Great West Conference Information & Great West Conference Links at HealthHaven.com

	Great West Conference
	Established: 2004
	;
NCAA	Division I FCS
Members	7 full-time, 8 affiliate
Sports fielded	16 (men's: 7; women's: 9)
Region	Midwest and West
Former names	Great West Football Conference
Headquarters	Elmhurst, Illinois
Commissioner	Ed Grom
Website	http://greatwestconference.cstv.com
	Locations

"Great West" redirects here. For the Canadian insurance company, see The Great-West Life Assurance Company.

The Great West Conference is a NCAA college athletic conference. 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).

[edit] History, Background and Reorganization

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 Div. 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 is considering membership.^[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 & Field, Outdoor Track 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 NCAA post-season tournaments but the Great West Conference men's basketball tournament champion has an automatic bid to CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT).

[edit] Members

[edit] Current

Institution	Location	Founded	Affiliation	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 South Dakota	Vermillion, South Dakota	1862	Public	8,241	2008	Coyotes
University of Texas-Pan American	Edinburg, Texas	1927	Public	17,048	2008	Broncs
Utah Valley University	Orem, Utah	1941	Public	24,487	2008	Wolverines

South Dakota will join the Summit League in 2011 ^[4]

[edit] Affiliates

Institution	Location	Founded	Affiliation	Enrollment	Joined	Nickname	Primary Conference	Sport
Cal Polytechnic State University	San Luis Obispo, CA	1901	Public	18,722	2004	Mustangs	Big West Conference	Football
Delaware State University	Dover, DE	1891	Public	3,756	2009	Hornets	Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference	Soccer
Howard University	Washington, DC	1867	Private	10,991	2009	Bison	Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference	Soccer
New York Institute of Technology	Old Westbury, NY	1955	Private	12,755	2009	Bears	East Coast Conference	Baseball
University of Northern Colorado	Greeley, CO	1889	Public	12,981	2009	Bears	Big Sky Conference	Baseball
Seattle University	Seattle, WA	1891	Private	7,717	2009	Redhawks	Independent	Cross Country, Track & Field
South Carolina State University	Orangeburg, SC	1896	Public	5,411	2009	Bulldogs	Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference	Soccer
Southern Utah University	Cedar City, UT	1897	Public	7,509	2004	Thunderbirds	The Summit League	Football
University of California, Davis	Davis, CA	1905	Public	27,530	2004	Aggies	Big West Conference	Football

[edit] Former members

North Dakota State University (Missouri Valley Football Conference), 2004–2007
University of Northern Colorado (Big Sky Conference), 2004–2005
South Dakota State University (Missouri Valley Football Conference), 2004–2007

Locations of current Great West Conference full member institutions.

[edit] Football Champions

Season	Champion	Record
2004	Cal Poly	4–1
2005	Cal Poly & 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

[edit] Conference facilities

School	Football Stadium	Capacity	Basketball arena	Capacity
Cal Poly	Alex G. Spanos Stadium	11,075	Does not participate in Great West
Chicago State	Does not sponsor football		Emil and Patricia Jones Convocation Center	7,000
Houston Baptist	Does not sponsor football		Sharp Gymnasium	1,500
NJIT	Does not sponsor football		Fleisher Center	1,500
North Dakota	Alerus Center	13,500	Betty Engelstad Sioux Center	3,300
South Dakota	DakotaDome	10,000	DakotaDome	10,000
Southern Utah	Eccles Coliseum	8,500	Does not participate in Great West
Texas-Pan American	Does not sponsor football		UTPA Fieldhouse	4,000
UC Davis	Aggie Stadium	10,367	Does not participate in Great West
Utah Valley	Does not sponsor football		McKay Center	8,500

[edit] Notes

^ "Gateway Expands to Nine Members". Gateway Football Conference. 2007-03-07. http://www.mvc-sports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=39013&SPID=2899&DB_OEM_ID=7600&ATCLID=815985. Retrieved 2007-03-09.
^ http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,700241969,00.html New Great West Conference
^ Deseret News | UVU joins new sports conference
^ http://www.argusleader.com/article/20090415/UPDATES/90415031/1001/NEWS

[edit] External links

[0] "Gateway Expands to Nine Members". Gateway Football Conference. 2007-03-07. http://www.mvc-sports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=39013&SPID=2899&DB_OEM_ID=7600&ATCLID=815985. Retrieved 2007-03-09.

[1] ttp://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,700241969,00.html New Great West Conference

[2] Deseret News | UVU joins new sports conference

[3] ttp://www.argusleader.com/article/20090415/UPDATES/90415031/1001/NEWS

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