Big West Conference

The Big West Conference (BWC) is an NCAA-affiliated Division I mid-major college athletic conference. When the conference began in 1969, its name was the Pacific Coast Athletic Association (PCAA). After nineteen years, in 1988, its name was changed to the Big West Conference. The conference stopped sponsoring college football after the 2000 season.

Creation of the Pacific Coast Athletic Association
The Big West Conference was formed on July 1, 1969, as the Pacific Coast Athletic Association. The charter all-sports members of the PCAA were Cal State Los Angeles, Fresno State, Long Beach State, San Diego State, San Jose State, and UC Santa Barbara. The University of the Pacific joined only for football, becoming an all-sports member two years later.

Four of these charter members (Cal State Los Angeles, Fresno State, Long Beach State, and San Diego State) had previously been members of the nation's premier Division II conference, the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA). After capturing multiple national championships, the members sought a higher level of play, which could be found within the university ranks. Charter football member Pacific and charter all-sports members San Jose State and UC Santa Barbara had also been CCAA members in the past, but had moved to the West Coast Athletic Conference (now West Coast Conference) before joining the PCAA.

The seven schools formally met in May 1969 and finalized the creation of the PCAA less than two months later.

Evolution
Since its inception as the Pacific Coast Athletic Association, the conference has seen many changes throughout the years. Utah State was the first institution outside of California to join the conference in 1978. This opened the floodgates for many other schools to affiliate with the PCAA; notable schools include UNLV, Nevada, Louisiana Tech, and Boise State, among others.

In 1983, the PCAA became the first western conference to introduce women's athletic programs, giving the opportunity for all its members to have their women student-athletes compete at the same level as their male counterparts. This proved vital for Hawaii as their only participation in the conference was for their women's sports.

However, turnover of universities started to take its toll. Many left to join conferences that were perceived as more well-known, such as the Western Athletic Conference or the Mountain West Conference, while others did not see the benefit of travel since historically many of the teams have been California-based. From the departures of Idaho and Utah State in 2005 until the arrival of Hawaiʻi in 2012, all members were based in California, reducing both the cost and travel time between the universities. When Hawaiʻi joined, it agreed to help defray a portion of travel costs to that state for the league's California members. Between full and associate members, there have been no fewer than 25 members in the conference's history, while only three of the original seven charter members remain (Long Beach State, Pacific, and UC Santa Barbara; in 2013, Pacific will leave).

The change to the Big West
To mark its 20th year as an athletic conference, in 1988 the Pacific Coast Athletic Association decided to change its name to the Big West Conference. The move signaled the changing landscape within the 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 the population. 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 Big East and the Big 12 so the name Big West fit the "big" theme. Despite the eventual departure of all non-California based teams, the widely-known "Big West Conference" name has remained constant.

Current members

 * Note
 * All but one of the current full members are public institutions, with all but one located in California. Pacific has announced its intention to rejoin the West Coast Conference in 2013.

Former members
Many of the former members of the Big West are now members of either the Western Athletic Conference or the Mountain West Conference. Of the nine schools that were in the WAC before the 2010–12 conference realignment, only Hawaii has not spent some time in the Big West as a football participant – it was a Big West member only in women's sports. Of all 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 Louisiana–Lafayette) and one its nickname (Arkansas State, from Indians to Red Wolves).


 * Note
 * Asterisk (*) indicates school has announced intention to change conferences in the near future. All schools so indicated will move in 2013 except for Idaho, which will move in 2014.

Membership timeline
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Notes


 * UC Santa Barbara was an independent from 1974–1976.

Sports
The Big West sponsors chmpionship competition in seven men's and nine women's NCAA sanctioned sports:

The Big West is strong in several sports. Baseball and Women's Volleyball have been the strongest because of the number of championships won. Cal State Fullerton has won 4 College World Series in 1979, 1984, 1995, and 2004. Long Beach State has won 5 Women's Volleyball championships in 1972, 1973, 1989, 1993, 1998, the last three being NCAA sanctioned titles. In 1998 Misty May-Treanor led the 49ers to a 36-0 record on route to the program's most recent title. Pacific won back to back Women's Volleyball titles in 1985 and 1986.

When UNLV won the school's lone Division I Basketball Championship in 1990, by beating Duke University by a record setting margin of 30 points in the 103-73 victory, they were a member of the Big West Conference.

The current members of the Big West have won a total of nine NCAA national championships including UC Santa Barbara’s most recent Men’s Soccer Championship in 2006.

Men's Basketball
The most recent winner of the Big West Conference Tournament is Long Beach State (2012), who won the tournament as the number 1 seed. .

Football
An asterisk denotes the participant in the bowls that invited the Big West champion: Pasadena (1969–70), California (1981–91), Las Vegas (1992–96), and Humanitarian (1997–2000)

The Big West Conference discontinued football following the 2000 season.