It didn’t take long for the Big Sky Conference to find not one, but two replacements for the departing Sacramento State.

The league announced Wednesday that it is adding former member Southern Utah and newly-minted Division I Utah Tech as full members beginning with the 2026-2027 school year. Sacramento State announced recently that it is leaving the Big Sky Conference at the end of next school year in pursuit of a future in FBS football.

“There have been a lot of discussions about it,” said Idaho State Athletic Director Pauline Thiros. “It’s not the first time those schools have expressed interest. They’ve had a strong desire for some time. When Sac State made their announcement, I was definitely supportive of the idea that the Big Sky should act quickly and solidify our core spots and keep our conference stable.”

Southern Utah, which is based in Cedar City, was a member of the Big Sky Conference from 2012-2022. During that time, the Thunderbirds won nine conference championships, including football in 2015 and 2017.

Since its move to the Western Athletic Conference, SUU has been 5-6, 6-5 and 7-5 in football.

Utah Tech, based in St. George, is the former Dixie State, which moved up to the Division I level in athletics in 2024. The Trailblazers finished 1-11 in their first year in FCS competition in football, including losses to Big Sky members Montana State, Northern Arizona and UC Davis.

Thiros sees a lot of positives to the addition of the two new Utah schools.

“The Big Sky has the opportunity to go to playing nine conference games (in football),” she said. “Travel is improved. The schools are 50 miles apart in our historic geographic footprint, which is within driving range for many of us. It will take some creativity and some work to create new schedules, but we’ve had 11 members in the past. I think there will be some great options.”

Idaho State is already scheduled to play at Southern Utah in football on Aug. 30 of this year, although that game will not be a conference matchup. Utah Tech appears on several future ISU schedules already.

It is likely the Big Sky will decide to move to a nine-game conference schedule in football. With the NCAA giving approval for FCS schools to go to a permanent 12-game schedule, that will still allow Big Sky schools to schedule three non-conference games.

The permanent members of the Big Sky Conference are Montana, Montana State, Idaho, ISU, Eastern Washington, Northern Arizona, Northern Colorado, Portland State and Weber State. Cal Poly and UC Davis are football-only members.

In basketball, Big Sky schools have always had a challenge filling non-conference schedules with other Division I teams that are willing to travel to the Big Sky schools. By adding a net of one more basketball school, the conference will fill at least two of those non-conference slots for Big Sky teams. (Although the NCAA has just approved adding one more game — to a total of 32 — to all Division I teams’ schedules, beginning in the 2026-27 season.)

Both Utah Tech and Southern Utah will also field softball teams, which fills the void with Sacramento State leaving. The Big Sky currently has only six schools, including Sac State, that play softball. That is the NCAA minimum to maintain an automatic berth in the post-season tournament for the conference champion.

Sac State, which came into the Big Sky in 1996, has been dreaming big dreams lately. They have a new football stadium under construction, and in men’s basketball they’ve hired former NBA stars Shaquille O’Neal and Mike Bibby as general manager and coach, respectively.

But their initial efforts to get a waiver to allow them to move up to the FBS level in football with an FBS Conference invite have been denied, and the few schools that have tried to survive as independents in football have found it a rocky road.

The Big Sky, by contrast, seems perfectly content with its lot in life as an FCS football league, with all other sports competing in Division I.

“I’ve loved working with the people at Sacramento State. They’ve been competitive and they’ve been very, very good members,” said Thiros. “But their institutional philosophy is different.”

That was a point emphasized by Big Sky Conference Commissioner Tom Wistrcill in announcing the two new additions to the league.

“Amid a rapidly evolving landscape that each day seemingly pulls college sports further from its true mission, this move underscores our commitment to a strong and sustainable future at the top of the FCS and across several key sports,” said Wistrcill. “Both of these programs bring institutional alignment that will enhance the Big Sky’s tradition as a national leader that continually aspires to elevate the experience of our constituencies.”