Great West Conference

Great West Conference
Established 2004
Association NCAA
Division Division I FCS
Members 6 full-time (5 in 2012, 4 in 2013), 12 affiliate (6 by 2012)
Sports fielded 16 (15 in 2013) (men's: 7 (6 in 2013); women's: 9)
Region Midwest and West
Former names Great West Football Conference
Headquarters Elmhurst, Illinois
Commissioner Ed Grom
Website www.greatwestconference.org
Locations

The Great West Conference is an NCAA college athletic conference in the continental United States. Formerly a football-only conference, in 2008 it became an all-sports conference. It is a member of the Division I Football Championship Subdivision (formerly I-AA).

Contents

History

Cal Poly, North Dakota State, Northern Colorado, South Dakota State, Southern Utah, and UC Davis began conference play in the Great West Football Conference in 2004. St. Mary's (CA) was slated to join the conference, but dropped football prior to the 2004 season. In 2005 Cal Poly was the conference's first participant in the NCAA Division I-AA (now FCS) playoffs.

Northern Colorado left the GWFC to join the Big Sky Conference for all sports for the 2006 season. On March 7, 2007, North Dakota State and South Dakota State announced that they would leave the conference after the 2007 season and join the Gateway Football Conference in 2008;[1] by the time the two schools joined, the Gateway Conference renamed itself the Missouri Valley Football Conference. On August 2, 2007 the University of North Dakota and the University of South Dakota announced that they would be joining the Great West Conference in 2008.

On July 10, 2008 it was made official in press conferences that the conference would change from a football only conference into an all sports conference. The charter members of the all-sports conference include North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah Valley University, Houston Baptist, Texas-Pan American, and NJIT.[2] Chicago State joined the conference October 22, and these new schools will begin all-sports conference play in 2009–2010. Seattle University was considering membership, but in 2011 they accepted an invitation to play instead in the WAC.[3]

The all-sports version of the Great West officially began conference play in a limited number of sports during the fall sports season of 2008. During the 2008-09 academic year, the Great West will award championships in cross country, indoor track and field, outdoor track and field, golf, and tennis. Full conference play among all sponsored team and individual sports will begin with the 2009-10 academic year. Despite not playing a conference schedule in team sports, the league began to award "Player of the Week" honors to student-athletes in all sports in the 2008-09 year.

The conference currently does not have an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, but the Great West Conference men's basketball tournament champion has an automatic bid to CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT).[4]

In April 2010 South Dakota announced their intentions to join The Summit League for all sports but football (they later announced their commitment to the Missouri Valley Football Conference for football in November 2010). In September 2010 Cal Poly and UC Davis announced that they would join the Big Sky Conference for football by 2012,[5] and in November 2010 Southern Utah and North Dakota announced that they would join the Big Sky for all sports by 2012. With these moves, all football members will have left the Great West and the league will cease to sponsor football by 2013 or earlier. The conference overall will lose two full members and six affiliates by 2012, four football affiliates (Cal Poly, UC Davis, South Dakota and Southern Utah), softball affliate UN-Omaha and multi-sport affliate Seattle.

Members

Current

Institution Location Founded Type Enrollment Joined Nickname
Chicago State University Chicago, Illinois 1867 Public 7,131 2008 Cougars
Houston Baptist University* Houston, Texas 1960 Private 3,100 2008 Huskies
New Jersey Institute of Technology Newark, New Jersey 1881 Public 5,263 2008 Highlanders
University of North Dakota** Grand Forks, North Dakota 1883 Public 12,834 2008 Fighting Sioux***
University of Texas–Pan American Edinburg, Texas 1927 Public 17,048 2008 Broncs
Utah Valley University Orem, Utah 1941 Public 32,670 2008 Wolverines

* Houston Baptist will join the Southland Conference July 1, 2013.[6]

** North Dakota will join the Big Sky Conference in 2012.[7]

*** North Dakota will retire the Fighting Sioux nickname on January 1, 2012.[8]

Affiliates

Institution Location Founded Type Enrollment Joined Nickname Primary conference Sport
University of California, Davis Davis, California 1905 Public 27,530 2004 Aggies Big West Conference Football*
California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo, California 1901 Public 18,722 2004 Mustangs Big West Conference Football*
California State University, Bakersfield Bakersfield, California 1965 Public 7,598 2013 Roadrunners Independent Men's and Women's Outdoor Track and Field, Women's Tennis
Delaware State University Dover, Delaware 1891 Public 3,756 2009 Hornets Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Soccer
Howard University Washington, D.C. 1867 Private 10,991 2009 Bison Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Soccer
University of Nebraska at Omaha Omaha, Nebraska 1908 Public 14,903 2011 Mavericks Independent** Softball**
New York Institute of Technology Old Westbury, New York 1955 Private 12,755 2009 Bears East Coast Conference Baseball
University of Northern Colorado Greeley, Colorado 1889 Public 12,981 2009 Bears Big Sky Conference Baseball
Seattle University Seattle, Washington 1891 Private 7,717 2009 Redhawks Independent*** Cross country, track and field, and women's tennis***[9]
South Carolina State University Orangeburg, South Carolina 1896 Public 5,411 2009 Bulldogs Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Soccer
University of South Dakota Vermillion, South Dakota 1862 Public 8,241 2008 Coyotes The Summit League Football****
Southern Utah University Cedar City, Utah 1897 Public 7,509 2004 Thunderbirds The Summit League Football*****

* UC-Davis and Cal-Poly have accepted invitations to join the Big Sky Conference for football for 2012[10]

** UN-Omaha has joined the Great West Conference for one season for softball only while they transition from Division II to Division I. They will be a full member of The Summit League beginning July 1, 2012.

*** Seattle will move the teams that compete in the Great West Conference to the Western Athletic Conference beginning July 1, 2012.

**** South Dakota has accepted an invitation to the Missouri Valley Football Conference, beginning with the 2012 football season.

***** Southern Utah has accepted an invitation to join the Big Sky in all sports and will join the conference in 2012.

Former members

Membership timeline

Football


Other sports

Membership timeline


Football champions

Season Champion Record
2004 Cal Poly 4–1
2005 Cal Poly and UC Davis 4–1
2006 North Dakota State 4–0
2007 South Dakota State 4–0
2008 Cal Poly 3–0
2009 UC Davis 3–1
2010 Southern Utah 4–0
2011 North Dakota and Cal Poly 3–1

Basketball champions

Conference facilities

School Football stadium Capacity Basketball arena Capacity Baseball stadium Capacity Soccer stadium Capacity
Cal Poly Alex G. Spanos Stadium 11,075 Does not participate in Great West Does not participate in Great West Does not participate in Great West
Chicago State Does not sponsor football Emil and Patricia Jones Convocation Center 7,000 Gwendolyn Brooks Field Does not sponsor soccer
Delaware State Does not participate in Great West Does not participate in Great West Does not participate in Great West Alumni Stadium 7,193
Houston Baptist Begins football in 2014 Sharp Gymnasium 1,500 Husky Field 1,000 Randy and Cheryl Sorrells Field 500
Howard Does not participate in Great West Does not participate in Great West Does not participate in Great West William H. Greene Stadium 10,000
NJIT Does not sponsor football Fleisher Center 1,500 Bears & Eagles Riverfront Stadium 6,200 Lubetkin Field 1,000+
NYIT Does not sponsor football Does not participate in Great West President's Field 1,000 Does not participate in Great West
North Dakota Alerus Center 13,500 Betty Engelstad Sioux Center 3,300 Kraft Field 2,000 Bronson Field
Northern Colorado Does not participate in Great West Does not participate in Great West Jackson Field 1,500 Does not participate in Great West
South Carolina State Does not participate in Great West Does not participate in Great West Does not participate in Great West Oliver C. Dawson Stadium 22,000
South Dakota DakotaDome 10,000 DakotaDome 10,000 Does not sponsor baseball USD Soccer Field
Southern Utah Eccles Coliseum 8,500 Does not participate in Great West Does not participate in Great West Does not participate in Great West
Texas-Pan American Does not sponsor football UTPA Fieldhouse 4,000 Edinburg Stadium 4,000 Does not sponsor soccer
UC Davis Aggie Stadium 10,367 Does not participate in Great West Does not participate in Great West Does not participate in Great West
Utah Valley Does not sponsor football UCCU Center 8,500 Brent Brown Ballpark 5,500 Clyde Field

Pink indicates departing members.

Notes

External links