In July 2005, the Pacific West Conference voted to admit Notre Dame de Namur University as a provisional member, as it moved from the NAIA to the NCAA Division II.

Holy Names University was also added to the PacWest in 2011, but did not begin the NCAA Division II membership process from the NAIA until July 13, 2012.

[1] On November 27, 2012, Grand Canyon announced it would leave the PacWest after the 2012–13 school year to accept an invitation to join the Division I Western Athletic Conference.

In October 2016, Dixie State announced that it would transition from the PacWest to the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference after the 2017–18 school year.

[8] On March 23, 2020, Notre Dame de Namur announced the cessation of all its athletics after the 2019–20 school year.