Step by step: Wolverines prepare for big move to Big West
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- Utah Valley’s Zach Lifferth (13) battles for the ball with an opponent during the 2024 season.
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- Members of the Utah Valley men’s basketball team pose for a photo after clinching at least a share of the Western Athletic Conference regular season title on Thursday, March 6, 2025.
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- The Utah Valley volleyball team celebrates a point in a women’s college volleyball match against Hawaii on Thursday, Sept. 2, 2021.
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- The Utah Valley baseball team celebrates winning the Western Athletic Conference title in Mesa, Ariz., on Sunday, May 24, 2025.
The easy part for Utah Valley was to accept the invitation to join the Big West Conference.
Now comes the hard work of getting ready to make the move.
The Wolverines have more than a year left to compete in the Western Athletic Conference and while some sports — men’s basketball, baseball and women’s soccer, for example — seem ready to take on the challenge, others will have to step up their game to be competitive in the Big West.
“It’s something we’ve been talking about with our coaches,” UVU Director of Athletics Jared Sumison said. “We’re excited to be in the WAC for the next year and that will give us time to prepare. We need to get better competitively in some sports. Our facilities are really good but there are a couple where we can do some upgrades and get prepared for the Big West move.
“We’re in a place right now where our coaches are already preparing for recruiting and for the opportunity ahead of us. It’s a more competitive league so a lot of our sports are going to have to ramp up. It comes down to fundraising and friend-raising.”
UVU Vice President Val Peterson said he sees great advantages in the Big West in terms of competition, stability and level of play.
“Facilities will be something we’ll continue to work on,” Peterson said. “On the drawing board we have a student athletic academic building. We need to continue to maintain our academics. It’s important to us an as institution to have success in the classroom. Our coaches are recruiting to be competitive in the Big West.
“I think our coaches are up to the challenge and are excited about it. They are already out looking for the right student-athletes to be part of our program. The college athletic landscape continues to change very rapidly and we’re making sure we’re adjusting to that. I think our profile fits nicely with the Big West.”
League commissioner Dan Butterly said as the Big West moves to 11 teams his office will take an active role in helping Utah Valley prepare for membership.
“UVU is the largest public institution in the state of Utah,” Butterly said. “They have a strong, diversified academic profile, tremendous leadership and a strong athletic program with many championship teams. We’ll be ramping UVU up to the Big West bylaws and our policies and procedures. We’ll be getting to know their staff. One big initiative will be working with UVU in changing their conference logo out in all of their facilities.”
When Utah Valley joins the Big West on July 1, 2026, it will be the only program in the conference not based in California.
“As we looked at UVU, we did our campus visit early in February,” Butterly said. “We can see how easy it is to get to UVU and we enjoyed walking through their facilities. One of our board members said, ‘We’re not named the Big California, we’re named the Big West.’ We’re excited to get the state of Utah back to the footprint of the Big West.”
Utah State competed in the Big West from 1978 to 2005.
“Our fans have really started to travel better,” Peterson said. “It will be a lot easier for our fans to go to California and a lot of our fans are already planning trips to our games out there. Utah Valley will be a better traveling school as we go into the Big West.”
Big West Conference 2026
Hawaii and Cal Davis are headed to the Mountain West Conference and Utah Valley will join the Big West, making it an 11-team league. Here’s what the Big West will look like in 2026.
Cal Poly
The Mustangs swept the Big West 2025 Track and Field Championships, winning both the men’s and women’s team titles, and also won both of the league’s cross country titles.
Cal State Bakersfield
The Roadrunners made the transition to Division I in 2006 and became a full member in 2010. Bakersfield’s last league championship came in 2004 (men’s swimming and diving).
Cal State Fullerton
The Titans women’s golf team won the Big West Championship and was the first-ever No. 10 regional seed to advance to the NCAA Finals.
Long Beach State
The 49ers won the 2025 NCAA Men’s Volleyball Championship, defeating back-to-back defending champion UCLA in three sets.
Cal State Northridge
The Matadors are one of just 45 schools in the nation with a beach volleyball program. The men’s soccer team reached the third round of the 2006 NCAA Tournament.
UC Irvine
The Anteaters won their first-ever Big West Commissioner’s Cup for the 2024-25 season, getting top three points in 11 of the 17 league-sponsored sports.
UC Riverside
The Highlanders produced five national championship teams in baseball and women’s volleyball at the Division II level.
UC San Diego
The Tritons accepted a No. 12 seed in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, losing to No. 5 Michigan 68-65 in the first round to finish with a 30-5 record.
UC Santa Barbara
The Gauchos Manu Duah was the No. 1 selection in the 2025 Major League Soccer SuperDraft by San Diego FC.
California Baptist
The Lancers compete in 21 intercollegiate varsity sports including water polo, stunt, cheerleading and dance.
Utah Valley
The Wolverines join the Big West on July 1, 2026 and will have the premier soccer facility in the league. The $20. million UCCU Stadium, which seats 3,000 spectators and includes luxury seats, opens this fall.
