The Cal Pac
The California Pacific Conference, the most diverse league in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) is an 8-members conference with 8 championship sports in 2025-26.
A perennial Five Star Conference of Character, the Cal Pac is one of just three conferences in the nation to ever have ALL of its members designated as Character Institutions, and set a national record in 2019 by having nine institutions reach the elusive NAIA Gold standard for Champions of Character.
Conference members span the length California, coming from the California State and University of California systems, various religious affiliations, and liberal arts colleges and feature wide-ranging educational opportunities. If there is a discipline to study, chances are it can be done in the Cal Pac!
California Maritime Academy (Vallejo, Calif.), Pacific Union College (Angwin, Calif.), Northern New Mexico College (Espanola, NM) Simpson University (Redding, Calif.), Stanton University (Anaheim, Calif.) and Westcliff University (Irvine, CA) make up the current conference membership. Central Christian College (Kansas) and Walla Walla University (Washington) are associate members in men's volleyball.
The Cal Pac offers championships in women's sports (basketball, cross country, soccer, indoor volleyball) and men's sports (basketball, cross country, soccer, indoor volleyball).
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.
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 that 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 involvement at the national level by its leaders, and a constant assault on competitive success by its coaches and student-athletes.
This era of expansion started with a leadership shift in the Cal Pac. Don Ott serves as the league's commissioner, joining the conference in 2007 and becoming the conference's first full-time commissioner in 2017. Ott has worked in intercollegiate athletics for nearly 40 years, starting as a student assistant at Washington State University, and including stops with the Pacific-10 Conference, Athletes In Action's world touring team, Oral Roberts University, a 15-year stint as the associate commissioner of the West Coast Conference of NCAA DI, and 16 years on the pastoral staff of Castro Valley First Baptist Church. Ott earned his Doctorate through Trinity Seminary in 2020. He serves on the NAIA National Administrative Council, and is also the chair of the NAIA women's soccer selection committee. During his time with the Cal Pac, Ott has helped 15 different institutions join the NAIA.
Andre Harrell, a former Cal Pac SID at Antelope Valley, serves as Director of Communications/SID.
Patsy Livingston, a past winner of the NAIA's Charles Morris award as the national Administrator of the Year, is the league's eligibility chair.
CONTACT
Physical Address: 3740 Redwood Road, Suite A-7, Castro Valley, CA 94546
Shipping Address: 4612 Lawrence Drive, Castro Valley, CA 94546
Commissioner Dr. Don Ott:
(510) 432-7699 [c]
dott@calpacathletics.com
Eligibility Chair: Patsy Livingston
19162 Star Gazer Lane
Belle Fourche, SD 57717
(775) 223-7729 [c]
SID: Andre Harrell
(661) 468-6984 [c]
sid@calpacathletics.com