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West Coast Conference charcot-marie-tooth.org | Florida West Coast Physical Therapy - Family Friendly - Florida West... in2physicaltherapy.com | North West Pathology - Tasmanian Medical Testing Laboratory : Queenstown... northwestpath.com.au | West Coast Pilates & Health - Instructor Trainers westcoastpilatesinc.com |
The West Coast Conference (WCC) is an NCAA collegiate athletics conference consisting of eight member schools across the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. All of the current members are private, religiously-affiliated institutions. Seven of the eight are affiliated with the Catholic Church (Pepperdine is the only exception; it is a Churches of Christ affiliated university). Four of the seven Catholic schools are Jesuit affiliates.
[edit] HistoryDuring the massive upheaval of conference affiliations in the 1990s, the WCC remained very stable. It has not had a school join or leave for nearly 30 years (the last change of membership was in 1980, when Seattle University left the conference). 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 Los Angeles-area schools Loyola (now Loyola Marymount) and Pepperdine in 1955 and became the "West Coast Athletic Conference" in 1956. The name was then shortened in 1989, dropping the word "Athletic." [1] The WCC participates at the NCAA Division I level 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). Historically, the WCC's strongest sports 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. San Francisco won two consecutive national titles in the 1950s with all-time great Bill Russell, and 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. Most 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. Like San Francisco before it, Gonzaga has arguably become the closest thing to a major power in a mid-major conference. Saint Mary's has also made marks for the conference as the Gaels appeared in the NCAA Tournament in 2005 and 2008. On May 28, 2009, NBA referee Violet Palmer was hired as coordinator of women's basketball officials for the West Coast Conference and will remain with the NBA, where she has worked for 12 seasons.[2] [edit] Current members
[edit] Former members
[edit] SportsThe 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] BasketballMain articles: West Coast Conference Men's Basketball Tournament and West Coast Conference Women's Basketball Tournament [edit] Famous sports figuresSome of the famous athletes who played collegiately in the WCC, and coaches and executives that attended WCC schools, include:
[edit] Conference Facilities
[edit] Notes and references
[edit] External links
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