Pacific West Conference

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Pacific West Conference

Data
Classification	NCAA Division II
Established	1992
Members	7
Sports fielded	10 (5 men's, 5 women's)
Region	Pacific States
States	4 - Arizona, California, Hawaii, Utah
Commissioner	Bob Hogue
Locations

The Pacific West Conference (also known as the PacWest) is an intercollegiate college athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division II. 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 several member-departures and new NCAA legislation requiring conferences to have at least six members. Member institutions are currently located in California, Arizona, and Hawaii.

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. In 2005, the non-Hawaii schools left to join the Heartland Conference, leaving the Pacific West Conference two teams short of the NCAA membership requirement for voting rights and automatic qualifying status for tournaments. In July, 2005, the Pacific West Conference voted to admit Notre Dame de Namur University as a provisional member, as it moves from the NAIA to the NCAA Division II. Grand Canyon University, formerly an NCAA DII Independent, will also join the conference, returning the Pacific West Conference to full conference status with six members.

The conference sponsors the following sports: Men's and Women's Basketball, Men's and Women's Cross Country, Men's and Women's Soccer, Men's Golf, Women's Tennis, Women's Volleyball and Softball. Brigham Young University-Hawaii has won national championships in Men's and Women's Tennis and Women's Volleyball. Hawaii Pacific University has also won national championships in Volleyball.

On July 6th it was announced that Dixie State College would join the PacWest for the 2007-08 season.1

On April 17th it was announced that the PacWest would sponsor baseball as its 11th sport, in addition to the announcment that Academy of Art University in San Francisco, California would join the PacWest in the 2009-2010 Season as the conference's 8th member.[1]

1 Current members
2 New Pacific West Conference
3 Former members
4 External links

[edit] Current members

The league currently has 8 full members:

Institution	Location	Team Name	Founded	Affiliation	Enrollment	Year Joined
Academy of Art University	San Francisco, California	Urban Knights	1929	Private/Non-sectarian	8,646	2009
Brigham Young University Hawaii	Laie, Hawaii	Seasiders	1955	Private/LDS	2,400	2004
Chaminade University of Honolulu	Honolulu, Hawaii	Silverswords	1955	Private/Catholic	2,132	2004
Dixie State College of Utah	St. George, Utah	Rebels	1911	Public	7,000	2007
Grand Canyon University	Phoenix, Arizona	Antelopes	1949	Private/Baptist	13,000	2005
University of Hawaii at Hilo	Hilo, Hawaii	Vulcans	1941	Public	3,045	2004
Hawaii Pacific University	Honolulu, Hawaii	Sea Warriors	1965	Private/Non-sectarian	9,000	2004
Notre Dame de Namur University	Belmont, California	Argos	1851	Private/Catholic	1,600	2005

[edit] New Pacific West Conference

Hawai’i Pacific University, along with the three other Division II schools in Hawai‘i, welcome Notre Dame de Namur University and Grand Canyon University to the Pacific West Conference beginning in fall of 2006. With the departure of Montana State-Billings University and Western New Mexico University last year, the four Hawai‘i schools played this past season as “independents”, receiving a waiver from the NCAA to keep the conference in name, while searching for new members. 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.

To comply with conference membership regulations, HPU, Chaminade University, Brigham Young University Hawai‘i, and the University of Hawai‘i-Hilo, will add women’s basketball, and men’s and women’s soccer to their athletics programs. The ten sports HPU will now sponsor on the championship level will be men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s cross country, men’s and women’s soccer, men’s golf, women’s volleyball, women’s tennis, and softball. Men’s tennis and baseball will remain sponsored sports at HPU, but will compete as independent.