Idaho Vandals - Conference Affiliations

Conference Affiliations

UI joined the Western Athletic Conference in July 2005, moving from the Big West, which it had joined in 1996 to move back to Division I-A after 18 years in I-AA. Because the Big West discontinued football after the 2000 season, the UI was a "football-only" member of the Sun Belt for four seasons (2001–04).

Prior to July 1996, UI competed in the Big Sky Conference for 33 years; it was a charter member in 1963. The Big Sky has been a Division I-AA conference since I-AA's formation in 1978, but from 1963–77, the conference was a "college division" (later Division II) for football. Although a charter member of the Big Sky, Idaho maintained its "university division" (Division I) status, with its additional football scholarships, by playing a non-conference schedule of Division I teams. An exception came in August 1967, when the football program was involuntarily dropped to the college division for two seasons. Idaho was elevated back to university status in July 1969 and continued as Division I when the three numbered divisions were formed in 1973. Five seasons later in 1978, the Vandals were dropped to the new Division I-AA, as the Big Sky moved up from Division II.

From 1922-58, Idaho competed with the original eight schools of the Pac-12 as a member of the Pacific Coast Conference. The PCC disbanded in the spring of 1959; Idaho competed as an independent for four years until the Big Sky was launched in 1963, though it did not play a conference schedule in football until 1965.