UCSD looked into the possibility of joining the Division I Big West Conference last month. The Big West, however, said thanks but no thanks to UCSD and Cal State Bakersfield, opting to bring only the University of Hawaii into its ranks.

The conference opened for expansion on Nov. 16 by lifting its membership moratorium. Hawaii and Bakersfield filed formal applications to join the conference, but UCSD only expressed interest privately.

“It was an assessment tool,” Athletic Director Earl Edwards said. “We wanted some feedback as to whether they were interested in us or not. Obviously, they were more interested in Hawaii than they were in us.”

When Big West Council — a group of leaders from each member school — met on Dec. 7, CSUB and UCSD were not recommended by the Council and consequently the Board of Directors did not vote on their invitations. The board voted unanimously to extend an invitation to Hawaii, who accepted several days later and will join officially in 2012.

The Big West is a non-football Division I conference, including the likes of UC Santa Barbara, UC Irvine and UC Davis. Hawaii will compete in the Mountain West Conference for football and Big West in all other sports, and becomes the conference’s first non-California based member since 2005. Hawaii will also pay around 20 percent of the travel costs for the other schools in the conference when playing in Honolulu.

“We are excited and pleased with the addition of Hawaii to the Big West Conference,” chair of the board of directors and UC Irvine Chancellor Michael Drake said in a press release. “In assessing Hawaii, the board carefully considered and was impressed by both its legacy of athletic success and its commitment to academic excellence.”

Hawaii decided to leave the struggling Western Athletic Conference, joining Boise State, Nevada and Fresno State in moving to the Mountain West. The WAC will be left with just four of its current members beyond 2012: San Jose State, University of Idaho, New Mexico State and Louisiana Tech.

Edwards emphasized that UCSD only expressed interest in the Big West, and did not make any official commitments toward joining the conference or Div-I.

“It’s important to make that distinction,” Edwards said. “Once the university is able to decide what we are going to do, then we can go ahead and file an official application to a conference.”

UCSD commissioned a Div-I feasibility report that will be released in mid-January.

Readers can contact Liam Rose at [email protected].