Great West Conference

Infobox Athletic Conference
name = Great West Conference
short_name =
established = 2004

logo_size = 100
association = NCAA
division = Division I
subdivision = FCS
members = 5
sports = 16
mens = 7
womens = 9
region = Midwest and West
former_names = Great West Football Conference
hq_city = Elmhurst
hq_stateabb = IL
hq_state = Illinois
commissioner = Ed Grom
since =
website = http://greatwestconference.cstv.com
color = 000000
font_color = FFFFFF


map_size = 250

The Great West Conference is a NCAA college athletic conference. It used to be 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).

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 Missouri Valley Football Conference in 2008. [cite web|url=http://www.mvc-sports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=39013&SPID=2899&DB_OEM_ID=7600&ATCLID=815985|publisher=Gateway Football Conference|title=Gateway Expands to Nine Members|date=2007-03-07|accessdate=2007-03-09] 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. [http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,700241969,00.html New Great West Conference] Other possible conference members include Seattle and Chicago State. [ [http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,700241969,00.html Deseret News | UVU joins new sports conference ] ]

Members

Current

Conference facilities

Notes

External links

* [http://greatwestfootball.collegesports.com Official conference website]
* [http://greatwestfootball.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/080207aaf.html North Dakota and South Dakota joining]