Big West

From NCAA Wiki

Big West

Established	1967
Past Names	Pacific Coast Athletic Association
Classification
National Titles
Commissioner	Dennis Farrell
Members	8
Sports Fielded	19
States
Headquarters	Irvine, CA
Website	BigWest.org

The Big West Conference was formed as the Pacific Coast Athletic Association on July 1, 1969. However, the unofficial history of the conference pre-dates that point of time, extending back to 1967.

Cal State Los Angeles, Fresno State, Long Beach State and San Diego State were members of the California Collegiate Athletic Association, long recognized as the nation's premier college circuit. That conference was classified college division, and therein lay a major source of dissatisfaction. Since 1963, the four institutions had captured 16 national titles. The number swelled to 21 if the mythical football championships were included. With no more territory to conquer at the college division, a step up to university ranks had to be considered. At the time, San Jose State, UC Santa Barbara and Pacific were members of the West Coast Athletic Conference but were enduring a strained relationship due to the limit of conference sports sponsored. That, plus the fact that Pacific and San Jose State were independents in Football.

Therefore, officials of the seven colleges and universities assembled as a body in May of 1969, tied up loose ends and less than two months later the PCAA was born.

Direction in the early days of the conference came from such men as Dr. Stephen Goodspeed, vice-chancellor at UC Santa Barbara, the first president and chairman of the founders committee. J. Kenneth Fagans provided guidance as the league's first commissioner. Jesse T. Hill, one of the nation's most successful directors of athletics at USC, followed Fagans as the conference's first full-time commissioner.

San Jose State was already labeled a university division school in all sports when the PCAA emerged. San Diego State and Pacific were granted university division status in the summer of 1970 and the remaining conference members shed the college division moniker by 1972.

The original PCAA lineup changed in the early years and by 1975, charter members UCSB and CSLA had dropped football and SDSU left the conference in football only. In 1974, Cal State Fullerton moved into the conference. By 1977, UC Irvine joined the Big West and UCSB was back in - both as non-football playing institutions - while Utah State became the first non-California member of the circuit, transforming the PCAA into a regional conference.

UNLV (1981) and New Mexico State (1984) soon followed suit, bringing the league's membership to 10 universities.

In the fall of 1983, the PCAA became the first western conference to incorporate women's athletic programs into the conference. Charter women's members UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara and UNLV competed in five championships. By the end of 1985, Pacific, Hawaii, Cal State Fullerton, Long Beach State, San Diego State, Fresno State and San Jose State had joined the women's conference. The PCAA upped its women's sponsorship to eight championships.

The PCAA began its 20th year of existence in 1988 by changing its name to the Big West Conference. With the inclusion of the states of Utah, Nevada, and New Mexico, the term -Big West- more accurately represented the conference.