Big Sky Conference

Big Sky Conference

 

 

 

 

200km
125miles

 

Eastern Washington

 

UC Davis

 

Cal Poly

 

Weber State

 

Sacramento State

 

Portland State

 

Northern Colorado

 

Northern Arizona

 

Montana State

 

Montana

 

Idaho State

 

Idaho

  

Location of Big Sky members:
  full member
  affiliate member, football

Initially conceived for basketball,^[1][2][3] the Big Sky was founded 61 years ago on July 1, 1963, with six members in four states;^[4][5] four of the charter members have been in the league from its founding, and a fifth returned in 2014 after an 18-year absence.

The name "Big Sky" came from the popular 1947 western novel by A. B. Guthrie Jr.; it was proposed by Harry Missildine, a sports columnist of the Spokesman-Review just prior to the founding meetings of the conference in Spokane in February 1963,^[6][7] and was adopted with the announcement of the new conference five days later.^[4][5]

Starting in 1968, the conference competed at the highest level (university division) in all sports except football (college division). The sole exception was Idaho, in the university division for football through 1977 (except 1967, 1968).^[8] Football moved to the new Division I-AA in 1978, which was renamed Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) in 2006.

In 1974, half of the Big Sky's ten included sports were dropped (baseball, skiing, swimming, golf, and tennis), leaving football, basketball, wrestling, track, and cross country skiing.^[9][10]

Women's sports were added 36 years ago in 1988, moving from the women's-only Mountain West Athletic Conference (1982–88).

The 2012–13 season marked the completion of a half century of athletic competition and a quarter century sponsoring women's collegiate athletics. Before the season the league introduced a new logo to celebrate this.

The 25th season of women's athletics also marked a first for the league, as Portland State won the league's inaugural softball championship. From 1982 to 1988, women's sports were conducted in the Mountain West Athletic Conference.

The Big Sky sponsors championships in sixteen sports, including men's and women's cross country, golf, indoor and outdoor track and field, basketball, and tennis. There are also championships in football, and in women's volleyball, soccer, and softball.^[11] It is one of two Division I all-sports conferences to not sponsor baseball, the other being the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.

Notes

Notes

Notes

Full members  Assoc. members (football only)  Full members (except football)  Assoc. members (other sports)  Other conference  Other conference 

NCAA Division I national championships as of 2021.

† Northern Arizona is the only Big Sky program to win D1 team national titles outside of the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS).

As of the 2022–23 school year, the Big Sky sponsors championships in seven men's and nine women's NCAA-sanctioned sports.^[13] Each core member institution is required to participate in all of the 13 core sports.

Men's core sports are basketball, cross country, football, indoor track and field, outdoor track and field, and tennis. Women's core sports are basketball, cross country, golf, indoor track and field, outdoor track and field, tennis, and volleyball.

 

Cal Poly and UC Davis participate as football-only affiliates, otherwise participating in the Big West Conference. The Mustangs and Aggies were welcomed by the BSC in September 2010 in response to both nationwide conference realignment^[14] and an expansion of the FCS playoff bracket at the time, according to then-commissioner Doug Fullerton.^[15]

Both Binghamton and Hartford of the America East Conference were affiliates in men's golf only from 2014 to 2023. Before the 2014–15 school year, the latter two schools had participated in men's golf alongside five full Big Sky members in the single-sport America Sky Conference.^[16] The return of Idaho brought the number of members participating in men's golf to six, which led to the Big Sky adding men's golf and absorbing the America Sky Conference. Both schools left after the 2022-23 athletic season, after Binghamton moved their program to the Northeast Conference and Hartford reclassified to Division III and joined the Commonwealth Coast Conference. By this time the number of full Big Sky members that sponsored men's golf had dropped to 4, below the 6 member minimum necessary for the conference champion to receive an autobid to the NCAA Division I men's golf championship, so with the departure of the two affiliates, the Big Sky ceased sponsoring men's golf again after the 2024 season.^[17]

The Big Sky is unusual among Division I all-sports conferences in not sponsoring baseball, a distinction that it shares only with the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, and which it held alone prior to the 2022–23 school year. The conference originally sponsored baseball in 1964, with all members participating. When Boise State and Northern Arizona arrived for the 1971 season, competition was split into two divisions of four teams each, with the winners in a best-of-three championship series.^[18][19] Montana State^[20] and Montana soon dropped the sport and by the 1973 season, only six teams remained but the divisions were kept, and Boise State moved over to the North Division for two years.^[21]

In May 1974, the Big Sky announced its intention to discontinue five of its ten sponsored sports. It retained football, basketball, cross-country, track, and wrestling, and dropped conference competition in baseball, golf, tennis, swimming, and skiing.^[9][10] Of the eleven Big Sky baseball titles, four each went to Idaho^[22] and Gonzaga, and three to Weber State.^[23] Gonzaga won the final title in 1974 over Idaho State in three games, after losing the first game in Pocatello.^[24] Southern division champion Idaho State chose to end its baseball program weeks following the conference's announcement,^[25] and Gonzaga, Idaho, and Boise State joined the new Northern Pacific Conference (NorPac) for baseball in 1975.^[26] Boise State and Idaho competed in the NorPac for six seasons, then discontinued baseball after the 1980 season.^[27][28]

• Idaho (4) 1964, 1966, 1967, 1969
• Gonzaga (4) 1965, 1971, 1973, 1974
• Weber State (3) 1968, 1970, 1972

In 2016, North Dakota announced in April that it was their last baseball season.^[29] Since then, only Northern Colorado and Sacramento State have competed in the sport, both as affiliate members in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) until Northern Colorado baseball moved to the Summit League after the 2021 season.

Through the 1987 season, the conference sponsored wrestling. Boise State and Idaho State dominated in most years, winning ten and eight conference titles, respectively. BSU won seven consecutive from 1974 to 1980. Montana State and Weber State also had some good years; Montana won their only conference title in the last year Big Sky sponsored the sport.

• Montana State (3) 1964, 1965, 1966
• Idaho State (8) 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1984
• Boise State (10) 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1985, 1986
• Weber State (2) 1981, 1983
• Montana (1) 1987

Boise State continued its wrestling program as an affiliate member of the Pac-10 (now Pac-12) Conference.

Men's varsity sports not sponsored by the Big Sky Conference which are played by Big Sky schools:

Women's varsity sports not sponsored by the Big Sky Conference which are played by Big Sky schools:

• Damian Lillard, Weber State ^[32]

• Idaho and Idaho State
• Idaho and Montana
• Idaho State and Weber State
• Montana and Montana State
• Weber State and Southern Utah
• Eastern Washington and Montana
• Northern Arizona and Southern Utah

• Weber State and Utah State/Utah/BYU/Utah Valley
• Eastern Washington and Gonzaga
• Idaho and Washington State Cougars, Battle of the Palouse
• Idaho and Boise State
• Idaho State and Wyoming
• Montana and Wyoming
• Montana State and Wyoming
• Sacramento State and UC Davis
• Portland State and Portland
• Northern Colorado and Colorado State
• Northern Colorado and Denver

Because there are 12 teams in the conference, but each team only plays eight conference football games per year, the conference has set two "protected rivalry" games for each team. These rivalry match-ups are played every season, while football games against other conference teams are played twice every three years. Many of the protected rivalries are traditional, due to the teams either being in the same state or within close geographical proximity. As of July 2022, the following rivalries are protected through 2024.^[34][35][36]

• Jack Friel (1963–71)^[37]
• John Roning (1971–77)^[38][39]
• Steve Belko (1977–81)^[40]
• Ron Stephenson (1981–95)^[41]
• Doug Fullerton (1995–2016)^[42][43]
• Andrea Williams (2016–2018)^[44]
  • Ron Loghry (interim, 2018)
• Tom Wistrcill (2018–present)

• Pullman, Washington (1963–1971)^[39][45]
• Boise, Idaho (1971–1995)^[39]
• Ogden, Utah (1995–2019)^[42]
• Farmington, Utah (2019–present)^[46]

• Prior to 1976, each NCAA regional had a third place game (won 1969; lost 1972, 1975)
• The only Big Sky team to reach the Elite Eight in the NCAA tournament was Idaho State in 1977
• The only Big Sky team to earn a bye in the NCAA tournament was Idaho in 1982
• Through 2024, the Big Sky has yet to have an at-large team in the NCAA tournament

Since 1968, the Big Sky champion has received a berth in the NCAA tournament; the conference tournament winner has been the representative since its introduction in 1976.

The best finish by a Big Sky team came in 1977, when the Idaho State Bengals of Jim Killingsworth advanced to the Elite Eight, with a one-point upset of UCLA in the Sweet Sixteen in Provo, Utah. Two days later, the Bengals led UNLV by a point at halftime, but lost by seventeen and finished at 25–5.

Seeding was introduced in 1979 when it expanded to forty teams, and the highest seed granted a Big Sky team was in 1982 in a 48-team bracket: ranked eighth in the final polls with a 26–2 record, the Idaho Vandals under Don Monson were seeded third in the West regional. After a first round bye, they beat Lute Olson's Iowa Hawkeyes in nearby Pullman in overtime, but lost to second-seeded (and fourth-ranked) Oregon State in the regional semifinals (Sweet Sixteen), also played in Provo. (Idaho had defeated OSU by 22 points in December in the Far West Classic at Portland.)

Other Big Sky teams that advanced to regional semifinals (Sweet Sixteen) include the Weber State Wildcats in 1969 and 1972, when the total field was 25 teams, and the Montana Grizzlies under Jud Heathcote in the 32-team field in 1975. The Griz fell to heavily-favored UCLA by just three points, who went on to win another title in John Wooden's final year as head coach. (A year later, Heathcote was hired at Michigan State with Monson as an assistant for the first two years; in his third season, the Spartans won the national title in 1979.)

Since 1982, only three teams from the Big Sky have advanced within the NCAA tournament, and none past the round of 32. Weber State won in 1995 and 1999, coached by Ron Abegglen, and Montana in 2006, led by alumnus Larry Krystkowiak. Prior to Idaho in 1982, the Big Sky had been seeded seventh (Weber State, 1979 & 1980; and Idaho, 1981); the highest seed for the conference since 1982 is ninth (Weber State, 1983), and the highest since expanding to 64 teams in 1985 is twelfth (Weber State in 2003; Montana in 2006).

Through 2024, the Big Sky has yet to receive an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. The first NIT appearance for the conference was Idaho in 1983; two Big Sky teams advanced to the NIT's round of 16: Weber State (1984) and Boise State (1987).

• Mountain West Athletic Conference (MWAC) through 1988 season

Bold = National Champions

This list goes through the 2020 season.

This list includes former member North Dakota and excludes current member Idaho. Records do not match NCAA record book.^[47]

• Official website