American West Conference The American West Conference was a college athletic conference in the United States from 1993 to 1996 . It consisted of schools in California and Utah . The charter members of the conference were Cal Poly - SLO , Cal State Northridge , Sacramento State , UC Davis and Southern Utah . The conference comprised schools from the old Western Football Conference that had recently made the move from Division II to Division I . The conference was founded on July 15 , 1993 as a I - AA football only conference . The members were prompted to move their programs in response to an NCAA ruling barring member institutions from competing in football at a lower level than other sports . The only commissioner of the American West Conference was Vic Buccola who had been the athletic director at Cal Poly from 1973 to 1981 , and commissioner of the Western Football Conference from 1981 to 1992 . History . 1993 – 94 : I - AA football only . UC Davis and Southern Utah would tie for the 1993 AWC football championship with 3 – 1 records . 1994 - 95 . UC Davis left the AWC after the 1993 season , leaving Cal Poly San Luis Obispo , Cal State Northridge , Sacramento State , Southern Utah for the 1994 – 95 season . In the 1994 – 95 season , the AWC sponsored men ' s and women ' s cross country , men ' s and women ' s basketball , men ' s and women ' s track and field , and women ' s tennis , in addition to football . The AWC did not have an automatic bid to the NCAA championships since the NCAA requires a conference to have six teams . Cal Poly San Luis Obispo won the 1994 AWC football championship . 1995 – 96 . The 1995 – 96 season was the last season of the AWC . Cal Poly accepted an invitation to the Big West Conference . Cal State Northridge and Sacramento State accepted invitations to the Big Sky Conference . Southern Utah became an independent until they became members of the Mid - Continent Conference , now called the Summit League , in 1997 . Aftermath . Cal State Northridge left the Big Sky for the Big West in 2001 . That year , they operated as a I - AA independent in football , and in 2002 their football program was dropped . UC Davis made the decision to move up to Division I in 2003 , and in 2007 they joined Cal State Northridge and Cal Poly in the Big West . Former AWC members UC Davis , Cal Poly , and Southern Utah would later found the Great West Football Conference ( later renamed the Great West Conference ) , along with newcomers Northern Colorado , North Dakota State , and South Dakota State from the North Central Conference , as a home for their football programs at the I - AA level in 2004 . This conference remained small much like the AWC for its entire existence , ranging from only 5 to 6 football members at any given time . In late 2010 , the Big Sky Conference announced it would add UC Davis and Cal Poly as football - only members , as well as Southern Utah as a full member , thus reuniting these schools with Sacramento State in football . This move effectively dissolved the Great West as a football - sponsoring conference . References . All information is from page 32 of the 1995 Cal State Northridge football media guide .