UC San Diego has pulled out of the Gold Coast Mens DIAA college conference and will be replaced by Grand Canyon University for the 2016 season.

GCU, a varsity program that finished its first full season last year, struggled to find opponents, especially during the meat of the season in March and April. Goff Rugby Report detailed how GCU tried to put together their season.

But that has all been solved with GCU joining the Gold Coast, and that gives an instant jolt to an already strong conference.

Grand Canyon will start its season on December 6 when the ‘Lopes host Arizona State. Then they host Arizona on January 9 before visiting UCSB on January 16. Then it’s the start of the Gold Coast season.

The draft schedule for the Gold Coast has Grand Canyon hosting University of San Diego, then playing SBCC and UC Irvine on the road, hosting Long Beach State and Cal State Fullerton, and finishing up at USC in March, possibly in Las Vegas. The ‘Lopes also have Cal Poly in a non-conference game schedules for March.

Defending conference champion Long Beach State opens up against USC and finishes against major contenders SBCC in March. The playoffs will be held the weekend of April 2-3.