Northern Pacific Conference

The Northern Pacific Conference was a women's only collegiate athletic conference made up of teams in Northern California, Oregon, and Washington. The league was formed in 1982, at the same time that the NCAA became the sole sponsor of major-college women's sports. Members had previously competed in the NorCal Conference and the northwest region of the AIAW. The Northern Pacific Conference met its demise in 1986-87, when the Pac-10 Conference began sponsoring women's sports.

History

The Northern Pacific Conference began competition in all women's sports for the 1982-83 season. Members included former NorCal Conference members Cal, San Francisco, Santa Clara, Pacific, Fresno State, and San Jose State, as well as northwestern division schools Oregon, Oregon State, Washington, and Washington State. The move for a new women's athletic conference was necessitated by the movement of NorCal member Stanford to the women's only Western Collegiate Athletic Association (WCAA), as well as the lack of sponsorship for women's sports by the Pac-10, PCAA, and WCAC conferences. After their second season in the league, Pacific moved its women's sports to the new women's version of the PCAA. The next year Santa Clara and San Francisco followed Pacific out the door, as they joined the WCAC's new women's sports division. This left the league with just seven schools for what would prove to be its final season. With the WCAA also hit by defections, the Pac-10 would begin sponsoring women's championships for the 1986-87 season. The departure of the five Pac-10 schools left only San Jose State and Fresno State in the league. Both schools moved their women's sports to the PCAA, aligning themselves with the schools' men's teams.

Membership history