In a move that could shake up the volleyball landscape as much as any other sport, the University of California San Diego will join the Big West Conference, clearing the way for the school’s expected rise to the Division I level in the near future.
UC San Diego students voted in early 2016 to more than double their student fees to fund a jump from Division II to Division I, a key step in a still-ongoing process. Now, the school has taken an equally important step, setting up a landing place in a Division I conference.
For men’s volleyball, that doesn’t make a huge difference, as Divisions I and II are already pooled together, and UCSD was already set to be an associate member of the Big West Conference’s inaugural men’s volleyball season, beginning in the spring of 2018.
But now, UCSD can drop the “associate member” label and compete as a full-fledged member of the conference once it completes the NCAA’s reclassification period to jump from Division II to Division I. That also means the Triton women’s volleyball program will be moving into the Big West as well, expanding the field to 10 teams.
The reclassification will start in the year 2020 and run four years. That means most UCSD sports will be ineligible to win the Big West or compete for an NCAA title until the fall of 2024. The exception is men’s volleyball, where Division I and II are combined. The men’s team will remain eligible for conference and NCAA titles during the transition period.
The University of California San Diego is not to be confused with the University of San Diego, which competes in the West Coast Conference.
Leave a Reply