The NCAC was founded as the
Far Western Conference (
FWC) in 1925 by its charter member schools:
Fresno State,
Saint Mary's,
UC Davis,
Nevada,
San Jose State and
College of the Pacific. Nevada's departure from the conference in 1940 left the conference with only four members:
Chico State, Fresno State, College of the Pacific and UC Davis. The conference looked to four nominees in
Humboldt State (joined in 1940),
San Francisco State,
Santa Barbara State College (later UC Santa Barbara) and
California Poly of San Luis Obispo. Shortly after
World War II, the remaining members, with the exception of UC Davis, Chico State and Humboldt State, would leave for other conferences, to be replaced over the years by San Francisco State (joined in 1946),
Southern Oregon (1947),
Sacramento State (1953),
Hayward State (1961) and
Sonoma State (1966). During the 1990s, each of the universities associated with the California State system chose to disband their football teams in order to comply with
Title IX, with the exception of Humboldt State, which added two women's sports to achieve compliance, Sacramento State, and Cal Poly.
Chronological timeline • 1925 – The Northern California Athletic Conference (NCAC) was founded as the Far Western Conference (FWC). Charter members included the
Northern Branch of the College of Agriculture (later the University of California at Davis),
Fresno State Normal School (later California State University, Fresno), the
University of Nevada (later the University of Nevada, Reno), the
University of the Pacific and
Saint Mary's College of California, beginning the 1925–26 academic year. • 1927: • Saint Mary's (Cal.) left the FWC after the 1926–27 academic year. •
St. Ignatius College (later the University of San Francisco) joined the FWC in the 1927–28 academic year. • 1928 –
Chico State Teachers College (later California State University, Chico) joined the FWC in the 1928–29 academic year. • 1929: • St. Ignatius (later San Francisco) left the FWC after the 1928–29 academic year. •
San Jose State Teachers College (later San Jose State University) joined the FWC in the 1929–30 academic year. • 1935 – San Jose State left the FWC after the 1934–35 academic year. • 1940: • Fresno State and Nevada left the FWC after the 1939–40 academic year. •
Humboldt State College (later California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt) joined the FWC in the 1940–41 academic year. • 1942 – Pacific left the FWC after the 1941–42 academic year. • 1946 –
San Francisco State College (later San Francisco State University) joined the FWC in the 1946–47 academic year. • 1947 –
Southern Oregon College (later Southern Oregon University) joined the FWC in the 19247–48 academic year. • 1951 – San Francisco State left the FWC after the 1950–51 academic year. • 1953: • Southern Oregon left the FWC after the 1952–53 academic year. •
Sacramento State College (later California State State University, Sacramento) joined the FWC (with Nevada and San Francisco State rejoining) in the 1953–54 academic year. • 1964 –
California State College, Hayward (later California State University, East Bay) joined the FWC in the 1964–65 academic year. • 1966 –
Sonoma State College (later Sonoma State University) joined the FWC in the 1966–67 academic year. • 1969 – Nevada left the FWC for a second time after the 1968–69 academic year. • 1974 – Sonoma State left the FWC after the 1973–74 academic year. • 1975 –
Stanislaus State College (later California State University, Stanislaus) joined the FWC in the 1975–76 academic year. • 1982: • The FWC was rebranded as the Northern California Athletic Conference (NCAC), beginning the 1982–83 academic year. • Sonoma State joined the NCAC in the 1982–83 academic year. • 1985 – Sacramento State left the NCAC after the 1984–85 academic year. • 1988 – The
College of Notre Dame of California (later Notre Dame de Namur University) joined the NCAC in the 1988–89 academic year. • 1998 – The NCAC ceased operations as an athletic conference after the 1997–98 academic year; as many schools left to join their respective new home primary conferences, beginning the 1998–99 academic year: • Cal State Chico, Humboldt State, San Francisco State, Sonoma State, Stanislaus State and UC Davis the join the
California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) • and Cal State Hayward and Notre Dame de Namur to join the
California Pacific Conference (Cal Pac) of the
National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) ==Member schools==