The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate

athletic conference An athletic conference is a collection of sports teams which play competitively against each other in a sports league. In many cases conferences are subdivided into smaller Division (sport), divisions, with the best teams competing at successively ...

whose member institutions participate in the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

's Division I. The conference was originally formed on July 1, 1969, as the Pacific Coast Athletic Association (PCAA), and in 1988 was renamed the Big West Conference. The conference stopped sponsoring

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

after the 2000 season. Among the conference's 11 member institutions, 10 are located in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

(nine in

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

alone), and one is located in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

(though the Hawaii member is leaving for the

Mountain West Conference The Mountain West Conference (MW) is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States, participating in NCAA Division I. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The MW officially began operations on Ja ...

, effective July 1, 2026). All of the current schools are public universities, with the California schools evenly split between the

California State University The California State University (Cal State or CSU) is a Public university, public university system in California, and the List of largest universities and university networks by enrollment, largest public university system in the United States ...

and the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university, research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Oakland, the system is co ...

systems. In addition, one affiliate member plays two sports in the BWC not sponsored by its home conference.

History

Pacific Coast Athletic Association

The Big West Conference was formed in June 1968 as the Pacific Coast Athletic Association. The five original charter members were Fresno State, San Jose State,

UC Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an independent teachers college, UCSB joined ...

San Diego State San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California, United States. Founded in 1897, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system. SDSU is ...

, and Long Beach State. Two other schools, Cal State Los Angeles and the University of the Pacific, were also considered but they declined at that time to pursue membership. The newly formed conference had several meetings to set up its governance, which was confirmed in October 1968 on the campus of UC Santa Barbara. Before the league started play, Cal State Los Angeles joined as a full member and the University of the Pacific joined for football only, becoming a full member itself two years later. The conference itself lists July 1, 1969, as its founding date, with the seven institutions beginning conference play that fall.

Evolution

Since its inception as the Pacific Coast Athletic Association, the conference has seen many changes. Utah State was the first institution outside California to join the conference in 1978. This opened the floodgates for many other schools to affiliate with the PCAA; notable schools include

UNLV The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada, United States. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

, Louisiana Tech, Boise State, and football-only members, such as Southwestern Louisiana and Arkansas State. In 1983, the PCAA became the first western conference to introduce women's athletic programs, allowing female student-athletes to compete at the same level as their male counterparts. This proved vital for Hawaiʻi as their only participation in the conference was for their women's sports. However, many universities left to join conferences that were perceived as more well-known, such as the

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the Western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, Texas, Utah and Washington (state), Washington. Due to ...

or the

, while others did not see the benefit of travel since historically many of the teams have been California-based. From the departures of

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...

and Utah State in 2005 until the arrival of Hawaii in 2012, all members were based in California, reducing the cost and travel time between the universities. When Hawaii joined, it agreed to help defray a portion of travel costs to that state for the league's California members. In 2011, San Diego State University had initially agreed to move all sports except football (

Big East The Big East Conference (stylized as BIG EAST) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference that competes in National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA NCAA Division I, Division I in 10 men's sports and 12 women's sports. H ...

) to the Big West along with Hawai'i by 2013. However, when the Big East decided to no longer sponsor football for the 2013 season, SDSU backed out of their agreement with the Big West, electing to remain a member with the Mountain West instead. Upon numerous conference shifts spurred from the announcement that

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

and

USC USC may refer to: Education United States * Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, Santurce, Puerto Rico * University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina ** University of South Carolina System, a state university system of South Carolina * ...

of the Pac-12 were to move to Big 10, a domino effect occurred, ultimately resulting in both Hawai'i and

UC Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Davis, California, United States. It is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University ...

announcing their move to the Mountain West effective the 2026 school year. This would leave the Big West with 9 teams, and with the member universities hoping to keep the conference at 11 teams, invited both California Baptist University and

Utah Valley University Utah Valley University (UVU) is a public university in Orem, Utah, United States. UVU offers master's, bachelor's, associate degrees, and certificates. Previously called Utah Valley State College, the school attained university status in July ...

to join the conference by the 2026 school year. Both institutions have since announced their respective intentions to join the conference, marking it the first time since 2013 that a private university will compete in the Big West, and the first time since 2005 that the Big West will have a member in the continental U.S. outside of California. There have been no fewer than 25 full and associate members in the conference's history, while only two of the original seven charter members remain (Long Beach State and UC Santa Barbara, with only Long Beach State's membership being continuous).

The change to the Big West

Effective July 1, 1988, the Pacific Coast Athletic Association changed its name to the Big West Conference. With such schools as Utah State, UNLV, Nevada, New Mexico State, and Hawaii now in the fold, the name change was more representative of its member institutions. In addition, the conference had signed a contract with ESPN to have its men's basketball games telecast as the third game of a triple header known as '' Big Monday'' - the other conferences being featured were the

and the

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives in 1 ...

so the name Big West fit the theme.

Member schools

Current full members

Members departing for the

in 2026. ;Notes:

Future members

;Notes

Affiliate members

;Notes:

Future affiliate members

;Notes

Former members

Many of the former members of the Big West are now members of the

or the

. Of the nine schools that were in the WAC before its early-2010s realignment, only Hawaii had not spent some time in the Big West as a football participant – it was a Big West member only in women's sports. Of the former members, Cal State Los Angeles is the only team that reverted to Division II level. School names and nicknames reflect those used by the institutions when they were Big West members. One school has changed its name (Southwestern Louisiana, now branded athletically as Louisiana and also known as Louisiana–Lafayette) and another its nickname (Arkansas State, from Indians to Red Wolves).

Former full members

Former affiliate members

Former football-only members

;Notes

Membership timeline

ImageSize = width:1000 height:auto barincrement:20 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:20 left:0 bottom:50 top:5 #> to display a count on left side of graph, use "left:20" to suppress the count, use "left:20"<# DateFormat = yyyy Period = from:1969 till:2032 Colors = id:barcolor value:rgb(0.99,0.7,0.7) id:line value:black id:bg value:white id:Full value:rgb(0.742,0.727,0.852) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports id:FullxF value:rgb(0.551,0.824,0.777) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports except for football id:AssocF value:rgb(0.98,0.5,0.445) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member for football only id:AssocOS value:rgb(0.5,0.691,0.824) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in some sports, but not all (consider identifying in legend or a footnote) id:OtherC1 value:rgb(0.996,0.996,0.699) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference id:OtherC2 value:rgb(0.988,0.703,0.383) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference where OtherC1 has already been used, to distinguish the two PlotData= width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s bar:1 color:Full from:1969 till:1974 text: Cal State Los Angeles (1969–1974) bar:1 shift:(100) color:OtherC1 from:1974 till:end text: CCAA bar:2 color:Full from:1969 till:1976 text:

(1969–1978) bar:2 color:FullxF from:1976 till:1978 bar:2 color:OtherC1 from:1978 till:1999 text: WAC bar:2 color:OtherC2 from:1999 till:2026 text: Mountain West bar:2 color:AssocOS from:2012 till:2013 text:(w. water polo, 2012-2013) bar:2 color:OtherC1 from:2026 till:end text: Pac-12 bar:3 color:Full from:1969 till:1992 text: Fresno State (1969–1992) bar:3 color:OtherC1 from:1992 till:2012 text: WAC bar:3 color:OtherC2 from:2012 till:2026 text: Mountain West bar:3 color:OtherC1 from:2026 till:end text: Pac-12 bar:4 color:Full from:1969 till:1996 text: San Jose State (1969–1996) bar:4 color:OtherC1 from:1996 till:2013 text: WAC bar:4 color:OtherC2 from:2013 till:end text: Mountain West bar:5 color:AssocF from:1969 till:1971 text:

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the cont ...

(1969–2013) bar:5 color:Full from:1971 till:1996 bar:5 color:FullxF from:1996 till:2013 bar:5 color:OtherC1 from:2013 till:end text: WCC bar:6 color:Full from:1969 till:1974 text:

(1969–1974; 1976–present) bar:6 color:OtherC1 from:1974 till:1976 text: bar:6 color:FullxF from:1976 till:end text: bar:7 color:Full from:1969 till:1992 text: Long Beach State (1969–present) bar:7 color:FullxF from:1992 till:end bar:8 color:OtherC1 from:1969 till:1974 text: CCAA bar:8 color:Full from:1974 till:1992 text: Cal State Fullerton (1974–present) bar:8 color:FullxF from:1992 till:end bar:9 color:OtherC1 from:1969 till:1977 text: D-II Independent bar:9 color:FullxF from:1977 till:end text:

UC Irvine UC may refer to: Education In the United States * University of California system * University of Charleston, West Virginia * University of Chicago, Illinois * University of Cincinnati, Ohio * Upsala College, East Orange, New Jersey (''defunct ...

(1977–present) bar:10 color:OtherC1 from:1969 till:1978 text:

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

bar:10 color:Full from:1978 till:2001 text: Utah State (1978–2005) bar:10 color:FullxF from:2001 till:2005 bar:10 color:OtherC1 from:2005 till:2013 text: WAC bar:10 color:OtherC2 from:2013 till:2026 text: Mountain West bar:10 color:OtherC1 from:2026 till:end text: Pac-12 bar:11 color:OtherC1 from:1969 till:1975 text: WCAC bar:11 color:OtherC2 from:1975 till:1982 text:

bar:11 color:Full from:1982 till:1996 text:

(1982–1996) bar:11 color:OtherC1 from:1996 till:1999 text: WAC bar:11 color:OtherC2 from:1999 till:end text: Mountain West bar:12 color:OtherC1 from:1969 till:1970 text: Ind. bar:12 shift:(10) color:OtherC2 from:1970 till:1983 text: MVC bar:12 color:FullxF from:1983 till:1984 text:

New Mexico State New Mexico State University (NMSU or NM State) is a Public university system, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in Las Cruces, New Mexico, United States. Founded in 1888, it is the state's oldest public institution ...

(1983–2000) bar:12 color:Full from:1984 till:2000 bar:12 color:AssocF from:2000 till:2001 bar:12 color:OtherC1 from:2001 till:2005 text:

Sun Belt The Sun Belt is a region of the United States generally considered stretching across the Southeast and Southwest. Another rough definition of the region is the area south of the Parallel 36°30′ north. Several climates can be found in the re ...

bar:12 color:OtherC2 from:2005 till:2023 text: WAC bar:12 color:OtherC1 from:2023 till:end text:

C-USA Conference USA (CUSA) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference of member institutions in the Southern United States, Southern and Western United States. The conference participates in the National Collegiate Athletic Associ ...

bar:13 color:AssocOS from:1984 till:1990 text: Cal Poly Pomona (softball, 1984–1990) bar:14 color:OtherC1 from:1969 till:1979 text:Independent bar:14 color:OtherC2 from:1979 till:1984 text: WAC bar:14 color:AssocOS from:1984 till:1996 text:(women's sports, 1984–1996) bar:14 color:OtherC1 from:1996 till:2012 text: WAC bar:14 color:FullxF from:2012 till:2026 bar:14 shift:(-325,-5) color:AssocOS from:2026 till:end text: Hawai'i (m. volleyball, beach volleyball, m. swimming and diving, w. water polo; 2026-future) bar:15 color:OtherC1 from:1969 till:1979 text: WCAC bar:15 color:OtherC2 from:1979 till:1992 text: Big Sky bar:15 color:Full from:1992 till:2000 text:

(1992–2000) bar:15 color:OtherC1 from:2000 till:2012 text: WAC bar:15 color:OtherC2 from:2012 till:end text: Mountain West bar:16 color:AssocF from:1993 till:1996 text: Louisiana Tech (1993–1995) bar:17 color:AssocF from:1993 till:1996 text:

Northern Illinois Northern Illinois is a region generally covering the northern third of the U.S. state of Illinois. The region is by far the most populous of Illinois, with nearly 9.7 million residents as of 2010. Economics Northern Illinois is dominated by ...

(1993–1995) bar:18 color:AssocF from:1993 till:1996 text: SW Louisiana (1993–1995) bar:19 color:AssocF from:1993 till:1996 text: Arkansas State (1993–1995, 1999-2001) bar:19 color:AssocF from:1999 till:2001 text: bar:20 color:OtherC1 from:1969 till:1975 text: MVC bar:20 color:OtherC2 from:1975 till:1982 text:

bar:20 color:OtherC1 from:1982 till:1996 text: Southland bar:20 color:Full from:1996 till:2000 text:

North Texas North Texas is a term used primarily by residents of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex to refer to a geographic area of Texas, generally considered to include the area south of Oklahoma, east of Abilene, Texas, Abilene, west of Paris, Texas, Par ...

(1996–2000) bar:20 color:AssocF from:2000 till:2001 bar:20 shift:(50) color:OtherC1 from:2001 till:2013 text:

bar:20 color:OtherC2 from:2013 till:2023 text:

bar:20 color:OtherC1 from:2023 till:end text: American bar:21 color:OtherC1 from:1969 till:1970 text:Ind. bar:21 shift:(10) color:OtherC2 from:1970 till:1996 text: Big Sky bar:21 color:Full from:1996 till:2001 text: Boise State (1996–2001) bar:21 shift:(50) color:OtherC1 from:2001 till:2011 text: WAC bar:21 color:OtherC2 from:2011 till:end text: Mountain West bar:21 color:OtherC1 from:2026 till:end text: Pac-12 bar:22 color:OtherC1 from:1969 till:1996 text: Big Sky bar:22 color:Full from:1996 till:2001 text:

(1996–2005) bar:22 color:FullxF from:2001 till:2005 bar:22 color:OtherC1 from:2005 till:2014 text: WAC bar:22 color:OtherC2 from:2014 till:2024 text: Big Sky bar:22 color:AssocOS from:2024 till:2025 text:(m. golf, 2024–2025) bar:22 color:OtherC2 from:2025 till:end bar:23 color:AssocOS from:1996 till:2002 text: Sacramento State (baseball, 1996–2002; m. soccer, 2012–present; beach v'ball, 2015–present; m. golf, 2024–2025) bar:23 color:AssocOS from:2012 till:end bar:24 color:OtherC1 from:1969 till:1994 text: CCAC bar:24 color:OtherC2 from:1994 till:1996 text: AWC bar:24 color:FullxF from:1996 till:end text: Cal Poly (1996–present) bar:25 color:OtherC1 from:1969 till:1990 text: CCAC bar:25 color:OtherC2 from:1990 till:1994 text:

bar:25 color:OtherC1 from:1994 till:1996 text: AWC bar:25 color:OtherC2 from:1996 till:2001 text: Big Sky bar:25 color:FullxF from:2001 till:end text: Cal State Northridge (2001–present) bar:26 color:OtherC1 from:1969 till:2000 text: CCAC bar:26 shift:(-5) color:OtherC2 from:2000 till:2001 text: Ind. bar:26 color:FullxF from:2001 till:end text: UC Riverside (2001–present) bar:27 color:OtherC1 from:1969 till:1982 text: FWC bar:27 color:OtherC1 from:1982 till:1998 text: NCAC bar:27 color:OtherC2 from:1998 till:2004 text: CCAC bar:27 color:OtherC1 from:2004 till:2007 text: Indep. bar:27 color:FullxF from:2007 till:2026 text:

(2007–2026) bar:27 color:OtherC2 from:2026 till:end text: Mountain West bar:28 color:OtherC1 from:1971 till:1972 text:Ind. bar:28 shift:(10) color:OtherC2 from:1972 till:2007 text: CCAA bar:28 color:OtherC1 from:2007 till:2013 bar:28 color:OtherC2 from:2013 till:2015 bar:28 shift:(-150,-5) color:AssocOS from:2015 till:end text:

Bakersfield Bakersfield is a city in and the county seat of Kern County, California, United States. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley, which is located in the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's population as of the ...

(beach volleyball, 2015–present; full member, 2020–present) bar:28 color:FullXF from:2020 till:end bar:29 color:OtherC1 from:1969 till:2000 text: D-III Independent bar:29 color:OtherC2 from:2000 till:2017 bar:29 shift:(-300,-5) color:AssocOS from:2017 till:2020 text:

UC San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego in communications material, formerly and colloquially UCSD) is a public land-grant research university in San Diego, California, United States. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Sc ...

(m. volleyball, 2017–present; w. water polo, 2019–present; full member, 2020–present) bar:29 color:FullXF from:2020 till:end bar:30 shift:(-131,-5) color:AssocOS from:2025 till:end text: GCU (m. and w. swimming and diving; 2025-future) bar:31 shift: (-140,-5) color:AssocOS from:2025 till:end text:

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

(m. and w. swimming and diving; 2025-future) bar:32 Shift:(-122,-5) color:AssocOS from:2025 till:end text:

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

(w. swimming and diving; 2025-future) bar:33 color:OtherC1 from:1969 till:1987 text: NAIA Ind. bar:33 color:OtherC2 from:1987 till:2013 text: GSAC bar:33 color:OtherC1 from:2013 till:2018 text: PacWest bar:33 color:OtherC2 from:2018 till:2026 text: WAC bar:33 shift: (-19,-5) color:FullXF from:2026 till:end text: Cal Baptist 2026-future bar:34 color:OtherC1 from:1969 till:1974 text:

NJCAA The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) is the governing association of community college, State college (disambiguation), state college, and junior college athletics throughout the United States. Currently the NJCAA holds 24 sepa ...

bar:34 color:OtherC2 from:1974 till:1984 text: ICAC bar:34 color:OtherC1 from:1984 till:2003 text: Scenic West bar:34 color:OtherC2 from:2003 till:2008 text:

bar:34 color:OtherC1 from:2008 till:2013 text: Great West bar:34 color:OtherC2 from:2013 till:2026 text: WAC bar:34 shift: (-24,-5) color:FullXF from:2026 till:end text:

Utah Valley Utah Valley is a valley in North Central Utah located in Utah County, Utah, Utah County, and is considered part of the Wasatch Front. It contains the cities of Provo, Utah, Provo, Orem, Utah, Orem, and their suburbs, including Alpine, Utah, A ...

2026-future bar:N color:blue from:1969 till:1988 text:Pacific Collegiate Athletic Association (PCAA) bar:N color:powderblue from:1988 till:end text:Big West Conference ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:2 start:1970 TextData = fontsize:M textcolor:black pos:(0,30) tabs:(400-center) text:^"Big West Conference Membership History" #> If the chart uses more than one bar color, add a legend by selecting the appropriate fields from the following six options (use only the colors that are used in the graphic.) Leave a blank line after the end of the timeline, then add a line with the selected values from the list, separated by a space. <# Notes * San Diego State played football as an independent for the 1976 and 1977 seasons before leaving the Big West Conference in 1978. * UC Santa Barbara was an independent from 1974–75 to 1975–76. * Cal State Fullerton played football as an independent for the 1992 season and dropped football entirely the following year. * Louisiana Tech, Northern Illinois, Southwestern Louisiana, and Arkansas State joined the Big West for a short-lived football consortium from 1993 to 1995. * Arkansas State played football as an independent from 1996 to 1998 and later rejoined the Big West for football during the 1999 and 2000 seasons.

Sports

The Big West Conference currently sponsors 21 NCAA sports, with men's and women's swimming & diving the newest additions for the 2024–25 school year. In baseball, Cal State Fullerton has won four College World Series titles with national championships in 1979, 1984, 1995, and 2004. In addition, Long Beach State and UC Irvine have made multiple appearances in the College World Series. Fullerton also has a national championship in softball, winning in 1984. Long Beach State has won three NCAA women's volleyball titles, as a part of Big West Conference women's volleyball, with national championships in 1989, 1993, and 1998. Misty May-Treanor led the 49ers (now known as Beach) to a 36–0 record en route to the program's most recent title. UC Santa Barbara was the NCAA men's soccer runner-up in 2004, losing the national championship match to Indiana on penalty kicks. The Gauchos returned to the College Cup in 2006 and won the national championship. Former Big West members UNLV and Pacific won national championships while part of the conference. The UNLV Runnin' Rebels men's basketball team won the 1990 NCAA tournament championship after routing Duke 103–73 in the national title game. UNLV was undefeated during the 1991 NCAA men's basketball season before falling to Duke in the final four. The Runnin' Rebels during this era are widely considered one of the best college basketball teams of all time. The Pacific Tigers women's volleyball team won back-to-back national championships in 1985 and 1986. The Big West did not sponsor men's volleyball or men's water polo, but it was the primary conference affiliation of several schools that compete in the

Mountain Pacific Sports Federation The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) is a college athletic conference with members located mostly in the Western United States, although it has added members as far east as Massachusetts. The conference participates at the NCAA Divisio ...

for these sports, respectively. In NCAA men's volleyball, UC Irvine has established itself as one of the nation's most elite programs, winning four national championships in 2007, 2009, 2012, and 2013. Long Beach State also won men's national volleyball titles in 1991, 2018, and 2019. In NCAA men's water polo, UC Irvine won three national championships in 1970, 1982, and 1989. UC Santa Barbara also won a men's water polo title in 1979. On May 31, 2016, the Big West announced the conference would sponsor men's volleyball as its 18th sport, with five Big West schools leaving the MPSF to establish the new men's volleyball league. Men's volleyball is the third of four sports in which the MPSF has recently seen a mass exodus of teams to join an existing conference in a newly sponsored sport, with men's soccer, men's water polo, and women's lacrosse as the others. The men's volleyball membership includes core Big West members Cal State Northridge, Long Beach State, Hawaii, UC Irvine, and UC Santa Barbara. UC San Diego joined as an affiliate to bring the league to the NCAA minimum requirement of 6 teams to receive an automatic bid for the NCAA tournament. Big West Commissioner Dennis Farrell explained that adding UC San Diego was not an indicator UC San Diego would be added to the Big West Conference as a full member. UC San Diego had recently passed a bill to move all their sports to Division I and was looking for an invite from the Big West Conference. UC San Diego has long competed at the Division I level in men's volleyball; the NCAA conducts a single national championship open to all Division I and II members, and scholarship limits in the sport are the same in both divisions. The Big West regular season for men's volleyball will be a double round-robin, with each team playing the others once at home and once on the road. The Big West Tournament will have all six teams participate in single-elimination rounds with the top two teams receiving semifinal byes. The Big West is the first Division I all-sports conference (defined as a league that sponsors men's and women's basketball) ever to sponsor men's volleyball, and the second NCAA all-sports conference overall to sponsor men's volleyball as a scholarship sport (the first was the Division II

Conference Carolinas Conference Carolinas, formerly known as the Carolinas-Virginia Athletic Conference (CVAC) or the Carolinas Conference, is a List of NCAA conferences, college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) ...

). On November 26, 2017, the Big West announced that it would add UC San Diego along with Cal State Bakersfield as its 10th and 11th members starting on July 1, 2020. Cal State Bakersfield, which was already a full Division I member competing in the

, became a full member effective July 1, 2020. UC San Diego, which had failed to move up from Division II in failed bids to the Big West in 2011 and April 2017, has begun the four-year transition process to Division I and became a full member effective July 1, 2024. UC San Diego's men's volleyball joined the Big West in 2017, in advance of that sport's 2018 season, and women's water polo joined in 2019. Because the NCAA does not sponsor a Division II championship in either men's volleyball or women's water polo, UCSD was eligible for conference championships in both sports upon joining the Big West, and will remain eligible for such during the D-I transition. UC San Diego and Cal State Bakersfield, the latter now in the process of rebranding its athletic program as Bakersfield, officially joined the conference on July 1, 2020, and Dan Butterly became the new commissioner following the retirement of Dennis Farrell.

Men's sponsored sports by school

Women's sponsored sports by school

Current conference champions

The Big West Conference sponsors championship competition in 9 men's and 10 women's NCAA sanctioned sports. Men's and women's swimming & diving were added in 2024–25. Regular-season champions are indicated with "(RS)" and tournament champions with "(T)".

Former sports

Football

An asterisk denotes the participant in the bowls that invited the Big West champion:
Pasadena (1969–70),

(1981–91),

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

(1992–96), and

Humanitarian Humanitarianism is an ideology centered on the value of human life, whereby humans practice benevolent treatment and provide assistance to other humans to reduce suffering and improve the conditions of humanity for moral, altruistic, and emotiona ...

(1997–2000) The Big West Conference discontinued football following the 2000 season.

Athletic department revenue by school

Total revenue includes ticket sales, contributions and donations, rights and licensing, student fees, school funds and all other sources including TV income, camp income, concessions, and novelties. Total expenses includes coach and staff salaries, scholarships, buildings and grounds, maintenance, utilities and rental fees, recruiting, team travel, equipment and uniforms, conference dues, and insurance. The following table shows institutional reporting to the

United States Department of Education The United States Department of Education is a cabinet-level department of the United States government, originating in 1980. The department began operating on May 4, 1980, having been created after the Department of Health, Education, and ...

as shown on the DOE Equity in Athletics website for the 2024–25 academic year. Notably, no school is operating under a deficit, but most are even.

Facilities

Commissioner's Cup

Starting during the Big West Conference's 1998–99 season, the Commissioner's Cup is awarded yearly to the most outstanding program throughout the season in the conference's sponsored sports. The UC Santa Barbara Gauchos are the most successful team to date having won 10 total trophies.

Overall Commissioner's Cups Table

Note 1: Bold indicates current members of the Big West Conference
Note 2: The

Pacific Tigers The Pacific Tigers represent the University of the Pacific (United States), University of the Pacific in Stockton, California, in intercollegiate athletics. The Tigers compete in NCAA Division I, and are currently in their second stint as members ...

moved to the

West Coast Conference The West Coast Conference (WCC) — known as the California Basketball Association from 1952 to 1956 and then as the West Coast Athletic Conference until 1989 — is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I consisting o ...

in 2013

SoCal Challenge

Starting in 2021, the Big West Conference served as host of the SoCal Challenge, an eight-team men's basketball tournament held during Monday and Wednesday of

Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in October and November in the United States, Canada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Germany. It is also observed in the Australian territory ...

week. One Big West team represented the conference in the field of each tournament. Cal Poly, Cal State Northridge and Cal State Bakersfield participated in 2021, 2022 and 2023, respectively. The final tournament was held in 2023.

References

External links

* {{NCAA nonfootball Div1 conferences Sports organizations established in 1969 Articles which contain graphical timelines 1969 establishments in the United States

History

Pacific Coast Athletic Association

Evolution

The change to the Big West

Member schools

Current full members

Future members

Affiliate members

Future affiliate members

Former members

Former full members

Former affiliate members

Former football-only members

Membership timeline

Sports

Men's sponsored sports by school

Women's sponsored sports by school

Current conference champions

Former sports

Football

Athletic department revenue by school

Facilities

Commissioner's Cup

Overall Commissioner's Cups Table

SoCal Challenge

See also

References

External links