Western Football Conference (United States)

The Western Football Conference was an NCAA Division II scholarship-awarding football conference that existed from 1982 to 1993.

Among its member schools were (from 1982 to 1992 unless otherwise noted):

• Santa Clara
• Cal Poly SLO
• Cal State Northridge
• Cal Lutheran (1985–1989)
• Sacramento State (1985–1992)
• Southern Utah (1986–1992)
• Portland State
• Cal Poly Pomona (1982)

The first discussion of the formation of the league was held by administrators in 1976.^[1] Its founding, and only, commissioner was Vic Buccola, who had been the athletic director at Cal Poly from 1973 to 1981. He then became a founder and commissioner of the multi-sport American West Conference, which was chartered after the WFC folded in 1993.

The WFC folded in part because of a new NCAA rule that prohibited member institutions who competed at the Division I (D-I) level in other sports from competing at the Division II (D-II) level in football.^[2][3] Cal State Northridge, Cal Poly SLO, Southern Utah, and Sacramento State, plus UC Davis for football, were the first announced members of the American West Conference.^[4]

Of the eight WFC member schools:

• Four (Cal Poly SLO, Sacramento State, Southern Utah, and Portland State) are currently members of the Division I FCS Big Sky Conference.
• One (California Lutheran) is a member of the Division III Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC).
• Three have dropped football as a varsity sport: Cal Poly Pomona ahead of the 1983 season, Santa Clara in 1993, and CSUN in 2001 (following a brief stint in the Big Sky). In all other sports, Cal Poly Pomona is currently a member of the Division II California Collegiate Athletic Association, Santa Clara is a member of the Division I West Coast Conference, and Northridge is a member of the Division I Big West Conference.

The WFC Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award was named for Santa Clara coach Pat Malley. Its recipients include:

• 1987: Tracy Morris Downs, M.D., Cal Lutheran