Most collegiate sports fans can tell you that UCLA is a part of
the Pac-10 Conference.
But what many casual fans don’t know is that not of all
UCLA’s varsity sports teams compete in the Pac-10.
The men’s volleyball, men’s and women’s water
polo, and men’s and women’s indoor track teams all call
another conference their own: the Mountain Pacific Sports
Federation.
The MPSF is essentially a conference of conferences.
Incepted in 1992, the MPSF provides a conference for schools to
compete in when their own conferences don’t have enough teams
to compete on their own.
For example, the MPSF men’s water polo conference contains
four Pac-10 teams (UCLA, USC, California and Stanford), four Big
West schools (Long Beach State, Pacific, UC Irvine and UC Santa
Barbara) and one West Coast Conference team (Pepperdine).
The conference format provides a slight change of pace than what
is offered from the Pac-10, and allows new rivalries to be formed.
For example, if it wasn’t for the MPSF, the UCLA men’s
volleyball team wouldn’t enjoy its healthy rivalries with BYU
and Hawai’i.
“We allow schools to compete in Olympic sports by
providing a cost-contained environment, a conference championship
and a way to get into NCAA (Tournament) play,” MPSF Executive
Director Al Beaird said.
The complexity and magnitude of the MPSF can make running the
conference tough.
Offering nine different sports for schools to compete in, the
MPSF has five member conferences and supports 35 schools and 80
varsity teams in 13 different states, ranging from as far west as
Hawai’i (men’s volleyball, women’s water polo) to
as far east as Nebraska (men’s gymnastics) to as far north as
Alaska-Anchorage (men’s gymnastics).
Also, unlike regular conferences, teams are basically free to
leave and come back to the MPSF, since every school is primarily
part of a conference that is not the MPSF.
“One of our major issues is trying to get everyone on the
same page,” Beaird said.
“There’s lots of different philosophies in
resources, budgeting, and media relations. We’re always
trying to find a way to make it work.”
Other problems for the MPSF include funds and prestige, since
the conference does not have football or basketball, two of the
biggest money-producing sports in the NCAA.
But the awareness of the MPSF has grown in recent years, as
several NCAA champions and Olympians have come out of the
conference.
Most of the nation’s traditional powerhouses in water polo
and volleyball are in the MPSF.
“Most people I run into in the world of college athletics
know who we are,” Beaird said. “We’re really
unique in the way the conference is structured.”
The conference is always changing too.
Women’s lacrosse became an MPSF sport in the spring of
2004, and there are talks of adding softball as well.
But one thing is for certain. The conference’s main
purpose has been served.
“Our vision has worked,” Beaird said.
And because of that vision, many UCLA athletes get the
opportunity to compete in such an environment that would otherwise
be unavailable to them.