The Northwest Conference was formed in 1925,[1] making it one of the oldest continuously existing athletics conferences in the western United States. For 60 years, the NWC sponsored sports exclusively for men, but in 1984 it joined with the Women's Conference of Independent Colleges to become the Northwest Conference of Independent Colleges, shortening the name to its current moniker in 1996 when it joined the NCAA.
The College of Idaho reinstated its football program in 2014 after a 37-year hiatus[2] and joined the Frontier Conference for football. College of Idaho is now a member of the NAIA's Cascade Collegiate Conference for other sports. Whitworth left the NWC in 1984 but returned in 1988. George Fox University and Seattle University joined the conference in 1997. Seattle dropped out again in 1999 to become members of NCAA Division II.[3]Menlo College joined the conference in 2005 as a football-only member.
1931 – Albany College (now Lewis & Clark College) joined the PNWC in the 1931–32 academic year.
1938 – Lewis & Clark left the PNWC after the 1937–38 academic year.
1948 – Puget Sound left the PNWC after the 1947–48 academic year.
1949 – Lewis & Clark re-joined back to the PNWC in the 1949–50 academic year.
1965 – Pacific Lutheran College (now Pacific Lutheran University) joined the PNWC in the 1965–66 academic year.
1970 – Whitworth College (now Whitworth University) joined the PNWC in the 1970–71 academic year.
1978 – The College of Idaho left the PNWC after the 1977–78 academic year.
1984 – Whitworth left the PNWC after the 1983–84 academic year.
1984 – The PNWC merged with the Women's Conference of Independent Colleges (WCIC) to become the Northwest Conference of Independent Colleges (NCIC), therefore adding women's sports in the conference, beginning the 1984–85 academic year.
1988 – Whitworth re-joined back to the NCIC in the 1988–89 academic year.
1995 – George Fox College (now George Fox University) joined the NCIC in the 1995–96 academic year.
1996 – Puget Sound re-joined back to the NCIC in the 1996–97 academic year.
1996 – The NCIC has rebranded its name to become the Northwest Conference (NWC), beginning the 1996–97 academic year.
2006 – Menlo College joined the NWC as an associate member for football in the 2006 fall season (2006–07 academic year).
2011 – Menlo left the NWC as an associate member for football after the 2010 fall season (2010–11 academic year).
2018 – Mills College joined the NWC as an associate member for women's rowing for the 20178 spring season (2017-18 academic year)
2022 - Mills left the NWC as an associate member for women's rowing as the school merged with Northeastern University and put their athletics programs on hold
Member schools
Current members
The NWC currently has nine full members, all are private schools:
^Menlo dropped football after the 2014 fall season (2014–15 school year).
^Mills was acquired by Northeastern University in 2023, becoming part of that university's extended operations in the San Francisco Bay Area. In advance of this, Mills dropped athletics after the 2021–22 school year.
Each year the NWC awards one of its member institutions the NWC McIlroy-Lewis All-Sports Trophy, based on a points system. The award is named in honor of Jane McIlroy, former athletic director of Linfield (1950-82), and John Lewis of Willamette (1947-72).
In each sport, the conference champion is awarded 18 points, second place is awarded 16 points, and so on. The school with the most points at the conclusion of the academic year wins the trophy. Football, women's volleyball, men's and women's cross country, men's and women's soccer, men's and women's swimming, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's tennis, men's and women's golf, men's baseball, women's softball, and men's and women's track and field are the 18 sports in which points are awarded.
Pacific Lutheran has won the award 15 times, more than any other school. Whitworth has won the trophy 14 times, Linfield has won the trophy three times while Puget Sound and George Fox have won it twice.[13][14]
