From Deseret News archives:
Utah Valley joins Great West Conference
In a noon news conference today, Utah Valley University officials will announce its athletics affiliation with the Great West Conference for the Wolverines' sports programs.
Earlier this month, Utah Valley University formerly known Utah Valley State College received its new institutional name.
"New" is the buzzword for the Great West Conference as well, since it is moving from a football-only league the Great West Football Conference to an all-sports offering. It's also going to great lengths literally and figuratively to become a geographically diverse league.
Joining the Great West today is a sextet of universities Utah Valley, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas Pan American, Houston Baptist and New Jersey Institute of Technology.
Chicago State and Seattle are expected to follow soon into the Great West Conference; Cal State Bakersfield, Longhurst and Savannah State are said to have declined their invitations in hopes of aligning themselves in other conferences.
The Great West Conference will now essentially become two different leagues. The football conference will feature holdovers SUU, Cal Poly and UC Davis and newcomers North Dakota and South Dakota.
The five football programs are all Football Championship Series (formerly Division I-AA) programs that participate in a postseason playoff system, unlike the Football Bowl Series (Division I-A) programs and their postseason bowls.
All other sports in the Great West besides football will involve the two Dakotas, UVU, UTPA, HBU and NJIT as well as Chicago State and Seattle if and when they join.
For intercollegiate sports other than football, SUU will continue to compete in the Summit Conference and Cal Poly and UC Davis in the Big West Conference both leagues allowing those teams a chance for automatic conference berth in NCAA tournaments, such as men's basketball.
UVU and the other Great West newcomers are provisional NCAA institutions that are awaiting to be granted or appealing Division I status (Utah Valley's provisional status ends at the end of the 2008-09 year). Until that happens, the provisional programs are not allowed to compete in NCAA-sponsored postseason competition.
The Great West wouldn't be considered an official NCAA member conference until August 2011 at the earliest the moratorium on creating new Division I conferences is in effect until then.
And it will likely be much longer than that, since the NCAA requires six full-status Division I member institutions and many of the Great West newcomers have a longer wait than Utah Valley's single year.
Conference tournaments in the Great West could be realized as early as the 2008-09 season; however, it will likely not be until 2009-10 that conference schedules and postseason play in all sports are complete and finalized.
Utah Valley already has been playing many of its fellow Great West newcomers in different sports for the past several years.
E-mail: staylor@desnews.com
Recent comments
Jim - you need to start thinking with your big boy brain. Is this...
What? | July 9, 2008 at 10:49 p.m.
Getting into a conference is a huge deal for Utah Valley. In time...
Mike Johnson Fallon NV | July 9, 2008 at 10:06 p.m.
From a UVU student-Who Cares? They might as well still be...
Jim | July 9, 2008 at 9:51 p.m.
- Sports on the air 1:21 a.m.
- 2009 MLS Cup recap 12:45 a.m.
- MLS Cup winners, MVPs 12:41 a.m.
- Real Salt Lake: Game at a glance 12:36 a.m.
- Paper circulation worse than it looks 12:28 a.m.
- RSL wins MLS Cup on penalty kicks 12:22 a.m.
- Editorial: Cancer screening 12:15 a.m.
- Afterthoughts 12:15 a.m.
- Treat teachers with respect, trust 12:15 a.m.
- 'Reform' helps old, hurts young 12:15 a.m.
- BYU records with win
- Jazz outlast Pistons in overtime
- Glenn Beck to enter politics?
- Cougars turn focus to dreaded rivals
- Cougars put the fun back in football
- Former BYU professor remembered
- Florida No. 1, TCU 4 in AP Top 25
- Kirilenko heating up for the Jazz
- Man dies after being run over
- Police link alcohol to murder
- Buttars wants to limit gay rights laws
202 - Glenn Beck to enter politics?
191 - Palin plans tour stop in Utah
178 - RSL wins MLS Cup on penalty kicks
130 - BYU records with win
129 - Palin's book shows she's unqualified
125 - Officer cleared in Cardall Taser case
103 - BYU cuts Women's Research Inst.
100 - Jazz finally win in San Antonio
98 - Utes knock off rival Aggies
93
The Utah basketball team expected to win Saturday night, but not like this.
Real Salt Lake fans have watched first hand the evolution of Jason Kreis...
That game was amazing! I think this will really help the sport grow in Utah....
Congrats on a great win. Utah as a whole should be proud not just of a major...
Congrats Real Salt Lake! but, they aren't the first major sports team to...
I told ALL of you how much i liked NED Pure irony his contributions vs x...
this is to NevadaUTE @ 10:25!!! I love soccer, I love Real and it brought a...
wow!!! amazing. UTAH JAZZ DO SOMETHING!!!
So much fear and anger from Beck lovers. You all lost the last election, we...
This is the most emotion I have had watching a sporting event since my...
Nicky Rimando is my hero! I love that guy. He has had his detractors, but...
Two stars means nothing! We played as a team and it showed! I'm still in...


