This article is about the current NCAA Division II conference. For the former NCAA Division I women's sports conference that briefly used this name, see Western Collegiate Athletic Association. For other uses, see PacWest.
The PacWest was formed in 1992 when the Great Northwest Conference (a men's conference) merged with the Continental Divide Conference (a women's conference containing some of the same members), in response to the departures of several members and new NCAA legislation requiring conferences to have at least six members.[2] In addition, some Hawai'i-based colleges joined the new conference.
At one point the conference expanded to 16 members, but in 2001, member schools from Washington, Alaska, California, and Oregon left to form the new Great Northwest Athletic Conference.[2]
With the departure of the final two mainland members, Montana State University–Billings and Western New Mexico University, to join the Heartland Conference in 2005, the four Hawai'i universities played one season as “independents” after receiving a waiver from the NCAA to keep the conference in name, while searching for new members, because in order to be eligible for conference membership in the NCAA, a conference must consist of a minimum of six member institutions who sponsor at least ten sports, with two team sports for each gender.
New PacWest Conference
To comply with conference membership regulations, Hawai'i Pacific (HPU), Chaminade, BYU–Hawai'i and Hawai'i–Hilo added new sports to their programs. In July 2005, the Pacific West Conference voted to admit Notre Dame de Namur University as a provisional member, as it moved from the NAIA to the NCAA Division II. Grand Canyon University, formerly an NCAA D-II Independent, also joined the conference, returning the Pacific West Conference to full conference status with six members. Dixie State College of Utah joined the conference for the 2007–08 season. In 2008, it was announced that Academy of Art University would join the conference in the 2009–10 season as the conference's 8th member. In 2009 it was announced that Dominican University of California would join the conference in the 2009–10 season as the conference's 9th member.[3] That same year, the conference announced it would sponsor baseball as its 11th sport, with Hawai'i Pacific University, University of Hawai'i–Hilo, Dixie State College of Utah (now Utah Tech University), and Grand Canyon University competing on a Division II level.[4]
Recent expansion and contraction
The conference began expansion in 2010 when the PacWest invited California Baptist University, from the NAIA's Golden State Athletic Conference (GSAC) to join the conference beginning with the 2011–12 school year.[5] On June 1, 2011, the conference announced the additions of Azusa Pacific University, Fresno Pacific University and Point Loma Nazarene University, all members of the GSAC,[1] which began Pacific West Conference play during the 2012–13 season. Holy Names University was also added to the PacWest in 2011, but did not begin the NCAA Division II membership process from the NAIA until July 13, 2012.[6] As part of the transition process from NAIA to NCAA Holy Names remained ineligible for NCAA postseason play through 2015–16.[1] On November 27, 2012, Grand Canyon announced it would leave the PacWest after the 2012–13 school year to accept an invitation to join the Division IWestern Athletic Conference.[7] In July 2016, it was announced that Biola University would join the PacWest for the 2017–18 season. In October 2016, Dixie State announced that it would transition from the PacWest to the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference after the 2017–18 school year. On January 13, 2017, California Baptist announced that it will leave the PacWest in favor of moving up to NCAA Division I.[8] On March 23, 2020, Notre Dame de Namur announced the cessation of all its athletics after the 2019–20 school year.[9]
2001 – Alaska–Anchorage (UAA), Alaska–Fairbanks (UAF), Central Washington, Humboldt State (now Cal Poly–Humboldt), Northwest Nazarene, Saint Martin's, Seattle, Seattle Pacific, Western Oregon and Western Washington left the PacWest to form the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) after the 2000–01 academic year.
2005 – Montana State–Billings and Western New Mexico left the PacWest to join the Heartland Conference after the 2004–05 academic year.
2005 – Notre Dame de Namur University joined the PacWest as a provisional full member (along with Grand Canyon re-joining), both effective in the 2005–06 academic year.
2007 – Dixie State University (now Utah Tech University) joined the PacWest in the 2007–08 academic year.
2013 – Grand Canyon left the PacWest to join the NCAA Division I ranks and the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) after the 2012–13 academic year.
2013 – Sonoma State University joined the PacWest as an affiliate member for men's and women's tennis in the 2014 spring season (2013–14 academic year).
2017 – BYU–Hawaii left the PacWest as the school announced that it would discontinue its athletic program after the 2016–17 academic year.
2017 – Biola University joined the PacWest in the 2017–18 academic year.
2018 – Two institutions left the PacWest to join their respective new home primary conferences: Dixie State (now Utah Tech) to join the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC), and Cal Baptist to join the NCAA Division I ranks and the WAC, both effective after the 2017–18 academic year.
2020 – Notre Dame de Namur left the PacWest as the school announced that it would discontinue its athletic program after the 2019–20 academic year.
^Grand Canyon's for-profit status is disputed. The U.S. Department of Education considers it for-profit, but the NCAA, the state of Arizona, and the Internal Revenue Service consider it a nonprofit.
^Currently known as California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt since January 26, 2022.
^Notre Dame de Namur dropped its athletics program after the 2019–20 school year.
^Portland State joined the PacWest only for women's sports.
^SFU's nickname during its PacWest tenure was Clan.
Former affiliate members
The PacWest had one former affiliate member, which was also a public school:
^ abcdDe facto Division I sport. The NCAA men's volleyball championship is open to members of Divisions I and II, and the NCAA championships in beach volleyball and men's and women's water polo are open to members of all three NCAA divisions.
