BWC will add UCSD, CSU Bakersfield

The Big West will expand from nine full members to 11 in 2020, the conference announced Monday, with the inclusions of Cal State Bakersfield and UC San Diego.

Bakersfield is a member of the Western Athletic Conference and UC San Diego is a Division II program that desires to make the transition to Division I.

They will join the Big West on July 1, 2020 and compete in the conference beginning with the 2020-21 athletic calendar. The UCSD Tritons will begin a four-year reclassification period in 2020 and become a full-fledged D-I member (and a full member of the Big West) in 2024.

“The addition of these two outstanding universities will further strengthen the Big West’s position as the preeminent NCAA Division I public university conference for the states of California and Hawaii,” commissioner Dennis Farrell said in a release. “The 2018-19 academic year marks the 50th anniversary of the Big West Conference and this membership development positions the conference to continue growing and thriving for the next 50 years.”

The University of Hawaii competes in the Big West in a majority of its sports, with the primary exception being football (Mountain West). The new schools will compete in a number of the same sports as UH, most notably men’s and women’s basketball, baseball, softball, women’s volleyball and women’s soccer.

The announcement was generally well received at UH.

“I’m excited about it. Anytime we can get attention for our conference, it’s a good thing,” UH soccer coach Michele Nagamine said. “Two programs that are pretty well known, like UCSD and Bakersfield, is only good for competition.”

She noted their inclusion will ease the burden of nonconference scheduling and the San Diego market is an attractive, easily accessible one.

UH athletic director David Matlin confirmed that UH will not have to pay travel subsidies to the new teams, as it does for the other eight members of the California-centric conference.

CSUB and UCSD will become the first schools to join the BWC since Hawaii in 2012. UH’s inclusion made it a 10-team league, but Pacific departed the conference in 2013, dropping it back to nine.