The Great West Conference, formerly a football-only league, will expand to sponsor 14 additional sports with six confirmed members beginning this academic year. Full conference scheduling and championships will begin in 2009-10.

Six schools will join the expanded Great West this fall: North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah Valley State, Texas-Pan American, Houston Baptist and the New Jersey Institute. As a football conference, the Great West Football Conference members included North Dakota, South Dakota, Cal Poly, UC Davis and Southern Utah. Cal Poly, UC Davis and Southern Utah will continue as football-only members of the league.

The Elmhurst, Illinois-based conference will provide a variety of services to its member institutions, including compliance assistance and interaction with the NCAA. The conference will also name players of the week and players of the month in all sponsored sports.

Great West officials expect to spend the next month ratifying its constitution, bylaws and sports regulations and working on scheduling. Commissioner Ed Grom likened the move to when the conference began in 2004.

“There were several NCAA Division I-AA independent schools that were looking for a conference home, and this was an opportunity every school embraced,” he said. “Four years later, the Great West has become one of the most respected leagues in the Football Championship Subdivision. By adding more sports, we opened up opportunities for more schools and more student-athletes to compete for league titles and earn individual recognition.”

In addition to football, the conference will sponsor men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s cross country, baseball, men’s and women’s golf, men’s and women’s indoor and outdoor track and field, women’s soccer, softball, women’s tennis and volleyball. The conference will not have automatic bids to NCAA championships.