California Pacific Conference
The California Pacific Conference (Cal Pac) is a college athletics conference in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). The conference commissioner is Don Ott. Conference leadership is shared among the member institutions. The conference president is Themy Adachi of Mills College. The conference vice president is Farnum Smith of William Jessup University. The secretary is Marv Christopher of California Maritime Academy. The conference was formed in 1996.
| California Pacific Conference | |
|---|---|
| Cal Pac | |
 | |
| Established | 1996 |
| Association | NAIA |
| Members | 15 |
| Sports fielded |
|
| Region | Pacific Coast and Mountain West |
| Headquarters | Oakland, California |
| Commissioner | Don Ott |
| Website | calpacathletics.com |
| Locations | |
 | |
Conference members range from members of the University of California and California State University systems to religious and liberal arts colleges
History overview
Cal State East Bay, Cal State Monterey Bay, Dominican, Mills College, and Notre Dame de Namur are former members of the conference that have left the NAIA and the conference for Division II and for Division III of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).
CSUMB and CSUEB left the Cal Pac to join the NCAA Division II California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) in the 2004–05 and 2008–09 seasons, respectively.
Patten left the Cal Pac after eliminating its athletic program.
Notre Dame de Namur left the Cal Pac to join the NCAA Division II Pacific West Conference in the 2006–07 season, followed by Dominican in the 2008–09 season.
Mills College moved to NCAA Division III as an Independent in the 2011–12 season.
In June 2011, Bethany announced it was ceasing operations effective immediately, decreasing the CalPac to seven active members.[1]
In 2012, Holy Names left the Cal Pac to join the Pacific West Conference; while Embry-Riddle Aeronautical, Marymount California, and Soka University of America joined to increase the conference membership to nine schools.[2]
La Sierra joined in 2013 to bring the conference up to 10 members.[3] William Jessup left in 2014, leaving the conference with nine members. Membership rose to twelve schools in 2015 when Antelope Valley, Benedictine Mesa, Providence Christian, and Sierra Nevada joined and Menlo left for the Golden State Athletic Conference.
The University of Saint Katherine joined in 2019.[4] In March 2020, the conference announced two additions for the 2020–21 academic year when Park University Gilbert and Westcliff University were admitted to the NAIA.[5]
Membership
Current members
Former members
- Mills College — women's institution, does not field men's sports.
Sports sponsored
| Sport | Men's | Women's |
|---|---|---|
| Baseball |  | |
| Basketball | | |
| Cross Country | | |
| Golf | | |
| Soccer | | |
| Softball | | |
| Volleyball | |
See also
- Big West Conference, a conference that competes in Division I that consisted entirely of California schools from 2005 to 2012
- California Collegiate Athletic Association, an all-California school conference that competes in Division II
- Golden State Athletic Conference, an NAIA Division I conference that consisted entirely of California schools from its formation in 1986 until 2012.
References
- McCord, Shanna (June 14, 2011). "Bethany University will close: Private funding didn't materialize". Santa Cruz Sentinel. Archived from the original on June 16, 2011. Retrieved June 17, 2011.
- "Cal Pac Adds Three New Members for 2012-13". January 25, 2012. Retrieved July 18, 2012.
- "La Sierra University Becomes 10th Cal Pac Member". November 19, 2012. Retrieved November 24, 2012.
- Ulrich, Pauly (January 17, 2019). "USK Official Members of the Cal Pac". University of Saint Katherine Athletics. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
- VSN Staff (March 31, 2020). "NAIA Approves Five Institutions for Membership". Victory Sports Network. Retrieved March 31, 2020.