Great West Conference The Great West Conference is an NCAA college athletic conference in the continental USA . Originally a football - only league , it became an all - sports entity during the 2008 - 09 season . The GWC stopped sponsoring football following the 2011 season . History . Cal Poly , North Dakota State , Northern Colorado , South Dakota State , Southern Utah , and UC Davis inaugurated the Great West Football Conference during the 2004 season . St . Mary ' s ( CA ) was originally slated to join as well , but then dropped the sport six months before the league started play . In 2005 , Cal Poly became the first GWFC team ever selected to participate in the NCAA Division I - AA ( now FCS ) playoffs . Northern Colorado departed the Great West for the Big Sky Conference in every sport as of the 2006 football season and 2006 - 07 academic year . On March 7 , 2007 , North Dakota State and South Dakota State announced that they would leave the GWFC after the 2007 football season , and join the Gateway Football Conference as of 2008 . By the time the two schools actually made the switch , the Gateway had renamed itself the Missouri Valley Football Conference . The duo also placed their other sports , which were then independent , in the Summit League as of the 2008 - 09 academic year . On August 2 , 2007 , North Dakota and South Dakota announced that they would join the Great West Football Conference as of the 2008 season . This agreement allowed the total number of GWFC programs to remain consistent at five , while also retaining the same geographic footprint . On July 10 , 2008 , it was made official through a series of press conferences that the Great West would soon transition from a football - only league into an all - sports conference . The charter members included North Dakota , South Dakota , New Jersey Institute of Technology ( NJIT ) , Houston Baptist , Texas - Pan American , and Utah Valley . On October 22 , 2008 , Chicago State announced plans to join the newly rechristened GWC as well . Seattle was initially considering membership , but in mid - 2011 accepted an invitation to instead join the WAC as of the 2012 - 13 academic year . The expanded version of the Great West officially began playing a limited number of sports in the fall of 2008 . Despite not sponsoring conference schedules in team sports ( except football ) , the league began awarding " Player of the Week " honors to student - athletes in every sport during the 2008 - 09 season . The Great West featured championships in men ' s and women ' s cross country , men ' s and women ' s indoor track and field , men ' s and women ' s outdoor track and field , men ' s and women ' s golf , and women ' s tennis during the 2008 - 09 academic year . In 2009 - 10 , regular season schedules and championship tournaments were implemented in women ' s volleyball , women ' s soccer , men ' s and women ' s basketball , baseball , and softball . Due to its newness , the league does not currently have an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament , but the Great West Conference men ' s basketball tournament champion receives an automatic bid to the CollegeInsider . com Postseason Tournament ( CIT ) , while the women ' s basketball tournament winners head to the Women ' s Basketball Invitational ( WBI ) , provided they are not selected as an at - large bid to the NIT . In April 2010 , South Dakota publicized intentions to join the Summit League for all sports but football , effective as of the 2011 - 12 academic year . Seven months later , in November 2010 , the school would announce a commitment to the MVFC for football as of the 2012 season . In September 2010 , Cal Poly and UC Davis announced that they would join the Big Sky Conference for football by 2012 . Then , in November 2010 , Southern Utah and North Dakota announced that they would join the Big Sky for all sports by 2012 . South Dakota was considering the Big Sky as well , thus canceling the Summit League commitment , before the MVFC offered football - only membership . With these moves , all football programs would soon leave the Great West , and the league stopped sponsoring the sport following the 2011 season . South Dakota stepped down to football - only status during the 2011 - 12 academic year , allowing the league to retain five teams in its final season on the gridiron . Overall the conference lost two full members — South Dakota and North Dakota — and six affiliates by the fall of 2012 . The affiliate teams were Cal Poly , UC Davis , and Southern Utah in football ; Nebraska - Omaha in softball ; as well as multi - sport partners Cal State Bakersfield and Seattle . In November 2011 , Houston Baptist reached an agreement to join the Southland Conference as of the 2013 - 14 academic year . The school also unveiled plans to begin sponsoring football . In September 2012 , Utah Valley announced plans to join the Western Athletic Conference for the 2013 - 14 season . At the beginning of December 2012 , UTPA has announced that had received an invitation to join the WAC for 2013 - 14 school year . On December 5 , 2012 , Chicago State announced that it would also join the WAC in 2013 - 14 , and two weeks later , UTPA accepted their invitation . This sudden wave of defections left NJIT as the only full member of the Great West Conference . This places the future of the league as an all - sports conference in serious doubt , along with the baseball alignment of NJIT and NYIT . However , barring further changes , the women ' s soccer grouping of NJIT , Delaware State , Howard , and South Carolina State remains viable with four women ' s soccer playing entities . Member schools . Membership timeline . Basketball champions . In 2010 , the Great West Conference sponsored men ' s and women ' s basketball championship tournaments for the first time . Both events were held in Orem , Utah , at the UCCU Center , home of Utah Valley University . The top - seeded men from the South Dakota reaffirmed their regular season success with a 91 - 86 title game victory over runner - up Houston Baptist . On the women ' s side , Utah Valley took advantage of the crowd ' s support , as the number six seeds upset their way to the crown by wrapping up the stunning run with a 70 - 62 triumph over regular season winners North Dakota . The Great West tournaments returned to the UCCU Center for an encore in 2011 , and third - seeded North Dakota claimed the men ' s championship after a 77 - 76 double overtime thriller against South Dakota , which was seeded fourth . Regular season winners Chicago State remained true to form in the women ' s bracket , outlasting third seeds North Dakota by a score of 74 - 66 . In 2012 , the Great West tournaments shifted to the Emil and Patricia Jones Convocation Center at Chicago State University . North Dakota became the league ' s first back - to - back champs , as the second seeds enjoyed a 75 - 50 victory over fourth - seeded NJIT in the men ' s final . The weekend would end with a clean sweep for North Dakota , as the program ' s top - seeded women knocked off regular season runners - up Utah Valley 69 - 56 to claim their maiden league title . The Great West Conference does not have an automatic bid to the NCAA Men or Women ' s College Tournament as of 2012 , but the men ' s champions do receive automatic selection to the CollegeInsider . com Postseason Tournament , while their female counterparts head to the Women ' s Basketball Invitational . Baseball champions . The Great West Conference sponsored its inaugural baseball championship tournament in 2010 , and has held the event in different cities during its first three years of existence . The league has also experimented with formats , using pool play in 2010 , but a traditional double elimination bracket in 2011 and 2012 . Utah Valley has claimed every regular season and tournament championship in the short history of the conference . As in other sports , the Great West does not have an automatic bid to the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship . The league also has yet to earn an at - large invitation . Other champions . In addition to formerly sponsoring football ; while continuing to sponsor men ' s basketball , women ' s basketball , and baseball ; the Great West Conference sponsors many other sports . The GWC held its own men ' s golf championship in 2009 , but the league ' s members decided to compete under the banner of the older and larger America Sky Men ' s Golf Conference starting in 2010 , even though the option existed to hold a smaller Great West tournament and then participate in the America Sky event as well . Making men ' s tennis a league sport was also under discussion , but it never happened because only three schools — Chicago State , NJIT , and Texas Pan - American — had teams as of the 2012 season . Facilities . Each full member of the Great West Conference has an on - campus basketball arena . Seating capacities range between 1 , 500 and 8 , 500 . The full members are joined by three affiliates in baseball , forming an eight - team league . In women ' s soccer , the presence of three affiliates helped create a six - team league . Softball previously had four members , with Nebraska - Omaha replacing South Dakota for the 2012 season , but North Dakota and Nebraska - Omaha departed at the conclusion of that campaign . This leaves just Houston Baptist and Utah Valley , with no future alignment announced as of August 2012 .