Mountain_Pacific_Sports_Federation

Mountain Pacific Sports Federation

Mountain Pacific Sports Federation

American collegiate athletic conference


The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) is a college athletic conference with members located mostly in the western United States, although it now has members as far east as Pennsylvania. The conference participates at the NCAA Division I level, primarily in Olympic sports that are not directly sponsored by a school's home conference (such as the Pac-12 and Big West, many of whose members participate in MPSF competition in at least one of its sports).

Quick Facts Association, Founded ...

History

The MPSF was founded in 1992 and specifically created to provide an outlet for competition in non-revenue-producing Olympic sports. The MPSF conducts championships in men's volleyball, as well as indoor track, gymnastics, and water polo for both men and women. In 2010 the MPSF added women's swimming and diving to its list of sports, and added that sport for men in the 2011–12 season. The 2012–13 school year was the last for MPSF competition in men's soccer, and the 2016–17 school year was the last for MPSF women's lacrosse.

The conference's membership varies by sport; 38 schools are MPSF members in at least one of its sponsored sports. Schools are not required to participate in the MPSF competition for each sponsored sport if their primary conference affiliation sponsors a competition in that sport (e.g. Pac-12 soccer and women's gymnastics).

All MPSF members have a primary conference affiliation. All Big West Conference members house at least one sport in the MPSF. The West Coast Conference is represented by six schools (Pacific, Pepperdine, Portland, Saint Mary's, San Diego, San Francisco). The Pac-12 Conference is represented by five (Arizona State, California, Stanford, UCLA, USC). Two conferences are represented by 2 schools: the Big 12 Conference (BYU, Oklahoma) and the Mountain West Conference (Air Force and San Jose State). Twelve conferences are represented by one school each – the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (Penn State Behrend), the Big Sky Conference (Sacramento State), the Big Ten Conference (Indiana), the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (Augustana (IL)), the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (Alaska Anchorage), the Lone Star Conference (Texas Woman's), the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (Wheaton (MA)), the Pacific West Conference (Concordia–Irvine), the Presidents' Athletic Conference (Washington & Jefferson), the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (Austin), the Southland Conference (Incarnate Word), and the Western Athletic Conference (Grand Canyon).

All of the MPSF members from the Pac-12 will leave the latter conference at the end of the 2023–24 school year, at which time the Big Ten will be represented by three schools (adding UCLA and USC), and the Atlantic Coast Conference and Big 12 will each be represented by two (ACC: California and Stanford; Big 12: adding Arizona State but losing Oklahoma). Also in 2024–25, the Pacific West representation will increase to four schools with the arrival of Jessup, Menlo, and Vanguard; the Southeastern Conference will be represented by Oklahoma; and three Big West members (Bakersfield, Cal Poly, and UC Santa Barbara) will leave the MPSF.

Al Beaird was the first Executive Director of the MPSF for 24 years, from 1998 to 2021. Foti Mellis became the second executive director on June 1, 2021. Mellis was a Senior Associate Athletic Director at the University of California.

Members

Source:[1]

Current members

More information Institution, Location ...

Future members

Former members

More information Institution, Location ...
Notes
  1. Current affiliation; does not necessarily match affiliation(s) during a school's MPSF tenure.
  2. Oregon and Washington will return to the MPSF as beach volleyball members when that sport is added in 2024–25.

Sports

The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation sponsors championship competition in five men's and five women's NCAA sanctioned sports[3] The MPSF dropped men's soccer after the 2012 season. The moves of Denver (all sports) and New Mexico (soccer only) to other conferences left the MPSF with six soccer members, but all six would soon leave due to moves by the Western Athletic Conference. MPSF soccer member Seattle was already in the WAC, and another MPSF soccer school, CSU Bakersfield, was already committed to join the WAC in 2013. Because the WAC dropped football after the 2012 season due to a near-complete membership turnover, it needed to add another men's sport to maintain its Division I status. To that end, it invited the four remaining MPSF soccer schools to join them; all accepted, and the WAC began sponsoring men's soccer in 2013–14.[4]

In October 2015, Arizona State announced that it would elevate its club team in women's lacrosse to full varsity status starting in the 2017–18 school year (2018 season), which will give the Pac-12 six women's lacrosse schools. This number is required by league bylaws for official sponsorship of a sport, and is also the number of teams required for a conference to be an automatic NCAA tournament qualifier. This led the Pac-12 to announce that all of its women's lacrosse teams would leave the MPSF for the new Pac-12 lacrosse league for the 2018 season. The four remaining MPSF lacrosse schools would have retained that league's automatic NCAA tournament bid for the 2018 and 2019 seasons while the MPSF sought to add new members in that sport,[5] but the MPSF chose to drop the sport at that time.

The next major change in conference membership came in January 2016, when the Golden Coast Conference, a water polo-only league that previously operated only a women's competition, announced it would add a men's division effective with the 2016–17 season. The GCC took six of the 10 members of the MPSF men's water polo league, leaving the MPSF with only the four Pac-12 members that sponsor the sport.[6]

On May 31, 2016, the Big West Conference announced that it would begin sponsoring men's volleyball in the 2017–18 school year (2018 season). The Big West men's volleyball league launched with full members Long Beach State, Cal State Northridge, UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara and Hawai'i, plus associate member UC San Diego (which joined the Big West full-time in July 2020). UC San Diego left the federation with the launch of Big West men's volleyball, but the other Big West members remain in the MPSF in other sports.[7] California Baptist also exited the MPSF after dropping its only conference sport of men's volleyball shortly after the 2017 season, and Cal State Bakersfield (now being rebranded athletically as Bakersfield) left the MPSF after dropping its last remaining conference sport of women's water polo at the same time.[8]

It was announced in August 2021 that the MPSF would add men's and women's fencing to the conference as the tenth sport.[9]

It was announced in September 2021 that the MPSF would add women's artistic swimming to the conference as the eleventh sport.[10]

On November 9, 2023, the MPSF announced that it would add beach volleyball, a women-only sport at the NCAA level, for the 2025 season (2024–25 school year). The inaugural membership in that sport will consist mainly of schools that are leaving the Pac-12 Conference, which sponsors beach volleyball, after 2023–24: California, Oregon, Stanford, UCLA, USC, and Washington. The only member not coming from the Pac-12 is Grand Canyon.[11] The following month, the MPSF announced that Saint Mary's, which had been an MPSF member in women's lacrosse before the conference dropped the sport in 2017, had returned to the conference in women's indoor track & field.[12]

More information Sport, Men's ...

Membership by sport

More information School, Artistic Swimming ...
  1. Coed sport.

Aquatics

There are three sports that are sponsored under the aquatics section. Men's and women's swimming and diving were launched in the 2010-11 season. Artistic swimming was later added in the 2021-22 season.

Current members

Former members

Timeline

All aquatic sports  Men's & women's swimming & diving  Women's swimming & diving Men's swimming & diving Artistic swimming

Conference Champions

More information Year, Men ...

Fencing

Fencing was introduced as an MPSF sport in the 2021-22 season.

Current members

The MPSF currently has four members that participate in fencing. Stanford will depart as a member when it moves its primary affiliation from the Pac-12 Conference to the Atlantic Coast Conference, which sponsors the sport, in 2024.

Timeline

Fencing members

Conference Champions

More information Year, Team ...

Gymnastics

Men's gymnastics was introduced as an MPSF sport with the formation of the conference while women's gymnastics was initiated for the 2001-02 season.

Current members

The MPSF currently has four members that participate in men's gymnastics and four for women's.

Former members

Timeline

 Men's & women's gymnastics  Women's gymnastics  Men's gymnastics 

More information Year, Men ...

Indoor Track & Field

Men's and women's indoor track & field were introduced for the 1992–93 season as one of the conference's inaugural sports. Conference records before 1999 are incomplete.

Current members

  1. Cal State Northridge's men's and women's teams departed in 1996 before rejoining in 2001 but then departed again in 2005 to rejoin for a second time in 2007.
  2. Portland's men's team departed in 1996 and the women's team departed in 1999 before both teams rejoined in 2014.
  3. UC Davis sponsored a men's team that competed in the MPSF from 2004-2005.
  4. UC Davis' women's team departed in 2005 before rejoining in 2017.
  5. UC Irvine's women's team departed in 2007 before rejoining in 2010.
  6. UC Riverside's men's and women's team departed in 2002 before rejoining in 2016.

Former members

More information Institution, Location ...
More information Year, Men ...

Volleyball

Men's volleyball was introduced for the 1993 season (1992–93 school year) as one of the conference's inaugural sports. The MPSF will add beach volleyball in the 2025 season (2024–25 school year). The MPSF added the sport in the wake of the collapse of the Pac-12 Conference, which will see 10 of its 12 members leave for other conferences after the 2023–24 school year. Of the 10 departing schools, nine sponsor beach volleyball. Three left for the Big 12 Conference, which announced it would start sponsoring beach volleyball in 2024–25.[14] The other six, which will join either the Atlantic Coast Conference or the Big Ten Conference, will make up almost all of the inaugural MPSF beach volleyball membership. California, Stanford, UCLA, and USC are current MPSF members in other sports, and Oregon and Washington are returning MPSF members. The only inaugural beach volleyball member not arriving from the Pac-12 is Grand Canyon.

Current members

  1. Joining in 2024.

Future members

Former members

Timeline

 Men's & women's (beach) volleyball  Women's (beach) volleyball  Men's volleyball 

More information Year, Men ...

Conference champions

Source: [15]

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NCAA titles

The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation has won 100 NCAA titles in seven sports. UCLA has won 25 national titles. Stanford has won 20 titles. USC has won 16 titles. Oregon has won 12 titles. Oklahoma has won nine titles. California has won six titles. UC Irvine has won four titles. Arizona State and Brigham Young have won three titles. Pepperdine has won two titles. The MPSF has won every men's and women's water polo NCAA title since the inception of the conference.

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References

  1. Members - Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Archived July 27, 2017, at the Wayback Machine. Mpsports.Org. Retrieved on July 17, 2013.
  2. "'Roo Men's Water Polo to Join Mountain Pacific Sports Federation". acroos.com. January 16, 2018. Retrieved April 22, 2018.
  3. Mountain Pacific Sports Federation - Athletics. Mpsports.Org. Retrieved on July 17, 2013.
  4. "WAC Adds Men's Soccer" (Press release). Western Athletic Conference. January 9, 2013. Archived from the original on January 19, 2013. Retrieved April 20, 2013.
  5. "Pac-12 Adds Women's Lacrosse for 2018 Season". Lacrosse Magazine. October 23, 2015. Archived from the original on October 24, 2015. Retrieved February 6, 2016.
  6. "GCC Launches Men's Division To Begin Play in 2016" (Press release). Golden Coast Conference. January 21, 2016. Retrieved January 31, 2017.
  7. "Big West Conference Makes Men's Volleyball 18th Sponsored Sport". Big West Conference. Retrieved May 31, 2016.
  8. "MPSF Adds Fencing in 2021-22 as 10th Sport". MPSF. August 2, 2021. Retrieved October 4, 2021.
  9. "MPSF Adds Artistic Swimming in 2022 as Record-Tying 11th Sport". MPSF. September 16, 2021. Archived from the original on April 29, 2023.
  10. "MPSF Adds Beach Volleyball as Record-Setting 12th Sport" (Press release). Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. November 9, 2023. Archived from the original on November 11, 2023. Retrieved November 11, 2023.
  11. "St. Mary's to Compete in MPSF Women's Indoor Track & Field" (Press release). Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. December 7, 2023. Archived from the original on December 27, 2023. Retrieved December 26, 2023.
  12. "Flippin' Birds Find a New Conference". Cedar City: Southern Utah University Athletics. September 21, 2023. Archived from the original on November 10, 2023. Retrieved September 23, 2023.
  13. "Big 12 to Add Beach Volleyball & Women's Lacrosse" (Press release). Big 12 Conference. November 9, 2023. Retrieved November 11, 2023.
  14. "MPSF ♦ NCAA Championship History" (PDF). Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. Retrieved July 29, 2023.

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