I always wanted to learn more about this conference in football. I always thought it was weird that there were 4 western conferences in FBS football at the same time despite most schools being in the eastern US. It always seemed to me like there weren't enough teams to go around.
My sister was in the band at the University of Nevada Reno in the mid 90's. As such, every Saturday when UNR had a home game was a drive to Reno to watch Big West Football
Pacific had some great players and coaches go on to the NFL. Tom Flores, Hugh Jackson, Eddie Lebaron, Dick Bass, Mike Meriwether, Lionel Manual, Willard Harrell and a few others went on to have good careers as players or coaches. Jon Gruden and Pete Carroll all got their starts as coaches at UOP. And of course AA Stagg was probably the most famous of all UOP coaches, back when it was COP, even the stadium was named after him.
Great video. It was a shame that UOP got rid of their football program. I remember our football team winning back to back section championships in their stadium. Was a shame it couldn’t be renovated.
Great video. In 1989-1990 I would record the Big West basketball games that were on Monday night and watch them before school the next morning because they didn't start until midnight where I lived.
I grew up watching Big West football. I even often joke I was raised at Spartan Stadium. I remember the 80s seeing massive crowds and the rivalries were fierce. Watching the Big West slowly die was a gut punch and anxiety inducing.. I remember it feeling like an ego hit more than anything. As the BW was dying, college sports across the country were starting to become major business and become more and more relevant. the BW was accompanied by all major college athletics in the Bay Area fading into irrelevance in the 90s. I knew so many SJSU and other BW schools’ alumni (friends of my dad) who lamented at the BW schools not being more proactive or leaving for the WAC sooner. The state of SJSU athletics today makes me want to cry. Well, maybe not literally. But it pains me to see them attempt to be relevant while drawing crowds that can be dwarfed by singe A MiLB ballgames (being fictitious). And What they did to Spartan Stadium is absolutely criminal to me. I attribute much of it to their program’s miseries to their failure to forward think during the BW era. At least they survived unlike so many of our rivals, but SJSU are less than an afterthought today. Maybe I can dream they drop down to the FCS and bring some old names with them. My Alma mater, Sac State, could join, and the Big West breathes life again. Then again, maybe I’m high? Love your stuff man. Constantly amazing content. This video just seemed to hit home.
The Cal States enroll tens of thousands of students without even trying, so football (and sports generally) have never brought value for boosting the number of students. As mostly commuter schools, there just is not the interest among the general students, so that was a big factor. An important customer base (students) were too busy working part time jobs and living at home to really care. This is true to this day, as attendance at sporting events is not high, even for schools with a fair amount of on campus housing. Fresno State is big exception, their support is larger than any other Cal State (and arguably bigger than UCLA's support).
What stadium is pictured as background to the list of league members? (black and white, aerial view, looks 1950s or older). I thought it might be UOP's stadium, but on closer look not so sure.
Well, what is the argument as to why Title IX destroyed CSU’s and Similar schools football program? I’m uneducated to this matter and would like to hear both sides of the argument.
Title IX requires the same number of sports scholarships to be allocated to men's and women's sports. So, if you have football, which has 63 or 85 full scholarships at the FCS and FBS levels respectively, you then need multiple women's sports to even it out and fulfill title IX. This is why universities will often have 2-5 more women's sports than men's if said uni sponsor's football. With these multiple women's sports, you need coaching staffs, support staffs, a playing area, on top of the initial cost of the scholarships. As such, non-football schools see it more beneficial to not have football, since it is also already an expense sport on its own due to the sheer number of scholarships AND coaches AND support staff required, and thus also not have to spend the money required to even out the scholarships by also adding multiple women's sports.
The question has been answered pretty well here but to put it into context of the Big West schools in California: Fullerton and Long Beach State football programs were losing money for years. UOP was operating a loss, playing at a stadium that needed a major renovation and was hung out to dry when SJSU left for the WAC. SJSU also came close to dropping football a decade later for many of the same reasons.
I don't think Title IX applies to football. Title IX means that if you have two versions of sports, men and women, they have to be equal. So baseball and softball have to be equal, but there is no equivalent women's version of football in college.
Awesome, Thank you! ...... BTW ...When someone protests & says "get over it" about a subject that most everyone watching agrees "contributed" to the downfall - it rings hollow ..... you are a charlatan. Nice rundown of the timeline with no context of real-world events & their effect of all aspects of life including West Coast Football ( See PAC 12 )
