching staffs, but Jeff Bzdelikhas been mentioned as a candidate for other jobs that may open after this season.

Meanwhile, pairings and schedules for the upcoming MWC Postseason Basketball Championship Tournament in Las Vegas have been announced. On Tuesday, 6 March, #9 New Mexico plays #8 Texas Christian in the "Pigtail Game" at 8:30 MST. On Thursday 8 March, four games are scheduled. It starts at 1pm MST when #1 Brigham Young plays the winner of the Tuesday Pigtail game. At 3:30 MST #4 Air Force takes on #5 Wyoming. At 7pm MST #2 Nevada-Las Vegas plays #7 Utah. And at 9:30pm MST #3 San Diego State plays #6 Colorado State. On Friday, 9 March, the winners of the two day games meet at 7pm MST with Thursday's two evening game winners playing at 9:30pm MST. The Championship Game is at 5pm MDT Saturday, 10 March. The Mtn. will televise the first five games; CSTV will televise Friday's two semifinals games nationally; and Saturday's championship game will be nationally televised on Versus.

The MWC Championship has produced six different champions in its seven-year history. San Diego State (2002, 2006) is the only team to have won two titles, followed by UNLV (2000), BYU (2001), Colorado State (2003), Utah (2004) and New Mexico (2005) with one apiece.

The No. 1 seed has won the tournament just twice in seven years. UNLV entered the inaugural MWC Tournament as the top seed in 2000 and won the title. Last year, San Diego State became the second No. 1 seed to claim the crown.

The No. 2 seed (BYU, New Mexico), No. 3 seed (Utah), No. 5 seed (San Diego State) and No. 6 seed (Colorado State) have captured tournament championships, while the No. 4 seed is 0-3 and the No. 7 seed is 0-1 in title games. The No. 8 seeds has yet to appear in the championship game.

The MWC regular-season champion has made it to the finals of the MWC tournament four times in seven years (UNLV 2000, BYU 2001, Utah 2005, San Diego State 2006), winning the championship three times. San Diego State is the only team to win both an outright regular-season title and the tournament crown in the same year.

All-time W-L records in the tournament for each team follows: UNLV (11-5); Utah (9-6); San Diego State (7-5); Brigham Young (6-6); Colorado State (5-6); New Mexico (5-6);

Wyoming (5-7); Texas Christian (0-1); Air Force (0-7).