The Pacific Tigers represent the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California, in intercollegiate athletics. The Tigers compete in

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athletic ...

, and are currently in their second stint as members of the West Coast Conference (WCC).

Conference history

Pacific was one of the founding members of the West Coast Conference (originally the California Basketball Association and later the West Coast Athletic Conference) in 1952, but became a charter member of the Pacific Coast Athletic Association, now known as the

Big West Conference The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. The conference was originally formed on July 1, 1969, as the Pacific ...

, for football only in 1969 and moved the rest of its sports to the PCAA in 1971. The Tigers remained in the Big West until returning to the WCC on July 1, 2013.

Sports sponsored

Programs history

Pacific women's volleyball captured the only two NCAA national championships in school history in back-to-back seasons in 1985 and 1986. Under head coaches Taras Liskevych and John Dunning, the Pacific women's volleyball program qualified for 24 consecutive NCAA Tournaments from 1981 to 2004 and advanced to 18 regionals and 7 final fours during that period. The Pacific Tigers men's basketball program made five NCAA Tournament appearances under head coach Bob Thomason (1997, 2004, 2005, 2006 & 2013). Thomason became the winningest head coach in Big West Conference men's basketball history when he collected his 206th career league victory on February 14, 2009, surpassing the conference win total of former LBSU and UNLV head coach Jerry Tarkanian. Pacific also achieved a 16-game winning streak three times under Thomason. The Pacific men's water polo program was ranked No. 1 in the nation throughout much of the 2013 season and battled the five-time defending champion USC Trojans for the NCAA title in an overtime thriller on December 8, 2013, eventually falling by a score of 12–11 in double overtime. Under the direction of head coach James Graham, the Tigers (23–5) joined Pacific women's volleyball as the only Tigers' program to earn a number one ranking, advance to the Final Four of their sport, and play in the NCAA Championship Game. At the end of the 1995 season, Pacific ended its football program after 77 years of competition. Pacific's softball team has appeared in one

Women's College World Series The Women's College World Series (WCWS) is the final portion of the NCAA Division I softball tournament for college softball in the United States. Eight teams participate in the WCWS, which begins with a double-elimination tournament. In other wo ...

in 1983. On November 12, 2012, it was announced that Pacific would add three new sports teams to its roster – a men's soccer team, a women's track and field team and a women's beach volleyball team. The two women's sports began play in 2013, and the men's soccer team began play in 2014. The most recent change in sports sponsorship was the dropping of men's volleyball at the end of the 2014 season (2013–14 school year).

Gallery

References

External links

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