The Great Southwest Athletic Conference (GSAC), formerly known as the Golden State Athletic Conference, is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). The conference commissioner is Mike Daniels. Conference leadership is shared among the member institutions. Seven of the eight members of the GSAC are Christian colleges located in California and Arizona. Conference teams have won 22 national championships.

History

The Golden State Athletic Conference was formed in the fall of 1986, with Azusa Pacific University, California Lutheran University, Fresno Pacific University, Point Loma Nazarene University, Vanguard University and Westmont College as the charter members. California Baptist University and Concordia University joined the GSAC in the fall of the following year (1987). Cal Lutheran left the GSAC after the spring of 1989. Biola University joined the GSAC in the fall of 1994. Hope International University and San Diego Christian College joined the GSAC in the fall of 1999. The Master's University, joined the GSAC in the fall of 2001. Lewis–Clark State College of Lewiston, Idaho joined the GSAC as an affiliate member for men's and women's tennis in 2016.

Recent years

In recent years, the conference has seen changes with members leaving the GSAC and the NAIA for the NCAA. In 2011 Cal Baptist left the GSAC to join the Pacific West Conference followed by the announcement that Azusa Pacific, Fresno Pacific and Point Loma Nazarene joined Cal Baptist in the PacWest in 2012. Concordia then left to join the PacWest in 2015, and Biola applied to make the same move in 2017. To replace these schools, the GSAC has added Arizona Christian, Menlo and William Jessup (now known as Jessup). Life Pacific joined in 2017 and Ottawa (AZ) joined in 2018 to bring the GSAC to 10 members. The departures to the NCAA continued into the 2020s, with Westmont departing for the PacWest in 2023 and Jessup, Menlo, and Vanguard all following in 2024. To combat this, the GSAC added Benedictine–Mesa, Embry–Riddle at Prescott and Park–Gilbert, to bring membership back to 8 members. Immediately following these additions, the GSAC announced that it would undergo a rebrand to the Great Southwest Athletic Conference, to reflect its membership now including schools located outside of California.

Chronological timeline

Member schools

Current members

The GSAC currently has eight full members, all are private schools:

Future members

Affiliate members

The GSAC currently has one affiliate members, a private school:

Former members

The GSAC had twelve former full members, all were private schools:

Former affiliate members

The GSAC had three former affiliate members, one was a public school and two were private schools:

Membership timeline

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