The University of Hawai’i announced on Oct. 15 that the school will become full-time members of the Mountain West conference effective July 1, 2026.
The Rainbow Warriors, who are currently football-only members of the Mountain West, will be leaving the Big West after over 40 years of membership. Hawai’i first became a member of the Big West back in 1984 and became a full-fledged member in 2012.
Despite Hawai’i deciding to join the Mountain West, the Big West commissioner Dan Butterly released a statement on social media saying that the Rainbow Warriors might not entirely be out of the conference.
“Discussions regarding Hawai’i’s possible affiliate membership in men’s volleyball, beach volleyball, women’s water polo, and men’s swimming and diving will begin today (Oct. 15), and we will have further comment on the subject at an appropriate time,” Butterly wrote.
With Hawai’i’s departure from the Big West, that leaves the conference with no schools located outside of the state of California. CSUN will be losing out on a quality opponent in almost every sport that the Big West conference sponsors.
Hawai’i won the Big West Women’s Basketball Championships in 2023 and 2022 and made it to the NCAA Tournament in both seasons. In women’s golf, the Rainbow Warriors finished as co-champions in 2022 along with Long Beach State.
On the diamond, the Rainbow Warriors had one of their best years in 2023, winning 37 games and finishing in third in the conference. Hawai’i’s Les Murakami Stadium is a hidden gem in the Big West and is one of the nicest stadiums in the conference, something that will be sorely missed by teams in the Big West.
If the Big West is able to retain Hawai’i in men’s volleyball, then the Matadors would keep one of the best teams in the country on their schedule. The Rainbow Warriors were the NCAA national champions in 2021 and 2022 and the runner-ups in 2023. They were the Big West champions in both 2021 and 2022 as well. Not only is it important to retain Hawai’i as an opponent, but the university frequently hosts the the Big West Men’s Volleyball Championships
In beach volleyball, Hawai’i has been simply dominant since the Big West officially sponsored the sport back in 2016. They have won four of eight possible championships in the sport, including their most recent in 2024.
College athletics have rocked in recent years thanks to copious amounts of conference realignment and now the Big West conference has officially been effected. A lot of movement can be traced back to July 2021 when the University of Texas and Oklahoma University declared their intention to leave the Big XII and move to the SEC. Since then schools like UCLA and USC have bolted off to the Big Ten conference.
Safe to say, the Big West is losing a powerful member of their conference, but with the loss of one member, the conference could see an addition to replace the departing Hawai’i. The conference has plenty of schools to pick from if they choose to go down that route with the NCAA Division II conference, the California Collegiate Athletic Association, or CCAA, consisting of entirely California state schools.
