Big Sky Conference
| Big Sky Conference | |
|---|---|
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| Established | 1963, 54 years ago |
| Association | NCAA |
| Division | Division I FCS |
| Members | 12 full-time (2 football affiliates) (2 men's golf affiliates) |
| Sports fielded | 16 (men's: 7; women's: 9) |
| Region | Western United States |
| Headquarters | Ogden, Utah |
| Commissioner | Andrea Williams (since 2016) |
| Website | bigskyconf.com |
| Locations | |
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The Big Sky Conference is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I, with football competing in the Football Championship Subdivision. Member institutions are located in the western United States in the nine states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, Utah, and Washington. Four affiliate members each participate in one sport. Two schools from California are football-only participants, and two schools from the Northeast participate only in men's golf.
Initially conceived for basketball, the Big Sky was founded 54 years ago in 1963 with six members in four states; 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, and was adopted with the announcement of the new conference five days later.
The 2012-13 season marked the completion of 50 years of athletic competition and 25 years 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. Women's sports were formerly conducted in the Mountain West Athletic Conference.
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Wikipedia