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Mountain West commissioner Craig Thompson announced his retirement Wendesday according to a report from Nicole Auerbach from The Athletic.
Thompson has been the only commissioner of the conference since it began operations in 1999.
NEWS: Mountain West commissioner Craig Thompson is retiring after 24 years.
He said CFP access was the last remaining priority for him in the role, achieved it.
— Nicole Auerbach (@NicoleAuerbach) September 14, 2022
He will step down by December 31, 2022.
— Nicole Auerbach (@NicoleAuerbach) September 14, 2022
Thompson, 66, was one of the commissioners that put together the original proposal to expand the College Football Playoff to 12 teams. He is a member of the CFP management committee.
ESPN’s Heather Dinich has additional details.
“I take considerable pride in my committed engagement to this effort over the past two-and-a-half decades and look forward to the finalization of those details in the coming months,” Thompson said. “With CFP expansion accomplished and having invested almost a third of my life in the Mountain West, the time is now right for me to conclude my tenure and allow the conference to continue its momentum under new leadership.”
There are a lot of people responsible for bringing the college football playoff expansion to fruition and it was a far more difficult task than most fans will appreciate. Thompson had a big hand in bringing it to the table and we hope college football will be better for him doing it.
Corey Long is a freelance writer for SaturdayDownSouth.com. Follow Corey on Twitter @CoreyLong.
