Division 2 Schools in California: The CCAA, the PacWest, and D2 Recruiting

Key takeaways

• The California Collegiate Athletic Association is an all California conference with 14 members and is the center of Division 2 in the state.
• The PacWest also has California members but spans several states, so travel looks very different.
• Ten of the fifteen schools covered here compete in more than one conference. One competes in four.
• None of these fifteen sponsors football. Five of them used to.
• Division 2 uses the equivalency model, so most athletes hold partial awards rather than full rides.

California Division 2 is easy to describe wrongly, because the two conferences that hold most of it work in opposite ways. One is a California only league where a road trip is a bus ride. The other reaches across state lines and into Hawaii. Two schools in the same division, forty miles apart, can have completely different travel seasons.

Underneath that sits the thing recruits actually need: which schools sponsor your sport, which league they play it in, and what the aid package really covers. This guide answers those three questions for the schools it can document, and is explicit about the ones it cannot.

What Division 2 means for your family budget

Division 2 uses the equivalency model. A program gets a set number of scholarships and splits them across the roster, so most Division 2 athletes hold partial awards. Those stack with academic scholarships, grants based on financial need, and institutional aid.

The stacking is where the real number lives. An athletic award of 25 percent at a school with strong merit aid beats an award of 50 percent somewhere with none, and California’s public and private Division 2 schools price very differently before aid ever enters the conversation.

Two questions coaches rarely volunteer. What does year four cost, not year one? And what happens to the award if you get hurt or the coach leaves? Get both answers in writing. Aid at this level renews annually.

The CCAA is California’s own conference

The California Collegiate Athletic Association is unusual among Division 2 conferences in that every member is in one state. Its fourteen members:

Sonoma State is listed as a future member.

For a California family the practical meaning is straightforward. Twelve of the fourteen are public campuses in the CSU or UC systems, which for an in state student is the single largest cost variable on this page, larger than any athletic award anyone will offer.

Two membership notes. Fresno Pacific joined the CCAA on 1 July 2026 after leaving the PacWest, so anything describing it as a PacWest school is out of date. Menlo’s own materials describe it as a PacWest member since 2024 while the conference listing shows it in the CCAA, which is a live discrepancy worth checking before you build a schedule around it.

The PacWest is the other main home, and it is not California only

The Pacific West Conference also draws California members, but unlike the CCAA it reaches beyond the state. That difference shows up in the travel budget and in how many weekday classes an athlete misses.

Documented California PacWest schools:

All four are private, which is the mirror image of the CCAA and is the clearest financial fork in California Division 2.

Ask which conference your sport plays in, not which conference the school is in

This is the section most guides skip, and in California it matters more than anywhere.

Ten of the fifteen schools documented here send at least one team to a league other than their primary conference.

Cal Poly Humboldt runs four at once. The CCAA for most sports, the Great Northwest Athletic Conference for women’s rowing, the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation for men’s wrestling, and no affiliation at all for women’s triathlon. A Humboldt rower and a Humboldt basketball player attend the same school, wear the same colors, and travel to different states.

UC Merced runs three. The CCAA for most sports, the MPSF for men’s volleyball, and the Western Water Polo Association for men’s and women’s water polo.

Two schools each run two. San Francisco State plays CCAA except men’s wrestling, which is in the MPSF. Cal State Monterey Bay plays CCAA except women’s water polo, in the WWPA. Cal State Los Angeles and Stanislaus State both play CCAA except women’s tennis, which is in the PacWest. Menlo plays PacWest except men’s volleyball and men’s and women’s wrestling, all in the MPSF. Fresno Pacific plays its conference schedule except water polo, in the WWPA. Westmont plays PacWest except indoor track, which is unaffiliated, and women’s swimming and diving, which is in the Pacific Collegiate Swim and Dive Conference.

If you are a wrestler, a rower, a water polo player, a men’s volleyball player, or a woman playing tennis, the school’s conference tells you almost nothing about your season. Ask the coach directly.

None of these schools sponsors football, and five of them dropped it

Not one of the fifteen schools documented here fields football. Five discontinued it: Cal State Los Angeles after 1977, San Francisco State in 1994, Chico State in 1997, Menlo in 2015, and Cal Poly Humboldt in 2018.

Cal Poly Humboldt’s exit is the one to study. The program won the Great Northwest Athletic Conference in 2015, hosted the first home playoff game in school history, beat Augustana by 45 to 31 for its first playoff win since 1960, and produced a Harlon Hill Trophy runner up in Ja’Quan Gardner, who rushed for 2,266 yards that season. The university dropped the sport three years later.

Winning does not protect a program at this level.

Programs get cut in California, so ask about it on the visit

San Francisco State discontinued men’s soccer in 2025 and baseball at the end of the 2025 season. Baseball had reached NCAA West Regionals in 2024 and again in 2025, so the program was cut directly after back to back postseason appearances. Point Loma dropped softball in 2010 and added women’s golf in its place. Chico State eliminated swimming after 1991, a program that had finished in the national top seven for 19 consecutive years.

Add one question to every campus visit that no recruiting guide tells you to ask: has this department cut a sport in the last ten years, and what happened to those athletes?

Wrestling is the growth story

California Division 2 wrestling nearly disappeared. When California Baptist moved to Division 1, San Francisco State was left as the only Division 2 wrestling program in the state.

It has since rebuilt. The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation launched a Division 2 men’s wrestling league in 2024, and Cal Poly Humboldt, Menlo, and Vanguard have joined San Francisco State in it. Cal Poly Humboldt reinstated men’s wrestling in 2024 after dropping it in 1989. Menlo sponsors both men’s and women’s wrestling, and women’s wrestling is one of the fastest growing college sports in the country.

San Francisco State holds the deepest record of the group: a national team championship in 1997 over Omaha by 95 to 81, an individual national champion in 2025, and qualifiers at the national championships in 56 separate years.

Division 2 schools in California, school by school

Cal Poly Humboldt Lumberjacks, Arcata, CCAA

Thirteen varsity teams, five men’s and eight women’s, across four conference affiliations. Six NCAA Division 2 team championships: women’s rowing in 2012, 2014, and 2023, softball in 1999 and 2008, and men’s cross country in 1980. Rowing competes in the GNAC, wrestling in the MPSF, and women’s triathlon is unaffiliated. Football ran through 2018.

Cal Poly Pomona Broncos, Pomona, CCAA

A CCAA member. No detail beyond membership is documented in the sources used for this guide.

Cal State Dominguez Hills Toros, Carson, CCAA

Nine varsity teams, four men’s and five women’s, all in the CCAA. Three NCAA Division 2 team championships, all in soccer: men’s in 2000 and 2008, women’s in 1991. Alumni include a major league outfielder who set a Division 2 record with a 54 game hitting streak in 2010, and Olympic sprinter Carmelita Jeter.

Cal State East Bay Pioneers, Hayward, CCAA

A CCAA member. No detail beyond membership is documented in the sources used for this guide.

Cal State Los Angeles Golden Eagles, Los Angeles, CCAA

Five NCAA Division 2 team championships: men’s tennis in 1963, 1964, and 1965, men’s outdoor track and field in 1978, and men’s soccer in 2021 with a 1 to 0 win over Charleston. Women’s tennis competes in the PacWest rather than the CCAA. The athletic complex is named for Billie Jean King. Football was disbanded after 1977.

Cal State Monterey Bay Otters, Seaside, CCAA

Fourteen varsity teams, six men’s and eight women’s. One NCAA Division 2 team championship, men’s golf in 2011. Women’s water polo competes in the Western Water Polo Association. The soccer teams moved into Cardinale Stadium in 2022, built in partnership with a professional club.

Cal State San Bernardino Coyotes, San Bernardino, CCAA

Ten varsity teams, four men’s and six women’s. The 2019 women’s volleyball team finished 33 wins and no losses to win the national championship, only the third undefeated season in NCAA Division 2 history. Men’s basketball has 17 NCAA tournament appearances and two national semifinal runs. The department began in 1984 at Division 3 and moved to Division 2 in 1992.

Cal State San Marcos Cougars, San Marcos, CCAA

Six men’s and seven women’s programs. Women’s golf produced an individual national champion in 2025 and the program was national runner up in 2019. The school competed in the NAIA until 2015, winning three straight women’s cross country national titles from 2009 through 2011.

Chico State Wildcats, Chico, CCAA

Thirteen varsity teams, six men’s and seven women’s, all in the CCAA. Six NCAA Division 2 team championships: baseball in 1997 and 1999, men’s golf in 1966, and men’s swimming and diving in 1973, 1974, and 1976. Baseball was also national runner up in 2002 and 2006. Football ended in 1997 and swimming was eliminated after 1991.

Dominican Penguins, San Rafael, PacWest

Fifteen varsity teams, six men’s and nine women’s. A PacWest member since 2009 and a full Division 2 member since 2011, after competing in the NAIA. Men’s golf reached a regional in 2015, the first Dominican team to do so. The school earned the PacWest academic achievement award for the highest athlete GPA in the conference six years running.

One caution: the sources give two different accounts of where men’s lacrosse competes. Confirm with the athletics department before treating it as an NCAA sport.

Fresno Pacific Sunbirds, Fresno, CCAA since July 2026

Seventeen varsity teams, eight men’s and nine women’s, including men’s and women’s water polo, which compete in the Western Water Polo Association. The school moved from the NAIA to Division 2 and the PacWest in 2012, then left the PacWest for the CCAA on 1 July 2026. Its NAIA record was formidable, including six women’s volleyball national titles and an unbeaten 38 game season in 2009.

Menlo Oaks, Atherton

Twenty three varsity sports, the largest count in this guide by six: nine men’s, nine women’s, and five coed. The coed programs are competitive cheer, competitive dance, eSports, rowing, and weightlifting. Men’s volleyball and both wrestling programs compete in the MPSF. Menlo entered Division 2 in 2024 after a long NAIA history, and dropped football in 2015.

Conference membership is currently reported two ways. See the note in the CCAA section.

Point Loma Sea Lions, San Diego, PacWest

Eleven varsity teams, four men’s and seven women’s, all in the PacWest with no split affiliations. Women’s soccer won the NCAA Division 2 national championship in 2023, beating Washburn by 1 to 0. Point Loma became a full NCAA member in 2014 after three years transitioning from the NAIA. Softball was dropped in 2010 and women’s golf added in its place.

San Francisco State Gators, San Francisco, CCAA

Ten varsity teams, four men’s and six women’s, after recent cuts. Wrestling competes in the MPSF and holds the school’s only NCAA team championship, won in 1997. Women’s volleyball finished as national runner up in 2024 at 26 wins and 7 losses. Men’s soccer and baseball were both discontinued in 2025, and football ended in 1994.

Stanislaus State Warriors, Turlock, CCAA

Six men’s and seven women’s programs. Women’s tennis competes in the PacWest. The school’s fourteen national team championships all came at Division 3, in baseball and men’s golf, before the move up. Men’s golf has 21 Division 2 NCAA tournament appearances, the deepest single sport record in this group.

UC Merced Bobcats, Merced, CCAA

Twelve varsity teams, six men’s and six women’s, and the newest program here. UC Merced began intercollegiate athletics in the NAIA in 2011, was invited to the CCAA in November 2023, and began play and reclassification in fall 2025. Men’s volleyball competes in the MPSF and both water polo teams in the WWPA.

Because the school is still reclassifying, confirm current postseason eligibility directly.

Westmont Warriors, Santa Barbara, PacWest

Fifteen varsity teams, seven men’s and eight women’s. Twelve compete in the PacWest, indoor track is unaffiliated, and women’s swimming and diving is in the Pacific Collegiate Swim and Dive Conference. Westmont moved from the NAIA in 2023 and has been working through the Division 2 membership process since. Its NAIA record includes five women’s soccer national championships and a baseball title in 2023.

Confirm current membership status before treating Westmont as a full Division 2 member.

NIL at Division 2 in California

Division 2 athletes are eligible for name, image, and likeness deals, but the machinery around them is nothing like Division 1.

The revenue sharing figures that dominate college sports coverage describe a Division 1 mechanism. It has no bearing on a Division 2 roster in Turlock or Arcata. What exists at this level is local: the sponsorship, the camp, the lesson, the appearance, the social content.

That cuts two ways. No collective is writing checks at a California Division 2 school. There is also very little competition for the local market, and at a campus in Chico or San Marcos a varsity athlete is often among the most recognizable people in town.

Treat NIL as a rounding error when you compare offers, not a reason to pick a school. Then, once you are on a roster, treat it as something you build.

Building your California D2 list

1. Decide first whether cost points you toward the public CCAA campuses or a private school with strong merit aid.
2. Confirm the school sponsors your sport at all.
3. Confirm which conference it plays that sport in. Ten of the fifteen schools here split leagues.
4. Ask whether the department has cut a sport in the last ten years.
5. Read rosters for position openings, class balance, and transfer movement.
6. Email coaches with film, grades, your competition schedule, and one specific reason for that school.
7. Visit, and watch a practice rather than a game.
8. Compare real annual cost, not scholarship percentages.

Frequently asked questions

What conference do most California Division 2 schools play in? The California Collegiate Athletic Association, which has fourteen members, all of them in California. The Pacific West Conference is the other main home for California D2 schools, and it includes members outside the state.

Do Division 2 schools in California offer athletic scholarships? Yes, under the equivalency model. Programs divide a set number of scholarships across the roster, so most athletes receive partial awards that stack with academic and need based aid rather than full rides.

Which California D2 schools have football? None of the schools covered in this guide sponsors football. Five of them discontinued the sport, most recently Cal Poly Humboldt in 2018.

Can a Division 2 school compete in a different conference for one sport? Yes, and in California it is common. Ten of the fifteen schools here do it. Cal Poly Humboldt competes in four different arrangements at once.

Which California D2 school has the most sports? Menlo College, with twenty three varsity programs including five coed sports.

Are there Division 2 wrestling programs in California? Yes. San Francisco State was briefly the only one, and Cal Poly Humboldt, Menlo, and Vanguard have since joined it in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, which launched a Division 2 men’s wrestling league in 2024.

Final takeaway

California Division 2 splits cleanly along a line most guides never draw. The CCAA is public, in state, and built for short travel. The PacWest side is private and reaches beyond California.

Start from cost, then sport sponsorship, then conference, then the roster. The division label is the last thing to look at, not the first, and in a state where a single school can compete in four leagues at once, it tells you less here than almost anywhere.