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54-856: The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation ( MPSF ) is a college athletic conference with members located mostly in the Western United States , although it has added members as far east as Pennsylvania . The conference participates at the NCAA Division I level, primarily in Olympic sports that are not sponsored by a school's primary conference (such as the Pac-12 and Big West , many of whose members participate in MPSF competition in at least one of its sports). The MPSF

108-593: A 13th regular-season game (which, in practice, means an extra home game) makes it easier for the Warriors to schedule other opponents. Utah State turned down an offer from the Mountain West at the same time that Fresno State and Nevada accepted theirs, believing that the WAC schools were going to stay together and even be stronger with the possible addition of BYU. After Fresno State and Nevada accepted invitations to

162-482: A crisp. During the week of June 7, 2010, amid rumors surrounding Boise State's future in the WAC, the conference held a meeting of its athletic directors and university presidents in Las Vegas to discuss contingency options. The conference fully expected to lose Boise State, and according to WAC commissioner Karl Benson , there was no bitterness toward BSU by the rest of the current membership. Benson also added that

216-502: A member of the non-football Missouri Valley Conference . However, CBSSports.com writer Matt Hinton would say in 2012 that the expansion "quickly divided the league between old members and new." The league now spanned from Hawaii to Oklahoma —a distance of about 3,900 miles (6,300 km) and four time zones. Originally, the league was divided into four "quads" with four members each, but this setup soon proved unsatisfactory to several members, most notably BYU and Utah, who proposed

270-522: A non-football conference, at least for the time being, when it announced on October 9, 2012 that California State University, Bakersfield and Utah Valley University would join the conference starting with the 2013–14 school year. Cal State Bakersfield had previously been independent , and had become a WAC affiliate in baseball for 2012–13. Utah Valley joins from the Great West Conference . Interim WAC commissioner Jeff Hurd added that

324-445: A permanent split into eight-team divisions in 1998. This proposal created further problems, because the geographic distribution of the 16 members meant that a clean north-south or east-west split was impossible. While New Mexico and UTEP agreed to move to a proposed East Division, Air Force and UNLV were unhappy; Karl Benson , who was WAC commissioner during this period, recalled in 2011 that Air Force threatened to go independent. Soon,

378-471: A primary conference affiliation. All Big West Conference members house at least one sport in the MPSF. The West Coast Conference is represented by six schools (Pacific, Pepperdine, Portland, Saint Mary's, San Diego, San Francisco). The Pac-12 Conference was represented by five (Arizona State, California, Stanford, UCLA, USC). Three conferences are represented by 2 schools: the Big 12 Conference (BYU, Oklahoma),

432-602: The Big 12 Conference , which announced it would start sponsoring beach volleyball in 2024–25. The other six, which joined either the Atlantic Coast Conference or the Big Ten Conference , made up almost all of the inaugural MPSF beach volleyball membership. California, Stanford, UCLA, and USC were already MPSF members in other sports, and Oregon and Washington were returning MPSF members. The only inaugural beach volleyball member not arriving from

486-938: The Great Northwest Athletic Conference (Alaska Anchorage), the Lone Star Conference (Texas Woman's), the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (Wheaton (MA)), the Pacific West Conference (Concordia–Irvine), the Presidents' Athletic Conference (Washington & Jefferson), the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (Austin), and the Southland Conference (Incarnate Word). All of

540-799: The Mountain West Conference (Air Force and San Jose State), and the Western Athletic Conference (Grand Canyon and Southern Utah). Twelve conferences are represented by one school each – the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (Penn State Behrend), the Big Sky Conference (Sacramento State), the Big Ten Conference (Indiana), the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (Augustana (IL)),

594-581: The Pac-12 Conference , which sponsors beach volleyball, after 2023–24: California, Oregon, Stanford, UCLA, USC, and Washington. The only member not coming from the Pac-12 is Grand Canyon. The following month, the MPSF announced that Saint Mary's, which had been an MPSF member in women's lacrosse before the school dropped the sport in 2017, had returned to the conference in women's indoor track & field. There are three sports that are sponsored under

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648-655: The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (Hawaiʻi or UH) joined the following year, and the United States Air Force Academy (Air Force) arrived in 1980. The conference then remained stable for more than a decade, with the next change being the addition of California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) in 1992. In 1996, the demise of the Southwest Conference (SWC) led to a major conference realignment . The WAC took advantage of

702-706: The University of New Mexico , the University of Utah , and the University of Wyoming . The creation of the WAC directly led to the demise of the Border Intercollegiate Athletic Association (or Border Conference) and Mountain States Conference (popularly known as the Skyline Eight), and soon led to the creation of the Big Sky Conference in 1963. The conference added two more schools later in

756-611: The 1960s, with Colorado State University and the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) arriving in 1967. The WAC's competitive balance, especially in football, became heavily skewed in the 1970s toward the Arizona schools due to rapid growth in that state, and they would leave in 1978 to expand the Pacific-8 Conference into the Pacific-10 . San Diego State University joined at the time the two Arizona schools left;

810-687: The 2000s. In 2000, the University of Nevada, Reno (Nevada) joined from the Big West. A year later, the Big West dropped football. While four schools from that conference, all within the WAC's geographic footprint, wanted to continue in football, only Boise State University was invited at that time. Louisiana Tech University , a Division I-A independent and otherwise a member of the Sun Belt Conference , also joined in 2001, while TCU left for C-USA. The WAC saw further membership turnover in 2005 . Rice, SMU, Tulsa, and UTEP left for C-USA, while

864-412: The 2012 season due to a near-complete membership turnover , it needed to add another men's sport to maintain its Division I status. To that end, it invited the four remaining MPSF soccer schools to join them; all accepted, and the WAC began sponsoring men's soccer in 2013–14. In October 2015, Arizona State announced that it would elevate its club team in women's lacrosse to full varsity status starting in

918-483: The 2012 season. The moves of Denver (all sports) and New Mexico (soccer only) to other conferences left the MPSF with six soccer members, but all six would soon leave due to moves by the Western Athletic Conference. MPSF soccer member Seattle was already in the WAC, and another MPSF soccer school, CSU Bakersfield, was already committed to join the WAC in 2013. Because the WAC dropped football after

972-516: The 2013 season – New Mexico State University and the University of Idaho . Since the WAC was not able to sponsor football for the 2013 season (eight teams are needed for a conference to sponsor football at the FBS level); NMSU and Idaho became FBS independents for the 2013 season before becoming football-only members of the Sun Belt in 2014. The WAC seemingly secured its continued existence as

1026-574: The 2016–17 season. The GCC took six of the 10 members of the MPSF men's water polo league, leaving the MPSF with only the four Pac-12 members that sponsor the sport. On May 31, 2016, the Big West Conference announced that it would begin sponsoring men's volleyball in the 2017–18 school year (2018 season). The Big West men's volleyball league launched with full members Long Beach State, Cal State Northridge, UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara and Hawai'i, plus associate member UC San Diego (which joined

1080-408: The 2017–18 school year (2018 season), which will give the Pac-12 six women's lacrosse schools. This number is required by league bylaws for official sponsorship of a sport, and is also the number of teams required for a conference to be an automatic NCAA tournament qualifier. This led the Pac-12 to announce that all of its women's lacrosse teams would leave the MPSF for the new Pac-12 lacrosse league for

1134-532: The 2018 season. MPSF women's lacrosse continued to operate through the 2021 season, though it would lose its automatic NCAA tournament bid after the 2019 season. The next major change in conference membership came in January 2016, when the Golden Coast Conference , a water polo-only league that previously operated only a women's competition, announced it would add a men's division effective with

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1188-408: The 2020s conference realignment that coincided with the WAC reinstating football, UT Arlington , which had been a WAC member in the 2012–13 school year, announced its return to the conference effective July 1, 2022. The WAC was founded in 1962 by six schools in the interior West , five public and one private—the University of Arizona , Arizona State University , Brigham Young University (BYU),

1242-412: The 2020–21 school year was the last for MPSF women's lacrosse . The conference membership varies by sport; 39 schools are MPSF members in at least one of its sponsored sports. Schools are not required to participate in MPSF competition for a sponsored sport if their primary conference affiliation sponsors a competition in that sport (e.g. Pac-12 in soccer and women's gymnastics). All MPSF members have

1296-532: The Big West full-time in July 2020). UC San Diego left the federation with the launch of Big West men's volleyball, but the other Big West members remain in the MPSF in other sports. California Baptist also exited the MPSF after dropping its only conference sport of men's volleyball shortly after the 2017 season, and Cal State Bakersfield (now being rebranded athletically as Bakersfield) left the MPSF after dropping its last remaining conference sport of women's water polo at

1350-517: The MPSF members from the Pac-12 left at the end of the 2023–24 school year, at which time the Big Ten is represented by three schools (adding UCLA and USC), and the Atlantic Coast Conference and Big 12 are each be represented by two (ACC: California and Stanford; Big 12: adding Arizona State but losing Oklahoma). Also in 2024–25, the Pacific West representation will increase to four schools with

1404-403: The MPSF. All aquatic sports  Men's & women's swimming & diving  Women's swimming & diving Men's swimming & diving Artistic swimming Fencing was introduced as an MPSF sport in the 2021-22 season. The MPSF currently has three members that participate in fencing. Fencing members Men's gymnastics was introduced as an MPSF sport with the formation of

1458-482: The MPSF. Al Beaird was the first Executive Director of the MPSF for 24 years, from 1998 to 2021. Foti Mellis became the second executive director on June 1, 2021. Mellis was a Senior Associate Athletic Director at the University of California. Source: The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation sponsors championship competition in five men's and five women's NCAA sanctioned sports The MPSF dropped men's soccer after

1512-548: The Mountain West Conference in 2013. Another report indicated that Texas State and UT-Arlington, which were set to join the WAC alongside UTSA in 2012, would leave for the Sun Belt Conference effective in 2013. This would leave the WAC with only 5 full members, 2 football and 3 non-football. The first of these schools to make its departure official was Texas State, which announced its move to

1566-471: The Mountain West it was reported that the WAC had extended invitations to the University of North Texas and University of Louisiana at Lafayette of the Sun Belt Conference. Both schools however declined the invitations to the WAC. On Sep. 28, 2010, the WAC heard presentations from five schools in an effort to replenish their ranks after Boise State, Fresno State, and Nevada leave for the Mountain West. The schools that made presentations were: The WAC stated at

1620-463: The Mountain West, but as a football-only member. Hawaiʻi's other sports joined the Big West. The most dominant football member of the remaining WAC had been considering football independence. With a guaranteed bowl berth into the Hawaiʻi Bowl each year, the Warriors could have negotiated their own TV deal and kept all of the profits. An NCAA rule that allows any team willing to travel to Hawaiʻi to play

1674-615: The NCAA does not split into divisions. The following table is a sortable listing of the oldest college sports conferences (organizations of athletic teams at the collegiate level) in the United States of America. This includes U.S. collegiate sports organizations of NCAA Divisions I, II, and III; as well as various sports including Rowing, Cricket, Basketball, Hockey, Wrestling, Football, Basketball, Track, and more. 2010%E2%80%932013 Western Athletic Conference realignment After

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1728-713: The Pac-12 is Grand Canyon.  Men's & women's (beach) volleyball  Women's (beach) volleyball  Men's volleyball  All national champions are in men's volleyball. † — Vacated due to NCAA violations Source: The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation has won 100 NCAA titles in seven sports. UCLA has won 25 national titles. Stanford has won 20 titles. USC has won 16 titles. Oregon has won 12 titles. Oklahoma has won nine titles. California has won six titles. UC Irvine has won four titles. Arizona State and Brigham Young have won three titles. Pepperdine has won two titles. The MPSF has won every men's and women's water polo NCAA title since

1782-665: The Sun Belt in the early 2000s). Nearly a decade later, the WAC reinstated football, resuming play in 2021. However, this league does not play in FBS, but rather in the second tier of Division I football, the Football Championship Subdivision . Also, for the 2021 season, the FCS version of the WAC was a partnership with the ASUN Conference , a non-football conference that announced plans to launch its own FCS football league in 2022. Additionally, during

1836-439: The Sun Belt on May 2. Two days later, Louisiana Tech and UTSA accepted invitations from C-USA, and San Jose State and Utah State announced their departure for the Mountain West. Due to the Western Athletic Conference being "raided" by the Mountain West Conference, Conference USA, and the Sun Belt Conference, it was initially unknown what path the WAC would take. After these moves, the WAC was down to only two football programs for

1890-470: The WAC dropping football as a league-sponsored sport after the 2012 season ; it became the first NCAA Division I FBS conference to drop the sport since the Big West did the same after the 2000 season . The only two remaining football schools, Idaho and New Mexico State, became independent programs for the 2013 season and returned to football-only membership in the Sun Belt Conference starting in 2014 (both had been either all-sports or football members of

1944-627: The WAC in 2013 when it begins playing football with the Big East . Later, Boise State chose to instead place their non-football sports in the Big West Conference , and still later due to further membership changes in the Big East, Boise State decided to stay in the Mountain West. This would have put the WAC at 11 full members, seven football and two non-football (Seattle, Denver, UT Arlington, and Boise State), one football team short of

1998-427: The WAC was considering expanding itself, with the conference eyeing up to six current members of the second-tier Football Championship Subdivision . Boise State left the WAC for the Mountain West at the end of the 2010–2011 season. On August 18, 2010, Nevada (Reno) and Fresno State were both extended invitations to join the Mountain West Conference, and subsequently accepted. Four months later, Hawaiʻi also left for

2052-433: The WAC was seeking to add further schools, with an immediate goal of eight members and a longer-term goal of 10. However, Hurd's job became more difficult on October 19 when Idaho announced it would move its non-football sports to the Big Sky Conference in July 2014. In addition, Denver announced it was joining The Summit League in 2013. The WAC countered this move with inviting Division II Grand Canyon University to join

2106-543: The aquatics section. Men's and women's swimming and diving were launched in the 2010-11 season. Artistic swimming was later added in the 2021-22 season. In June 2023, the Big West announced the addition of men's and women's swimming and diving as a sponsored sport beginning in the 2024-25 school year. As a result, six Big West members will move their aquatics programs to their primary conference, including three members (Bakersfield, Cal Poly, and UC Santa Barbara) who were only MPSF members in aquatics and will thus effectively leave

2160-567: The arrival of Jessup University Jessup , Menlo , and Vanguard while the Southeastern Conference will be represented by Oklahoma. Due to the Big West addition of men's and women's swimming and diving as a sponsored sport beginning in the 2024-25 school year, six Big West members will move their aquatics programs to their primary conference, including three members (Bakersfield, Cal Poly, and UC Santa Barbara) who were only MPSF members in aquatics and will thus effectively leave

2214-422: The changing landscape to expand to 16 members. Three SWC members left out of the soon-to-launch Big 12 Conference — Rice University , Southern Methodist University (SMU), and Texas Christian University (TCU)—all joined the WAC, as did San Jose State University and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) from the Big West, plus the University of Tulsa , a Division I-A football independent which had been

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2268-539: The conference while women's gymnastics was initiated for the 2001-02 season. The MPSF currently has four members that participate in men's gymnastics and four for women's.  Men's & women's gymnastics  Women's gymnastics  Men's gymnastics  Men's and women's indoor track & field were introduced for the 1992–93 season as one of the conference's inaugural sports. Conference records before 1999 are incomplete. All national champions are in men's volleyball. Men's volleyball

2322-490: The conference, who accepted. The conference added another member from the disintegrating Great West on December 5, announcing the 2013 arrival of Chicago State University . An invitation was also extended to the Great West's University of Texas–Pan American , which was accepted on December 19. By adding these last Great West Conference schools the WAC was able to return to seven schools, which under current NCAA rules

2376-511: The eight required for FBS conferences. However, in the last days of April 2012, multiple media outlets indicated that six teams—three of which had not yet officially joined the conference—would shortly leave the WAC for other conferences. UTSA, which had yet to join the WAC, declared its intent to join Conference USA in 2013, with Louisiana Tech seen as likely to follow suit. Utah State and San Jose State declared their intent to join

2430-401: The first defections from the conference were announced in 2010 and 2011, the WAC attempted to reload by bringing in five new members for 2012, but four of these soon announced moves to other conferences that took effect in 2013, with Seattle University being the only 2012 entrant to remain in the WAC beyond the 2012–13 school year. The WAC added six new members in 2013. These moves resulted in

2484-565: The inception of the conference. College athletic conference In college athletics in the United States , institutions typically join in conferences for regular play under different governing bodies. There are several national and regional associations governing the varsity teams of colleges and universities . Varsity teams are typically funded by an institution's athletic department, and under some governing bodies players are eligible for athletic scholarships . This list also includes conferences in sports that

2538-406: The presidents of Air Force, BYU, Colorado State, Utah, and Wyoming, a group that Benson would later call the "Gang of Five", met at Denver International Airport and quickly decided to form a new league. They invited New Mexico, San Diego State, and UNLV to join them to form what would become the Mountain West Conference, which launched in 1999. After this upheaval, the WAC saw further movement in

2592-621: The same time. It was announced in August 2021 that the MPSF would add men's and women's fencing to the conference as the tenth sport. It was announced in September 2021 that the MPSF would add women's artistic swimming to the conference as the eleventh sport. On November 9, 2023, the MPSF announced that it would add beach volleyball, a women-only sport at the NCAA level, for the 2025 season (2024–25 school year). The inaugural membership in that sport will consist mainly of schools that are leaving

2646-401: The three former Big West football schools that had been left out of the 2001 expansion—Idaho, New Mexico State, and Utah State University —all joined. The early-2010s realignment cycle began in 2010, after both the Big Ten Conference and Pacific-10 Conference (now Pac-12) announced plans to expand to 12 members. Brett McMurphy, then of CBSSports.com , would sum up the fallout in 2012: It

2700-441: The time that they planned to issue invitations within 30 to 60 days of hearing the presentation. On November 11, the WAC announced that Denver, UTSA, and Texas State would join the WAC for the 2012–13 season for all sports (with the exception of Denver, which does not sponsor varsity football). During a September interview with WAC commissioner Karl Benson the only school invited to a private meeting for possible expansion of teams

2754-581: Was Montana . However, on November 11, Montana decided to remain a Football Championship Subdivision school in the Big Sky Conference . On June 14, 2011, the WAC added Division I independent Seattle University , who had been seeking membership to the WCC in the past. Exactly one month later on July 14, the WAC added UT Arlington from the Southland Conference. On December 7, 2011 Boise State announced it would return its non-football sports to

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2808-425: Was [Big Ten commissioner] Jim Delany's cow in a Chicago barn that kicked over the lantern that started the country's conference realignment inferno. After that it was a hundred reactionary moves from other conference commissioners, shoring up their ranks, while scorching college football's landscape. The other 10 [FBS] conferences may have had some hardships, but they will all survive. It's the WAC that got burned to

2862-423: Was founded in 1992 to provide an outlet for competition in non-revenue-producing Olympic sports . The MPSF conducts championships in men's volleyball , as well as indoor track , gymnastics , and water polo for both men and women. In 2010 the MPSF added women's swimming and diving, and added those sports for men in the 2011–12 season. The 2012–13 school year was the last for MPSF competition in men's soccer , and

2916-426: Was introduced for the 1993 season (1992–93 school year) as one of the conference's inaugural sports. The MPSF will add beach volleyball in the 2025 season (2024–25 school year). The MPSF added the sport in the wake of the collapse of the Pac-12 Conference , which saw 10 of its 12 members leave for other conferences after the 2023–24 school year. Of the 10 departing schools, nine sponsor beach volleyball. Three left for

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