Before creating this Substack I had been exploring writing elsewhere and a series I was slowly working through was one I called “State of Football” as a way to educate myself going through the whole country by ascending population. And so I have decided to go back and start over purely looking at the states of the West.
There aren't very many programs to look at in this volume, but they are important state flagships.
Alaska
I will take this opportunity to connect this article to my previous opinions on the founding of a football program at the University of Alaska Anchorage, but at this time I would not expect anything to happen. There are only two collegiate athletic programs active in the state and they are both members of the NCAA Division 2 Great Northwest Athletic Conference, which does not sponsor football.
Stepping down to the high school level, Barrow High School has gotten some national attention for their vibrant blue turf above the arctic circle, sitting on a finger of earth between the ocean and Imikpuk Lake.
If you're wondering “Alaska is pretty cold, when do they play their games?”, it appears that the regular season for Barrow HS ran from August 12 to September 30 this past season, and they played in the Division 3 Championship Game on October 14, though they lost to Kenai Central. To circle back around to Anchorage, the Division 1 Championship Game was played between West Anchorage and South Anchorage.
Alaska's Gatorade Player of the Year for this past season was Aaron Hampton, a 6’2” 225lb WR/LB out of West Anchorage HS who is reported to have committed to the University of California as a preferred walk-on.
I do hope that there is a day in the future where college football can be established in Anchorage, but the culture that does exist should not be ignored.
Wyoming
When I first began researching this information I was surprised to learn that Wyoming was the least populous state. I had assumed that it would be Alaska or somewhere in the New England region.
Given that there are fewer people than Alaska, it does make some sense that there is only a single NCAA or NAIA athletic program in the state - the University of Wyoming in Laramie. I would argue that its market exclusivity makes the school the single most important university to its state, and one of only two schools which are classed above a community college/junior college/associate's degree school (the other being Wyoming Christian College which is classed as a baccalaureate institution but does not have an athletic program).
The state does have a healthy number of community colleges with athletic programs which compete in the NJCAA but none sponsor football at this time.
The Wyoming Cowboys football program has existed continuously since 1893 and has most recently been a member of the Mountain West Conference since it's inception in 1999. For all of its longevity, the program has not had an abundance of success with an all-time winning percentage of .486.
Recent history has been a bit more fortuitous under the guidance of HC Craig Bohl who recently retired and has handed over leadership of the program to Jay Sawvel. The program is unlikely to compete for a conference championship in any given year, but they have been a consistently tough and bowl-eligible program with 6 appearances in the past 8 seasons.
Their home is Jonah Field at War Memorial Stadium which is currently undergoing some renovations ahead of the 2024 season with work that will continue until the 2025 season. It's a somewhat simple stadium but it has some unique styling and makes excellent use of the customizability of artificial turf with stylized endzones and a reminder of the 7,220 feet of elevation. It is the highest stadium in Division 1 football but it is beaten by Western Colorado’s Mountaineer Bowl at 7,769 feet at the D2 level.
Hawai'i
Another state with only a single college football program, the Rainbow Warriors of the University of Hawai'i at Manoa is an easy program to have positive feelings about for anyone who was paying attention in the 2000s.
The state does have another 3 schools with athletic programs which all play in the PacWest Conference at the D2 level: University of Hawai'i at Hilo, Chaminade University of Honolulu, and Hawai'i Pacific University, but none play football.
As for the Rainbow Warriors, for many years they had Aloha Stadium as their home, but as the engineering marvel fell into disrepair, they were forced to relocate to the Clarence T. Ching Athletics Complex - an on-campus facility.
Though less than a decade old, the facility represents past and present struggles of the Hawai'i athletic program.
Originally slated to open in 2013, the project ran two years late and 60% over budget - a cost absorbed by the state. The need for the facility was a response to a lack of Women's Sports facilities as the school only sponsors Women's teams for Beach Volleyball, Cross Country, Track & Field, and Soccer programs that the facility was designed for. The situation had become so tenuous that the NCAA was threatening to de-certify the university’s athletic program due to the lack of Women's Sports facilities.
Money has been invested to make the Ching Complex more appropriate for football, but it is still near the bottom of the FBS ranks for quality and quantity of amenities, though the field itself looks perfectly fine if the camera can avoid the sparsely populated bleachers.
The athletics program is primarily a member of the Big West Conference, a collection of public schools in the California State and University of California systems in addition to the University of Hawai'i, but the football program competes in the Mountain West Conference.
The promise of a New Aloha Stadium still sits on the horizon, though there is growing concern that it simply isn't a prudent use of funds. Although the planned expenditure has been signed into law, there is a push to revisit and possibly repeal what has been passed. The state been hit on multiple fronts since early 2020, and with so many unknowns in the realm of college athletics, it seems logical to avoid that sort of project. Much like the tectonic plates of the region, the gears of the project are claimed to be moving forward, even if we can't actually see the progress.
The team is going into their third season under HC Timmy Chang, who set numerous FBS passing records as Hawai'i’s quarterback under HC June Jones. It would be great to see him bring them glory under his guidance but at the end of the day, I hope that the Rainbow Warriors can return to bowl eligibility and host the Hawai'i Bowl on a perennial basis.
It's not easy operating a football program in a sparsely populated area, but its presence can be worth its weight in gold as a billboard for the school. What the West lacks in people it makes up for with picturesque geography, and we could all use a little more fresh air.