Northern California Athletic Conference

The Northern California Athletic Conference (NCAC) was an NCAA Division II college athletic association that sponsored American football that was founded in 1925. It disbanded in 1998 after the majority of its member schools were forced to drop football.

History The NCAC was founded as the Far Western Conference (FWC) in 1925 by its charter member schools: Fresno State, Saint Mary's, University of California, Davis, Nevada, San Jose State and College of the Pacific.

Nevada's departure from the conference in 1940 left the conference with only four members: Chico State, Fresno State, College of the Pacific and UC Davis. The conference looked to four nominees in Humboldt State (joined in 1940), San Francisco State, Santa Barbara State College (later University of California, Santa Barbara) and California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.

Shortly after World War II, the remaining members, with the exception of UC Davis, Chico State and Humboldt State, would leave for other conferences, to be replaced over the years by San Francisco State (joined in 1946), Southern Oregon (1947), Sacramento State (1953), Hayward State (1961) and Sonoma State (1966). During the 1990s, each of the universities associated with the California State system chose to disband their football teams in order to comply with Title IX, with the exception of Humboldt State, which added two women's sports to achieve compliance, Sacramento State, and Cal Poly.

Chronological timeline

1925 – The Northern California Athletic Conference (NCAC) was founded as the Far Western Conference (FWC). Charter members included the Northern Branch of the College of Agriculture (later the University of California, Davis), Fresno State Normal School (later California State University, Fresno), the University of Nevada (later the University of Nevada, Reno), the University of the Pacific and Saint Mary's College of California, beginning the 1925–26 academic year. 1927: Saint Mary's (Cal.) left the FWC after the 1926–27 academic year. St. Ignatius College (later the University of San Francisco) joined the FWC in the 1927–28 academic year. 1928 – Chico State Teachers College (later California State University, Chico) joined the FWC in the 1928–29 academic year. 1929: St. Ignatius (later San Francisco) left the FWC after the 1928–29 academic year. San Jose State Teachers College (later San Jose State University) joined the FWC in the 1929–30 academic year. 1935 – San Jose State left the FWC after the 1934–35 academic year. 1940: Fresno State and Nevada left the FWC after the 1939–40 academic year. Humboldt State College (later California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt) joined the FWC in the 1940–41 academic year. 1942 – Pacific left the FWC after the 1941–42 academic year. 1946 – San Francisco State College (later San Francisco State University) joined the FWC in the 1946–47 academic year. 1947 – Southern Oregon College (later Southern Oregon University) joined the FWC in the 19247–48 academic year. 1951 – San Francisco State left the FWC after the 1950–51 academic year. 1953: Southern Oregon left the FWC after the 1952–53 academic year. Sacramento State College (later California State University, Sacramento) joined the FWC (with Nevada and San Francisco State rejoining) in the 1953–54 academic year. 1964 – California State College, Hayward (later California State University, East Bay) joined the FWC in the 1964–65 academic year. 1966 – Sonoma State College (later Sonoma State University) joined the FWC in the 1966–67 academic year. 1969 – Nevada left the FWC for a second time after the 1968–69 academic year. 1974 – Sonoma State left the FWC after the 1973–74 academic year. 1975 – Stanislaus State College (later California State University, Stanislaus) joined the FWC in the 1975–76 academic year. 1982: The FWC was rebranded as the Northern California Athletic Conference (NCAC), beginning the 1982–83 academic year. Sonoma State joined the NCAC in the 1982–83 academic year. 1985 – Sacramento State left the NCAC after the 1984–85 academic year. 1988 – The College of Notre Dame of California (later Notre Dame de Namur University) joined the NCAC in the 1988–89 academic year. 1998 – The NCAC ceased operations as an athletic conference after the 1997–98 academic year; as many schools left to join their respective new home primary conferences, beginning the 1998–99 academic year: Cal State Chico, Humboldt State, San Francisco State, Sonoma State, Stanislaus State and UC Davis the join the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Cal State Hayward and Notre Dame de Namur to join the California Pacific Conference (Cal Pac) of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA)

Member schools Final members Institution Location Founded Affiliation Enrollment Nickname Joined Left Currentconference California State University, Hayward Hayward, California 1957 Public 10,892 Pioneers 1961 1998 California (CCAA) California State University, Chico Chico, California 1887 Public 14,581 Wildcats 1928 1998 California (CCAA) Humboldt State University Arcata, California 1913 Public 6,045 Lumberjacks 1940 1998 California (CCAA) College of Notre Dame Belmont, California 1851 Catholic 200 Argonauts 1988 1998 N/A San Francisco State University San Francisco, California 1899 Public 22,357 Gators 1946 1951 California (CCAA) 1953 1998 Sonoma State University Rohnert Park, California 1960 Public 6,566 Cossacks 1966 1974 N/A 1982 1998 California State University, Stanislaus Turlock, California 1957 Public 9,295 Warriors 1975 1998 California (CCAA) University of California, Davis Davis, California 1905 Public 40,772 Aggies 1925 1998 Big West (BWC)

Notes

Other members Institution Location Founded Affiliation Enrollment Nickname Joined Left Currentconference Fresno State Normal School Fresno, California 1911 Public 25,341 Bulldogs 1925 1940 Mountain West (MW) University of Nevada Reno, Nevada 1874 Public 21,034 Wolf Pack 1925 1940 Mountain West (MW) 1953 1969 University of the Pacific Stockton, California 1911 UnitedMethodist 6,652 Tigers 1925 1942 West Coast (WCC) California State University, Sacramento Sacramento, California 1947 Public 31,943 Hornets 1953 1985 Big Sky (BSC) St. Ignatius College San Francisco, California 1855 Catholic 10,017 Dons 1927 1929 West Coast (WCC) Saint Mary's College of California Moraga, California 1863 Catholic 2,775 Gaels 1925 1927 West Coast (WCC) San Jose State Teachers College San Jose, California 1857 Public 33,025 Spartans 1929 1935 Mountain West (MW) Southern Oregon College of Education Ashland, Oregon 1872 Public 5,371 Raiders 1947 1953 Cascade (CCC)

Notes

Membership timeline

Conference champions

Football

1925: Saint Mary's 1926: Saint Mary's 1927: Saint Mary's 1928: Saint Mary's 1929: Cal Aggies 1930: Fresno State 1931: No champion 1932: Nevada & San Jose State 1933: Nevada 1934: San Jose State & Fresno State 1935: Fresno State 1936: Pacific (CA) 1937: Fresno State 1938: Pacific (CA) 1939: Nevada 1940: Pacific (CA) 1941: Pacific (CA) 1942: Pacific (CA) 1943: No champion 1944: No champion 1945: No champion 1946: No champion 1947: Cal Aggies & 1948:

1949: Cal Aggies 1950: San Francisco State 1951: Cal Aggies 1952: Humboldt State 1953: Chico State 1954: San Francisco State 1955: No champion 1956: Cal Aggies, San Francisco State, & Humboldt State 1957: San Francisco State 1958: San Francisco State 1959: San Francisco State 1960: Humboldt State 1961: Humboldt State & San Francisco State 1962: San Francisco State 1963: UC Davis, Humboldt State, & San Francisco State 1964: Sacramento State 1965: San Francisco State 1966: Sacramento State 1967: San Francisco State 1968: Humboldt State 1969: Cal State Hayward 1970: Cal State Hayward & Chico State 1971: UC Davis & Chico State 1972: UC Davis

1973: UC Davis & Chico State 1974: UC Davis 1975: UC Davis 1976: UC Davis 1977: UC Davis 1978: UC Davis 1979: UC Davis 1980: UC Davis 1981: Cal State Hayward & UC Davis 1982: UC Davis 1983: UC Davis 1984: UC Davis 1985: UC Davis 1986: UC Davis 1987: UC Davis 1988: UC Davis 1989: UC Davis 1990: UC Davis 1991: Sonoma State 1992: UC Davis 1993: Chico State 1994: Chico State, Humboldt State, & Sonoma State 1995: Humboldt State 1996: Chico State

Baseball 1948: Chico State 1949: Chico State 1950: Chico State 1951: UC Davis 1952: Chico State 1953: Chico State & Sacramento State 1954: Chico State & Sacramento State 1955: Sacramento State 1956: Sacramento State 1957: Sacramento State 1958: Sacramento State 1959: Sacramento State & Chico State 1960: Sacramento State 1961: Sacramento State & San Francisco State 1962: San Francisco State 1963: San Francisco State 1964: Sacramento State 1965: Sacramento State 1968: Sacramento State 1969: Sacramento State & San Francisco State 1970: Sacramento State 1971: Sacramento State 1972: Cal State Hayward 1973: UC Davis 1974: Sacramento State & UC Davis 1975: Sacramento State 1976: UC Davis 1977: Cal State Hayward 1978: Chico State 1979: UC Davis 1983: San Francisco State & Chico State 1984: UC Davis 1985: Sacramento State (Final season in league), Chico State, & UC Davis 1986: San Francisco State 1987: Chico State 1989: San Francisco State 1990: Sonoma State UC Davis 1991: Sonoma State 1992: Sonoma State 1993: UC Davis 1994: UC Davis 1995: San Francisco State 1996: Chico State 1997: Chico State 1998: Sonoma State & Chico State

Total Baseball Championships Sacramento State - 18 Chico State - 14 UC Davis - 9 San Francisco State - 8 Sonoma State - 4 Cal State Hayward - 2

Women's volleyball 1982: Sacramento State 1983: Sacramento State 1984: Sacramento State 1995: Sonoma State 1997: Sonoma State

Men's soccer 1974: Cal-State Hayward 1975: Cal-State Hayward 1976: Cal-State Hayward 1977: 1978: 1979: 1980: 1981: 1982: Cal-State Hayward 1983: Cal-State Hayward 1984: Cal-State Hayward 1985: Chico State 1986: Chico State 1987: Chico State 1988: Cal-State Hayward 1989: Cal-State Hayward 1990: Sonoma State 1991: Sonoma State 1993: Sonoma State 1995: Sonoma State 1996: Sonoma State 1997: Sonoma State

Women's soccer 1982: 1983: Cal-State Hayward 1984: Cal-State Hayward 1985: Cal-State Hayward 1986: Cal-State Hayward 1987: Cal-State Hayward 1988: Cal-State Hayward (National champions)

Women's basketball 1998: Sonoma State

Softball 1978: 1982: Fresno State 1983: 1985: 1986:

See also List of defunct college football conferences California Coast Conference (1922–1928)

References