Today the Big West Conference begins a month of, well, big change.
The California-based home of 15 of the University of Hawaii’s 21 sports teams loses three of its top executives and will shortly gain two new members, UC San Diego and Cal State Bakersfield, becoming an 11-school conference on July 1.
“It is a major reboot for the conference,” said commissioner Dennis Farrell who retires after 40 years, the last 28 as commissioner. Today he is officially succeeded by Dan Butterly, who was a senior associate commissioner in the Mountain West Conference.
In addition, deputy commissioner Rob Halvaks, who has served as chief financial officer for the last 28 years, is also retiring. Erica Monteabaro, the senior associate commissioner, has left after 20 years to become the senior woman administrator at conference member UC Irvine. Another long-time executive, assistant commissioner Jody McRoberts, retired in 2019. Together, the four have nearly 120 years in institutional experience.
Butterly has pledged to bring a more analytical-based and innovative approach to the Big West as it enters its 52nd year of operation.
“This next chapter is going to change in many ways,” Butterly said on the conference website. “As we are dealing with this pandemic we are dealing, really, with a re-set of college athletics.”
Butterly said, “This is an opportunity for us to look at the way we do things and be in a position that we look at other opportunities, other companies that may be out there to help us excel … really thinking of new ways to do things and, again, being innovative in our approach.”
UC San Diego and Cal State Bakersfield officially come aboard July 1. The Tritons are transitioning from Division II to Division I, a process that will be completed July 1, 2024. CSUB moves over from the Western Athletic Conference.
The conference officially debuted in 1969 as the Pacific Coast Athletic Association, later adopting the Big West name.
It served as the first conference home for UH’s women’s teams beginning with the 1984-85 academic year through 1995-96. The Rainbow Wahine moved to the Western Athletic Conference in 1996 and returned to the Big West in 2012-13, eventually joined by most of the men’s teams.
NEW-LOOK BIG WEST
Conference lineup for 2020-21
Cal Poly-SLO
Cal State Bakersfield
Cal State Fullerton
Cal State Long Beach
Cal State Northridge
Hawaii
UC Davis
UC Irvine
UC Riverside
UC San Diego
UC Santa Barbara
