The California Pacific Conference, located in the fast-paced and majestic reaches of Northern California, is one of the most diverse Division II leagues in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA).

Entering an exciting 2009-10 season as an eight-member conference, the Cal Pac is representative of the wide array of higher education opportunities in the golden state with members coming from the California State University system, various religious affiliations, and liberal arts colleges. Bethany University, California Maritime Academy, Holy Names University, Menlo College, Mills College, Pacific Union College, Simpson University and William Jessup University make up the conference membership.

Committed to the Champions of Character program, focusing on student-athlete experience, and venturing to expand both in membership and sports sponsored, the Cal Pac is moving toward a strong future. An example of that spirit of expansion is the commitment by William Jessup University to add softball for the upcoming season.

The Cal Pac offers nine championships in five women's sports (basketball, cross country, soccer, softball and volleyball) and four men's sports (basketball, cross country, golf, and soccer).

The conference was chartered in May 24, 1995, by seven Bay Area institutions: Bethany, Cal Maritime, Dominican College, Holy Names, Pacific Union, Patten College and Simpson.

League membership soared to its highest level in 1999-2000 when Mills College joined to become the 12th member.

Current and Past Members:

Bethany University, Cal State East Bay, Cal State Monterey Bay, Dominican University, Holy Names University, Patten College, Mills College, Menlo College, Notre Dame de Namur, Pacific Union College, Simpson University, UC Santa Cruz, William Jessup University.

The first conference action took place 1996-1997 with seven of the eight charter members playing a league basketball schedule. The Cal Pac was created during a time period in which many NAIA schools in the West were leaving for NCAA Division II or III conferences. As recently as 1992, there were only two NAIA schools in Northern California. The implementation of the Cal Pac allowed for a reverse trend as it attracted eight new members into the NAIA, including five which had been long-time NCAA schools.

A foundation existed for the formation of an NAIA-affiliated conference in Northern California when two Oakland schools, Patten (1993) and Holy Names (1994) joined Bethany and Dominican in the NAIA, with Pacific Union joining in 1995. Bill Fusco, then-Dominican athletic director, spearheaded the idea of pulling more teams into the Association with the goal of creating an affiliated conference.

The conference has made purposeful improvements in recent years, ranging from the stylistic upgrades of its logo, improved use of technology for its website and reporting, significant creativity in awards, increased representation and involvment at the national level by its leaders, and a constant assault on competitive success by its coaches and student-athletes.

This exciting new era includes a leadership shift in the Cal Pac. Don Ott serves as the league's commissioner, joining the conference in 2007 and the first to do so without a member institution affiliation. Themy Adachi of Mills serves as conference's president, Farnum Smith of William Jessup is vice president, and Marvin Christopher of California Maritime is secretary. Keith Spataro of Menlo is the league's representative to the NAIA's NAC. Sister Rosemarie Nassif of Holy Names leads the conference's Council of Presidents and sits on the NAIA's COP group.

Chris Holtz, a graduate of William Jessup, serves as Sports Information Director for the Cal Pac and the experienced Dr. James Davies, formerly of Simpson, serves as faculty athletic representative/eligibility chair.