West Coast Conference

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West Coast Conference
Data
Established 1952
Members 8
Sports fielded 13
Region West Coast of the United States
States 3 - California, Oregon, Washington
Past names California Basketball Association,
West Coast Athletic Conference
Headquarters San Bruno, California
Locations

The West Coast Conference is a NCAA collegiate athletics conference consisting of eight member schools in California, Oregon, and Washington. It was founded in 1952 as the California Basketball Association by a group of five schools in the San Francisco Bay Area, became the West Coast Athletic Conference in 1956, and adopted its current name in 1989.[1] All of the current members are private, religiously-affiliated institutions; four of the eight are Jesuit, and only Pepperdine is not Catholic. It is also a remarkably stable union in the constantly changing world of college athletics. The WCC has not had a school join or leave the conference for nearly 30 years; the last change of membership was in 1979, when Gonzaga joined from the Big Sky Conference, which welcomed former WCC member Nevada. Only two conferences, the Ivy League and the Pac-10, have remained unchanged for a longer period of time.

The league was chartered by five northern California institutions, four from the Bay Area (San Francisco, Saint Mary's, Santa Clara, San Jose State) and 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 Loyola Marymount and Pepperdine in 1955, and became the "West Coast Athletic Conference" in 1956. The name was shortened in 1989, dropping the word "Athletic." [1]

The WCC participates in NCAA Division I and is considered to be one of the better mid-major conferences in the country. The conference sponsors 13 sports but does not include football as one of them. In fact, San Diego is the only conference member that still plays football at any level; the rest have all dropped the sport, some as early as the 1940s, before the conference existed (Gonzaga and Portland), and one as late as 2003 (Saint Mary's). The WCC's strongest sports historically have been soccer (nine national champions, including back-to-back women's soccer titles in 2001 and 2002) and tennis (five individual champions and one team champion). The conference has also made its presence felt nationally in men's basketball, with San Francisco winning two consecutive national titles in the 1950s with all-time great Bill Russell, Loyola Marymount's inspired NCAA tournament run in 1990 following the tragic death of Hank Gathers during that season's WCC championship tournament, and most recently Gonzaga's rise to national prominence since 1999's Cinderella run to the Elite 8. Gonzaga has made it to the NCAA tournament each year since then.

Contents

[edit] Current members

Institution Nickname Location Founded Affiliation Enrollment Joined
Gonzaga University Bulldogs Spokane, Washington 1887 Private/Catholic 6,736 1979
Loyola Marymount University Lions Los Angeles, California 1865 Private/Catholic 8,972 1955
Pepperdine University Waves Malibu, California 1937 Private/Church of Christ 8,300 1955
University of Portland Pilots Portland, Oregon 1901 Private/Catholic 3,200 1976
Saint Mary's College of California Gaels Moraga, California 1863 Private/Catholic 3,962 1952
University of San Diego Toreros San Diego, California 1949 Private/Catholic 7,548 1979
University of San Francisco Dons San Francisco, California 1855 Private/Catholic 8,722 1952
Santa Clara University Broncos Santa Clara, California 1851 Private/Catholic 8,377 1952

[edit] Former members

[edit] Sports

The WCC sponsors intercollegiate competition in men’s baseball, men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s cross country, men’s and women’s golf, men's and women’s soccer, men’s and women’s tennis, women's rowing, and women’s volleyball.

[edit] Famous sports figures

Some of the famous athletes who played collegiately in the WCC, and coaches and executives that attended WCC schools, include:

[edit] Conference arenas

School Basketball Arena Capacity
Gonzaga McCarthey Athletic Center 6,000
Loyola Marymount Gersten Pavilion 4,156
Pepperdine Firestone Fieldhouse 3,104
Portland Chiles Center 5,000
St. Mary's McKeon Pavilion 3,500
San Diego Jenny Craig Pavilion 5,100
San Francisco War Memorial Gymnasium 5,300
Santa Clara Leavey Center 6,000

[edit] Notes and references

  1. ^ West Coast Conference History. West Coast Conference. Retrieved on 2007-05-26.

[edit] External links

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West Coast Conference
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