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Pacific West Conference

NCAA Division II conference From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Pacific West Conference
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The Pacific West Conference (also known as the PacWest) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. Member institutions are located in California and Hawaii.

Quick Facts Association, Founded ...

The conference sponsors the following sports: basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, tennis and track & field outdoor for both men and women; baseball for men only; softball and volleyball for women only. The newest PacWest sports are men's tennis and women's golf, both added in 2012–13.[1]

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History

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Formation

PacWest Conference (California)
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120km
75miles
Vanguard
Jessup
Westmont
Menlo
Point Loma Nazarene
Fresno Pacific
Dominican
Concordia
Biola
Azusa Pacific
Location of PacWest members: current, departing
PacWest Conference (Hawaii)
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130km
81miles
Chaminade
Hawai‘i–Hilo
Hawai‘i Pacific
Location of PacWest members: current

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 I Western 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]

Chronological timeline

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Member schools

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Current members

The PacWest currently has 14 full members, all but one are private schools.

  Member departing for the Division III's Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference on July 1, 2026.
  Member departing for the California Collegiate Athletic Association on July 1, 2026.
  Reclassifying member.

More information Institution, Location ...
Notes
  1. Represents the calendar year when fall sports competition begins.


Affiliate members

The PacWest currently has three affiliate members, all are public schools:

More information Institution, Location ...
Notes
  1. Represents the calendar year when fall sports competition begins.
  2. Part of the California State University System.

Former members

The PacWest had 20 former full members, all but seven were public schools:

More information Institution, Location ...
Notes
  1. Represents the calendar year when fall sports competition begins.
  2. Represents the calendar year when spring sports competition ends.
  3. Academy of Art dropped its athletics program after the 2024–25 school year.
  4. BYU–Hawaii dropped its athletics program after the 2016–17 school year.
  5. Currently an NCAA Division I athletic conference.
  6. Currently known as Utah Tech University since 2022.
  7. 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.
  8. Currently known as California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt since January 26, 2022.
  9. Notre Dame de Namur dropped its athletics program after the 2019–20 school year.
  10. Portland State joined the PacWest only for women's sports.
  11. Seattle competed in some sports during its tenure in the PacWest.
  12. Prior to January 2000, Seattle's nickname was the Chieftains.
  13. Simon Fraser's (SFU) nickname during its tenure in the PacWest was the Clan.

Former affiliate members

The PacWest had two former affiliate members, which were both public schools:

More information Institution, Location ...
Notes
  1. Represents the calendar year when fall sports competition begins.
  2. Represents the calendar year when spring sports competition ends.

Membership timeline

Vanguard UniversityMenlo CollegeJessup UniversityWestmont CollegeMetropolitan State University of DenverColorado Mesa UniversityBiola UniversityConcordia University IrvineCalifornia State University, StanislausCalifornia State University, Los AngelesSonoma State UniversityPoint Loma Nazarene UniversityHoly Names UniversityCalifornia Collegiate Athletic AssociationFresno Pacific UniversitySouthern California Intercollegiate Athletic ConferenceAzusa Pacific UniversityBig West ConferenceWestern Athletic ConferenceCalifornia Baptist UniversityDominican University of CaliforniaAcademy of Art UniversityWestern Athletic ConferenceRocky Mountain Athletic ConferenceUtah Tech UniversityNotre Dame de Namur UniversityWest Coast ConferenceWestern Athletic ConferenceNCAA Division I independent schoolsGreat Northwest Athletic ConferenceSeattle UniversityGreat Northwest Athletic ConferenceNorthwest Nazarene UniversityGreat Northwest Athletic ConferenceWestern Washington UniversityGreat Northwest Athletic ConferenceWestern Oregon UniversityGreat Northwest Athletic ConferenceSaint Martin's UniversityCalifornia Collegiate Athletic AssociationGreat Northwest Athletic ConferenceCalifornia State Polytechnic University, HumboldtHawaii Pacific UniversityGreat Northwest Athletic ConferenceCentral Washington UniversityBrigham Young University–HawaiiLone Star ConferenceRocky Mountain Athletic ConferenceHeartland ConferenceWestern New Mexico UniversityGreat Northwest Athletic ConferenceSeattle Pacific UniversityBig Sky ConferencePortland State UniversityUniversity of Hawaiʻi at HiloMountain West ConferenceWestern Athletic ConferenceNCAA Division II independent schoolsCalifornia Collegiate Athletic AssociationGrand Canyon UniversityGreat Northwest Athletic ConferenceHeartland ConferenceMontana State University BillingsChaminade University of HonoluluGreat Northwest Athletic ConferenceUniversity of Alaska AnchorageGreat Northwest Athletic ConferenceUniversity of Alaska Fairbanks

 Full member (non-football)   Associate member (sport) 

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National championships

Academy of Art

  • Women's outdoor track & field (2013)

Azusa Pacific

  • Women's outdoor track & field (2021, 2023)

BYU–Hawai'i

  • Men's tennis (2002, 2003)
  • Women's tennis (1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007)
  • Women's volleyball (1999, 2002)

Grand Canyon

  • Men's soccer (1996)
  • Men's indoor track & field (2012)

Hawai'i Pacific

  • Women's volleyball (1998, 2000)
  • Softball (2010)
  • Men's tennis (2016)

Point Loma Nazarene

  • Women's soccer (2023)

Sports

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More information Sport, Men's ...

Men's sponsored sports by school

More information School, Baseball ...

Women's sponsored sports by school

More information School, Basketball ...

Other sponsored sports by school

Future members indicated in gray.

More information School, Men ...
  1. De 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.
  2. De facto Division I sport as part of the NCAA Emerging Sports for Women program.
  3. De facto Division I sport as part of the NCAA Emerging Sports for Women program; becomes an official NCAA championship sport in 2025–26.
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Conference facilities

More information Team, Basketball Arena ...
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References

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