Big West Conference

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Big West Conference

Data
Classification	NCAA Division I
Established	1969
Members	8
Sports fielded	17 (8 men's, 9 women's)
Region	West Coast
States	1 - California
Past names	Pacific Coast Athletic Association
Headquarters	Irvine, California

The Big West Conference (BWC) is an NCAA-affiliated Division I major college athletic conference that formerly sponsored Division I-A college football. Due to its past successes in the NCAA's men's college basketball tournament, the Big West is still occasionally considered by some to be a mid-major conference.

1 Background
2 Current members (and years joined)
3 Traveling Partners
4 Football Affiliation
5 Future members
6 Charter (original) members
7 Former members
8 Current conference affiliations (for football) of former members
9 Sports
10 Champions
11 Conference arenas
12 External link

[edit] Background

The history of the conference is linked to that of the Pacific Coast Athletic Association (PCAA), which was founded in 1969 and renamed the Big West Conference in 1988. The Big West Conference dropped sponsorship of football at the end of the 2000-2001 season, but continues to actively sponsor other sports.

In 1990, UNLV (then a member of the Big West) won the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship. The Runnin' Rebels beat Duke University by a record setting margin (30 points) of 103-73, becoming the first team to score over 100 in the championship game.

Beginning in fall of 2001, six of the seven remaining football-playing members parted company with the BWC: Arkansas State, Idaho, New Mexico State, and North Texas joined the Sun Belt Conference; Boise State joined the Western Athletic Conference (WAC); and Utah State became an independent before joining the Sun Belt Conference in fall 2003. Idaho and Utah State retained Big West membership in sports other than football until both officially left for the WAC on July 1, 2005. The departure of Idaho and Utah State leaves the Big West a California-only conference; of these schools, five are in Greater Los Angeles, two others are just to the north or west of that area, and only Pacific is outside of Southern California. This will change once UC Davis, in the Sacramento area, becomes a full member. As such, the Big West basically returns to its roots, as the PCAA had been a California-only conference until they admitted Utah State in 1978.

The seventh football-playing member, Cal Poly, stayed in the Big West for other sports and became a Division I-AA independent before joining the new Great West Football Conference in 2004.

[edit] Current members (and years joined)

Institution	Location	Founded	Affiliation	Enrollment	Joined
California Polytechnic State University	San Luis Obispo, California	1901	Public (California State University system)	17,683	1996
California State University, Fullerton	Fullerton, California	1957	Public (California State University system)	35,921	1974
California State University, Northridge	Northridge, California	1958	Public (California State University system)	33,000	2001
California State University, Long Beach	Long Beach, California	1949	Public (California State University system)	39,863	1969
University of the Pacific	Stockton, California	1851	Private/Non-sectarian	6,268	1971
University of California, Irvine	Irvine, California	1965	Public (University of California system)	24,362	1977
University of California, Riverside	Riverside, California	1954	Public (University of California system)	16,622	2001
University of California, Santa Barbara	Santa Barbara, California	1944	Public (University of California system)	20,559	1976

Teams

[edit] Traveling Partners

UC Irvine and Long Beach State. This is a rivalry.
UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly. This is also a rivalry, as both schools are located on the Central Coast.
UC Riverside and Cal State Fullerton.
Pacific and Cal State Northridge.

[edit] Football Affiliation

UC Davis and Cal Poly play football in the Great West Football Conference.

[edit] Future members

UC Davis - beginning July 1, 2007.

[edit] Charter (original) members

California State University, Fullerton (Dropped Football in 1992)
California State University, Fresno - from 1988 to 1991
California State University, Long Beach (aka Long Beach State University) (Dropped Football in 1999)
University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) - from 1988 to 1996
New Mexico State University - from 1988 to 2000
University of the Pacific (Dropped Football in 1996)
San José State University - from 1988 to 1996
Utah State University - from 1988 to 2005

[edit] Former members

Arkansas State University - from 1993 to 1996 and from 1998 to 2001 (football only)
Boise State University - from 1996 to 2001
University of Idaho - from 1996 to 2005
Louisiana Tech University - from 1993 to 1996 (football only)
University of Nevada - from 1992 to 1999
University of North Texas - from 1996 to 2000
Northern Illinois University - from 1993 to 1996 (football only)
University of Southwestern Louisiana - from 1993 to 1996 (now University of Louisiana at Lafayette) (football only)
Utah State University - from 1988 to 2005

[edit] Current conference affiliations (for football) of former members

Mid-American Conference (1) - Northern Illinois
Mountain West Conference (1) - UNLV
Sun Belt Conference (3) - Arkansas State, Louisiana-Lafayette, and North Texas
Western Athletic Conference (8) - Boise State, Fresno State, Idaho, Louisiana Tech, New Mexico State, Nevada, San Jose State, and Utah State

[edit] Sports

As of fall 2002, the BWC sponsors intercollegiate competition in men’s baseball, men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s cross country, men’s and women’s golf, men’s and women’s soccer, men’s and women’s swimming and diving, women’s softball, men’s and women’s tennis, men’s and women’s track and field, and women’s volleyball.

[edit] Champions

**Men's Basketball Champions**
Season	Regular Season Champion	Tournament Champion
1970	Long Beach State (10-0)	N/A
1971	Long Beach State (10-0)	N/A
1972	Long Beach State (10-2)	N/A
1973	Long Beach State (10-2)	N/A
1974	Long Beach State (12-0)	N/A
1975	Long Beach State (8-2)	N/A
1976	Cal State Fullerton (6-4)	San Diego State
1977	Long Beach State (9-3)	Long Beach State
1978	Fresno State (11-3)	Cal State Fullerton
1979	Pacific (11-3)	Pacific
1980	Utah State (11-2)	San Jose State
1981	Fresno State (12-2)	Fresno State
1982	Fresno State(12-2)	Fresno State
1983	UNLV (15-1)	UNLV
1984	UNLV (16-2)	Fresno State
1985	UNLV (17-1)	UNLV
1986	UNLV (16-2)	UNLV
1987	UNLV (18-0)	UNLV
1988	UNLV (15-3)	Utah State
1989	UNLV (16-2)	UNLV
1990	UNLV (16-2)	UNLV
1991	UNLV (18-0)	UNLV
1992	UNLV (18-0)	New Mexico State
1993	New Mexico State (15-3)	Long Beach State
1994	New Mexico State (12-6)	New Mexico State
1995	Utah State (14-4)	Long Beach State
1996	Long Beach State (12-6)	San Jose State
1997	Pacific (13-3)	Pacific
1998	Pacific (14-2)	Utah State
1999	Boise State/UCSB (12-4)	New Mexico State
2000	Utah State (16-0)	Utah State
2001	UC-Irvine (15-1)	Utah State
2002	Utah State/UC-Irvine (13-5)	UCSB
2003	UCSB (14-4)	Utah State
2004	Utah State/Pacific (17-1)	Pacific
2005	Pacific (18-0)	Utah State
2006	Pacific (14-0)	Pacific
2007	Long Beach State (12-2)	Long Beach State

Big West Conference men's basketball tournament locations

**Football Champions**
Year	University
1969	San Diego State
1970	Long Beach State & San Diego State
1971	Long Beach State
1972	San Diego State
1973	San Diego State
1974	San Diego State
1975	San Jose State
1976	San Jose State
1977	Fresno State
1978	San Jose State and Utah State
1979	Utah State
1980	Long Beach State
1981	San Jose State
1982	Fresno State
1983	Cal State Fullerton
1984	Cal State Fullerton
1985	Fresno State
1986	San Jose State
1987	San Jose State
1988	Fresno State
1989	Fresno State
1990	San Jose State
1991	Fresno State and San Jose State
1992	Nevada
1993	Southwestern Louisiana and Utah State
1994	Southwestern Louisiana, Nevada, and UNLV
1995	Nevada
1996	Nevada and Utah State
1997	Nevada and Utah State
1998	Idaho
1999	Boise State
2000	Boise State

[edit] Conference arenas

Only UC Davis (entering the Big West in July 2007) and Cal Poly have football programs. UC Davis's football stadium is called Aggie Stadium, capacity of 15,000 and Cal Poly's stadium is called Mustang Stadium, capacity of 8,500.

School	Basketball Arena	Capacity
Cal Poly	Mott Gym	3,032
Cal State Fullerton	Titan Gym	3,500
Cal State Northridge	Matadome	1,600
Long Beach State	Walter Pyramid	5,021
Pacific	Alex G. Spanos Center	6,150
UC Irvine	Bren Events Center	4,984
UC Riverside	UC Riverside Student Recreation Center	3,168
UC Santa Barbara	UCSB Events Center (commonly known as the Thunderdome)	6,000