West Coast Conference
The West Coast Conference is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated in NCAA Division I consisting of ten member schools across the states of California, Oregon, Utah, and Washington.
All of the current members are private, faith-based institutions. Seven members are Catholic Church affiliates, with four of these schools being Jesuit institutions. Pepperdine is an affiliate of the Churches of Christ. Brigham Young University is an affiliate of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The conference's newest member, the University of the Pacific, is affiliated with the United Methodist Church, although it has been financially independent of the church since 1969.
History
During the massive upheaval of conference affiliations in the 1990s, the WCC remained very stable. Before the 2010 realignment that eventually led to Brigham Young joining the conference, the last change of membership was in 1980, when Seattle University left the conference. At the time, only the Ivy League and Pac-10 had remained unchanged for a longer period.The league was chartered by five northern California institutions, four from the Bay Area and one, Pacific, from Stockton. It began as the California Basketball Association, playing its first game on January 2, 1953. After two seasons under that name, the conference expanded to include Los Angeles-area schools Loyola and Pepperdine in 1955 and became the "West Coast Athletic Conference" in 1956. After more than three decades as the WCAC, the name was shortened in the summer of 1989, dropping the word "Athletic."
The WCC participates at the NCAA Division I level and is considered to be a mid-major athletic conference. The conference sponsors 15 sports but does not include football as one of them. San Diego and Brigham Young are the only schools fielding a football team. The rest have all dropped the sport, some as early as the 1940s, before the conference existed, and one as late as 2003.
Historically, the WCC's strongest sports have been soccer and tennis. The conference has also made its presence felt nationally in men's basketball. San Francisco won two consecutive national titles in the 1950s with all-time great Bill Russell. Although the WCAC's stature declined in the 1960s, San Francisco was reckoned as a "major" basketball power until the early 1980s. Also of note was Loyola Marymount's inspired run to the Elite Eight in 1990 following the death of Hank Gathers during that season's WCC championship tournament.
More recently, Gonzaga's rise to national prominence after being invited to the NCAA Tournament every year since their Cinderella run to the "Elite Eight" in 1999 has helped make the WCC a household name. As San Francisco was from the 1940s to the early 1980s, Gonzaga has gained recognition as a major basketball power, despite the WCC being a mid-major conference. Gonzaga has been to 19 consecutive NCAA tournaments—the longest streak for any school in the Western United States, tied for the fourth-longest active streak, and the seventh-longest streak in history. They have also been to all but one WCC tournament final since 1995, and have played for the conference title every year since 1998. In 2016–17, the Bulldogs advanced all the way to the national championship game—the deepest run by a WCC team since San Francisco went to three consecutive Final Fours from 1955 to 1957.
Saint Mary's has also made marks for the conference as the Gaels appeared in the NCAA Tournament in 2005, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2017, and 2019.
Eventually, with the 2010 realignment opening up new avenues for expansion, the WCC decided to revisit expansion plans. The conference decided that it would only seek out private schools, but would not limit its search to faith-based institutions. Even so, the two additions, Brigham Young University and University of the Pacific are both faith based institutions, although Pacific has not been financially sponsored by the United Methodist Church since 1969.
On August 31, 2010, Brigham Young University announced plans to join the WCC for the 2011–12 season in all sports the conference offers. BYU joined the conference on July 1, 2011. BYU's arrival gave the WCC another school with a rich basketball tradition. The Cougars made the NCAA Tournament six straight times before failing to do so in 2013, and had made 26 NCAA Tournament appearances before joining the conference.
On March 27, 2012, the University of the Pacific, a charter member of the conference in 1952, accepted an invitation to rejoin the WCC, effective July 1, 2013. The move removed Pacific from the Big West Conference back to the WCC, which Pacific left in 1971 in order to pursue its interests in football that it later abandoned in 1995.
Membership
Current members
* – Pacific previously withdrew from the WCC from 1971–72 to 2012–13.Associate member
Former members
Former associate members
;Note:^ - USIU dropped its athletics program following the end of the 1990–91 school year.
Membership timeline
DateFormat = yyyy
ImageSize = width:1000 height:auto barincrement:20
Period = from:1952 till:2021
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
PlotArea = right:20 left:0 bottom:50 top:5 #> to display a count on left side of graph, use "left:20" to suppress the count, use "left:20"<#
Colors = id:barcolor
id:line value:black
id:bg value:white
id:Full value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports
id:FullxF value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports except for football
id:AssocF value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that is a member for football only
id:AssocOS value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in some sports, but not all
id:OtherC1 value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference
id:OtherC2 value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference where OtherC1 has already been used, to distinguish the two
PlotData=
width:15 textcolor:black shift: anchor:from fontsize:s
bar:1 color:FullxF from:1952 till:1969 text:San Jose State
bar:1 color:OtherC1 from:1969 till:1996 text:PCAA/Big West
bar:1 color:OtherC2 from:1996 till:2013 text:WAC
bar:1 color:OtherC1 from:2013 till:end text:MWC
bar:2 color:FullxF from:1952 till:1971 text:Pacific
bar:2 color:OtherC1 from:1971 till:2013 text:PCAA/Big West
bar:2 color:FullxF from:2013 till: end text:
bar:3 color:FullxF from:1952 till:end text:San Francisco
bar:4 color:FullxF from:1952 till:end text:Santa Clara
bar:5 color:FullxF from:1952 till:end text:Saint Mary's
bar:6 color:FullxF from:1955 till:1957 text:Fresno State
bar:6 color:OtherC1 from:1957 till:1969
bar:6 color:OtherC2 from:1969 till:1992 text:PCAA/Big West
bar:6 color:OtherC1 from:1992 till:2012 text:WAC
bar:6 color:OtherC2 from:2012 till:end text:MWC
bar:7 color:FullxF from:1955 till:end text:Loyola Marymount
bar:8 color:FullxF from:1955 till:end text:Pepperdine
bar:9 color:FullxF from:1964 till:1969 text:UC Santa Barbara
bar:9 color:OtherC1 from:1969 till:1974
bar:9 color:OtherC2 from:1974 till:1976
bar:9 shift: color:OtherC1 from:1976 till:end text:PCAA/Big West
bar:10 color:FullxF from:1969 till:1975 text:UNLV
bar:10 shift: color:OtherC1 from:1975 till:1982 text:D-I Ind.
bar:10 color:OtherC2 from:1982 till:1996 text:Big West
bar:10 color:OtherC1 from:1996 till:1999 text:WAC
bar:10 color:OtherC2 from:1999 till:end text:MWC
bar:11 color:FullxF from:1969 till:1979 text:Nevada
bar:11 color:OtherC1 from:1979 till:1992 text:Big Sky
bar:11 color:OtherC2 from:1992 till:2000 text:Big West
bar:11 color:OtherC1 from:2000 till:2012 text:WAC
bar:11 color:OtherC2 from:2012 till:end text:MWC
bar:12 color:FullxF from:1971 till:1980 text:Seattle
bar:12 color:OtherC1 from:1980 till:1997 text:NAIA Independent
bar:12 color:OtherC2 from:1997 till:1999
bar:12 color:OtherC1 from:1999 till:2001
bar:12 color:OtherC2 from:2001 till:2008 text:GNAC
bar:12 color:OtherC1 from:2008 till:2012 text:D-I Ind.
bar:12 color:OtherC2 from:2012 till:end text:WAC
bar:13 color:FullxF from:1976 till:end text:Portland
bar:14 color:FullxF from:1979 till:end text:Gonzaga
bar:15 color:FullxF from:1979 till:end text:San Diego
bar:16 color:FullxF from:2011 till:end text: BYU
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:5 start:1955
TextData =
fontsize:L
textcolor:black
pos: tabs:
text:^"West Coast Conference Membership History"
- > If the chart uses more than one bar color, add a legend by selecting the appropriate fields from the following six options Leave a blank line after the end of the timeline, then add a line with the selected values from the list, separated by a space. <#
- Due to space limitations, the following affiliations are not linked within the timeline:
- * Fresno State had dual membership with the California Collegiate Athletic Association during their tenure in the WCAC before committing full-time with the CCAA from 1957 to 1969:
- * UC Santa Barbara joined what was then the PCAA in 1969. It left in 1974 to become independent and returned in 1976.
- * Seattle was a member of the Northwest Conference, then affiliated with the NAIA, from 1997 to 1999. The school then returned to the NCAA as a Division II institution and played as an independent until 2001.
Sports
| Sport | Men's | Women's |
| Baseball | ||
| Basketball | ||
| Beach Volleyball | ||
| Cross Country | ||
| Golf | ||
| Rowing | ||
| Soccer | ||
| Softball | ||
| Tennis | ||
| Volleyball |
Men's sports
| School | Baseball | Basketball | Cross Country | Golf | Soccer | Tennis | Total Sports |
| BYU | 5 | ||||||
| Gonzaga | 6 | ||||||
| Loyola Marymount | 6 | ||||||
| Pacific | 5 | ||||||
| Pepperdine | 5 | ||||||
| Portland | 5 | ||||||
| Saint Mary's | 6 | ||||||
| San Diego | 6 | ||||||
| San Francisco | 6 | ||||||
| Santa Clara | 6 | ||||||
| Totals | 10 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 10 | 56 |
| School | Football | Rowing | Swimming & Diving | Track & Field | Track & Field | Volleyball | Water Polo |
| BYU | FBS Independent | No | MPSF | MPSF | Independent | MPSF | No |
| Gonzaga | No | WIRA | No | Independent | Independent | No | No |
| Loyola Marymount | No | WIRA | No | Independent | Independent | No | WWPA |
| Pacific | No | No | MPSF | No | No | No | Golden Coast |
| Pepperdine | No | No | No | No | Independent | MPSF | Golden Coast |
| Portland | No | No | No | Independent | Independent | No | No |
| Saint Mary's | No | No | No | No | Independent | No | No |
| San Diego | Pioneer League | WIRA | No | No | No | No | No |
| San Francisco | No | No | No | Independent | Independent | No | No |
| Santa Clara | No | WIRA | No | Independent | Independent | No | WWPA |
Women's sports
| School | Basketball | Beach Volleyball | Cross Country | Golf | Rowing | Soccer | Softball | Tennis | Volleyball | Total West Coast Sports |
| BYU | 7 | |||||||||
| Gonzaga | 7 | |||||||||
| Loyola Marymount | 8 | |||||||||
| Pacific | 7 | |||||||||
| Pepperdine | 7 | |||||||||
| Portland | 7 | |||||||||
| Saint Mary's | 8 | |||||||||
| San Diego | 7 | |||||||||
| San Francisco | 7 | |||||||||
| Santa Clara | 9 | |||||||||
| Totals | 10 | 7 | 10 | 5 | 6+1 | 10 | 6 | 10 | 10 | 74+1 |
| School | Gymnastics | Lacrosse | Swimming & Diving | Track & Field | Track & Field | Water Polo |
| BYU | Mountain Rim | No | MPSF | MPSF | Independent | No |
| Gonzaga | No | No | No | Independent | Independent | No |
| Loyola Marymount | No | No | PCS&DC | Independent | Independent | Golden Coast |
| Pacific | No | No | MPSF | No | Independent | Golden Coast |
| Pepperdine | No | No | PCS&DC | No | Independent | No |
| Portland | No | No | No | Independent | Independent | No |
| Saint Mary's | No | No | No | No | Independent | No |
| San Diego | No | No | MPSF | No | Independent | No |
| San Francisco | No | No | No | Independent | Independent | No |
| Santa Clara | No | No | No | Independent | Independent | Golden Coast |
Facilities
Notable sports figures
Some of the famous athletes who played collegiately for WCC schools and coaches and executives that attended WCC schools, include:- Basketball:
- *David Cooke, former NBA player
- *Dan Dickau, former NBA player
- *Brandon Davies, former NBA player who currently plays in the Liga ACB. During his sophomore year, he helped BYU rise as high as #3 in the national polls before being suspended for an honor code violation. He was reinstated for his junior and senior seasons and named to the All West Coast Conference team.
- *Rick Adelman, former NBA head coach
- *Dennis Awtrey, former NBA player
- *Bernie Bickerstaff, former NBA head coach
- *Mike Brown, former NBA head coach
- *Ricardo Brown, former NBA player, one of the Philippine Basketball Association's 25 Greatest Players
- *Bill Cartwright, former NBA player and head coach, former NBA All-Star
- *Doug Christie, former NBA player selected 17th overall in the 1992 NBA Draft by the Seattle SuperSonics
- *Darwin Cook, former NBA player
- *Richie Frahm, former NBA player
- *Maggie Dixon, former women's head coach at Army
- *Mike Champion, former NBA player
- *Hank Gathers, college player who led the nation in scoring and rebounding in 1990 before collapsing and dying during the WCC tournament
- *Bruce Hale, former NBA player
- *Elias Harris, current Germany international
- *Dennis Johnson, Basketball Hall of Famer, former NBA player 1979 NBA Finals MVP and 5-Time NBA All-Star. Coached the LA Clippers for one season
- *K. C. Jones, former NBA player, and Basketball Hall of Famer
- *Bo Kimble, former NBA player
- *Harold Keeling, former NBA player,,
- *Tom Meschery, former NBA player, and NBA All-Star
- *Patrick Mills, current Australia international with the San Antonio Spurs
- *Adam Morrison, former NBA player known for being the 3rd overall pick in the 2006 NBA Draft by the Charlotte Bobcats and the 2005-06 National College Co-Player of the Year
- *Austin Daye, current NBA player with the Detroit Pistons. Selected with the 15th pick of the 2009 NBA Draft
- *Eric Musselman, former NBA head coach
- *Steve Nash, point guard for the Los Angeles Lakers and 2005 and 2006 NBA MVP
- *Dick O'Keefe, inaugural season NBA player,
- *Bud Ogden, former NBA player,
- *Michael Olowokandi. former NBA player
- *Kelly Olynyk, current Canada men's international with the Miami Heat
- *Kurt Rambis, former NBA player and NBA head coach
- *Bill Russell, Basketball Hall of Fame Player and coach, 1956 College Player of the Year
- *Robert Sacre, current NBA player with the Los Angeles Lakers, and current Canada international
- *Omar Samhan, currently playing in Lithuania and the Euroleague with Žalgiris
- *Ken Sears, former NBA Player, First basketball player on a Sports Illustrated cover.
- *Jose Slaughter, former NBA player
- *Mike Smith, former BYU player
- *Erik Spoelstra, current head coach of the Miami Heat
- *Jeremy Pargo, current NBA player with the Cleveland Cavaliers
- *John Stockton, Basketball Hall of Famer
- *Stew Morrill, former college head coach Utah State
- *Ronny Turiaf, current Los Angeles Clippers player
- *Courtney Vandersloot, current WNBA player with the Chicago Sky
- *Nick Vanos, former NBA player,
- *Matthew Dellavedova, current NBA player with the Milwaukee Bucks
- Soccer:
- *Conor Casey, 2010 MLS Cup MVP, 2009 MLS Best XI, and former United States men's national soccer team forward
- *Brandi Chastain, member of the USA national team that won the 1999 Women's World Cup
- *Steve Cherundolo, Hannover 96 captain and three-time World Cup veteran with the United States men's national soccer team
- *Brian Ching, USA men's national team player
- *John Doyle, general manager of the San Jose Earthquakes, former USA men's national team player
- *Kasey Keller, former US international goalkeeper and four-time World Cup veteran
- *Shannon MacMillan, member of the 1999 Women's World Cup winners
- *Tiffeny Milbrett, member of the 1999 Women's World Cup winners
- *Christine Sinclair, two-time Hermann Trophy winner and all-time leading goal scorer for the Canadian women's national team
- *Aly Wagner, 2002 Hermann Trophy winner and member of the US women's soccer team that won gold at the 2004 Olympics
- Baseball:
- *Jon Moscot, major league baseball pitcher
- *Dale Murphy, former MLB Player. 7-time All-Star, and 2-Time NL MVP with the Atlanta Braves
- *Jason Bay, 2004 National League Rookie of the Year and three-time All-Star
- *Vern Law, former MLB Pitcher. Won the 1960 Cy Young, as he led the Pittsburgh Pirates to the 1960 World Series Championship
- *Vance Law, former MLB player, and 1-time MLB All-Star. Former BYU Baseball Coach. Son of MLB Pitcher Vern Law.
- *Randy Winn, former MLB outfielder and 2002 All-Star
- *Dan Haren, 2007 American League All-Star Game starting pitcher, currently with the Washington Nationals
- *Noah Lowry, major-league pitcher and former college roommate of Dan Haren
- *Mike Redmond, former MLB catcher and current manager of the Florida Marlins
- *Mark Teahen, former MLB player
- *Tom Candiotti, former MLB pitcher
- *Mike Scott, former major-league pitcher
- *Randy Wolf, former MLB pitcher
- *Brian Matusz, pitcher with the Baltimore Orioles
- *CJ Wilson, pitcher with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
- *Theo Epstein, President of the Chicago Cubs and former general manager of the Boston Red Sox
- *Kris Bryant, Chicago Cubs 3rd baseman, 2013 2nd overall draft pick, 2015 National League Rookie of the Year, and 2016 NL MVP leading the Cubs to the 2016 World Series Championship
- *Bill Bavasi, MLB executive
- *Ken Dayley, former major league pitcher, 1980 1st round draft pick, 3rd overall, pitched in both the '85 and '87 World Series for the St. Louis Cardinals
- *Bill Krueger, former major league pitcher
- *Pat Casey, current Oregon State baseball head coach, his team winning both the 2006 and 2007 College World Series
- *Von Hayes, former major league outfielder/first baseman
- Water polo:
- *Terry Schroeder, former NCAA player, two-time Olympic silver medal winner, and Head Coach of silver medal winning men's water polo team at the 2008 Summer Olympics
- *Merrill Moses, silver medal winner at the 2008 Summer Olympics
- *Jesse Smith, silver medal winner at the 2008 Summer Olympics
- Volleyball:
- *Mike Whitmarsh — Winner of 28 AVP beach volleyball events, as well as a silver medal in the sport at the 1996 Summer Olympics
- *Taylor Sander - Member of the American US Indoor Volleyball team and a player for Blu Volleyball Verona. Led US national team to an upset of Brazil to win the FIVB World League 2014. Was named best outside spiker and tournament MVP. He holds the BYU all-time single-match record for service aces and career service aces. In the rally-scoring era ranks No. 1 at BYU in career kills, career attempts, career service aces, season attempts, season service aces and aces in a match.
- Football
- *Ray Flaherty - End; Los Angeles Wildcats, New York Yankees, New York Giants, No. 1 retired. Head Coach; Gonzaga Bulldogs, Boston/Washington Redskins, New York Yankees, Chicago Hornets. Three time NFL champion. Pro Football Hall of Fame.
- *Tony Canadeo - Halfback; Green Bay Packers. Pro Football Hall of Fame, Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame, No. 3 retired.
- *Pete Carroll, current coach of the Seattle Seahawks of the NFL, former head coach of USC trojans of the NCAA. Led Seattle to Super Bowl XLVIII, where they defeated the Denver Broncos. Led the USC Trojans to 6 BCS Bowl victories.
- *Ted Leland, a first team PCAA selection as a defensive end in 1969. Current athletic director at Pacific. Served as athletic director at Stanford University for 12 years, leading them to the NACDA Directors' Cup from 1995 to 2005.
- *John Fassel, special teams coordinator for the St. Louis Rams of the NFL.
- *Hue Jackson, former head coach of the Cleveland Browns, former offensive coordinator for the Cincinnati Bengals, former head coach of the Oakland Raiders.