Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

History

A forerunner conference to the SCIAC was the Intercollegiate Football Association of Southern California, which existed in the 1890s. It included Occidental, Caltech (then called Throop Polytechnic), USC, Chaffey College and Los Angeles High School.

The SCIAC was founded in 1915 with five member schools with the goals to promote amateurism in athletics. The five founding members, all of whom are still members, are Throop College of Technology (now California Institute of Technology), Occidental College, Pomona College, the University of Redlands, and Whittier College. Although all five original charter members are still affiliated with the SCIAC, only two, Occidental and Redlands, have had uninterrupted membership. The acronym SCIAC (standing for Southern California Interscholastic Athletic Council) was in use during 1913 and 1914 until that organization became the CIF Southern Section.

On May 12, 2011, the SCIAC announced that Chapman University would become the ninth member, beginning with the 2011–12 academic year. The addition of Chapman marks the first expansion of the conference since California Lutheran University joined in 1991. At one time, most of the colleges were the southern California affiliates of various Christian denominations such as the Quakers and the Presbyterians. Today, only California Lutheran University maintains an affiliation with a church.

There are three former members of the SCIAC: University of California, Los Angeles, San Diego State University and University of California, Santa Barbara. All former members now compete in NCAA Division I athletics.

Chronological timeline

• 1915 – The Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) was founded. Charter members included Occidental College, Pomona College, the University of Redlands, Throop College of Technology (now California Institute of Technology) and Whittier College, beginning the 1915–16 academic year.
• 1920 – The Southern Branch of the University of California (now the University of California at Los Angeles, or UCLA) joined the SCIAC in the 1920–21 academic year.
• 1926 – La Verne College (now the University of La Verne) and San Diego State Teachers College (now San Diego State University) joined the SCIAC in the 1926–27 academic year.
• 1927 – UCLA left the SCIAC after the 1926–27 academic year.
• 1931 – Santa Barbara State College (now the University of California at Santa Barbara) joined the SCIAC in the 1931–32 academic year.
• 1934 – Caltech and Pomona left the SCIAC after the 1933–34 academic year.
• 1938:
  • La Verne and UC Santa Barbara left the SCIAC after the 1937–38 academic year
  • Caltech and Pomona rejoined the SCIAC in the 1938–39 academic year.
• 1939 – San Diego State left the SCIAC after the 1938–39 academic year.
• 1943 – Whittier left the SCIAC after the 1942–43 academic year.
• 1946 – Whittier rejoined the SCIAC in the 1946–47 academic year.
• 1947 – Claremont Men's College (now Claremont McKenna College) joined the SCIAC in the 1947–48 academic year.
• 1950 – Chapman College (now Chapman University) joined the SCIAC in the 1950–51 academic year.
• 1952 – Chapman left the SCIAC after the 1951–52 academic year.
• 1958 – Claremont combined with Harvey Mudd College for athletics to become Claremont–Mudd, beginning the 1958–59 academic year.
• 1971 – Pomona combined with Pitzer College for athletics to become Pomona–Pitzer, while La Verne rejoined the SCIAC, both effective in the 1971–72 academic year.
• 1976 – Claremont–Mudd combined with Scripps College for athletics to become Claremont–Mudd–Scripps, beginning the 1976–77 academic year.
• 1991 – California Lutheran University joined the SCIAC, effective in the 1991–92 academic year.
• 2011 – Chapman rejoined the SCIAC in the 2011–12 academic year.
• 2020 – Occidental dropped its football program before the start of the 2020 fall season (2020–21 academic year).
• 2023 – Whittier dropped its football program after the 2022 fall season (2022–23 academic year).
• 2024 – Azusa Pacific announced that it would transition from NCAA Division II and the Pacific West Conference to the SCIAC in conjunction with the restart of its football program for the 2026 fall season (2026–27 academic year).

Member schools

Current member schools

The SCIAC currently has nine full members, all are private schools:

;Notes:

Future member

The SCIAC will have one new member in 2026, also a private school.

;Notes:

Former member schools

The SCIAC had three former full members, all were public schools:

;Notes:

Membership timeline

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bar:1 color:FullxF from:1915 till:1934 text:Caltech (1915–1934) bar:1 color:FullxF from:1938 till:end text:(1938–present)

bar:2 color:FullxF from:1915 till:end text:Occidental (1915–present)

bar:4 color:Full from:1915 till:1934 text:Pomona (1915–1934) bar:4 color:Full from:1938 till:1971 text:Pomona (1938–1971) bar:4 color:Full from:1971 till:end text:Pomona-Pitzer (1971–present)

bar:5 color:Full from:1915 till:end text:Redlands (1915–present)

bar:6 color:FullxF from:1915 till:1943 text:Whittier (1915–1943) bar:6 color:FullxF from:1946 till:end text:(1946–present)

bar:7 color:Full from:1920 till:1927 text:UCLA (1920–1927)

bar:8 color:Full from:1926 till:1939 text:San Diego State (1926–1939)

bar:9 color:Full from:1926 till:1938 text:La Verne (1926–1938) bar:9 color:Full from:1971 till:end text:(1971–present)

bar:10 color:Full from:1931 till:1938 text:UC Santa Barbara (1931–1938)

bar:11 color:Full from:1947 till:1962 text:Claremont (1947–1958) bar:11 color:Full from:1962 till:1981 text:Claremont-Mudd (1958–1976) bar:11 color:Full from:1981 till:end text:Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (1976–present)

bar:12 color:Full from:1950 till:1952 text:Chapman (1950–1952) bar:12 color:Full from:2011 till:end text:Chapman (2011–present)

bar:13 color:Full from:1991 till:end text:Cal Lutheran (1991–present)

bar:14 shift:(-100) color:Full from:2026 till:end text:Azusa Pacific (2026–future)

ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:5 start:1915

TextData = fontsize:M textcolor:black pos:(0,20) tabs:(400-center) text:^"Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference membership history"

1. If the chart uses more than one bar color, add a legend by selecting the appropriate fields from the following three options (use only the colors that are used in the graphic.) Leave a blank line after the end of the timeline, then add a line with the selected values from the list, separated by a space.

All-sports champions

Sports

The SCIAC sponsors intercollegiate athletic competition in the following sports:

References

References

1. "CIF History — Sports on the Side".
2. (May 12, 2011). "Chapman University Welcomed as the Ninth Member of the SCIAC".
3. "History of SCIAC". Sciac.
4. (March 17, 2025). "APU Announces Return of Football". [[Azusa Pacific University]].
5. (May 18, 2022). "Pomona-Pitzer Claims SCIAC All-Sports Combined Trophy".