The West Coast Conference
By Matt Shetler

The West Coast Conference (WCC) is an eight member Division I athletic conference that competes in thirteen Division I sports. All eight members are located in either California, Oregon or Washington. The WCC headquarters are located in San Bruno, California and the commissioner of the conference is Jamie Zanonovich, new appointed in 2008.
  
The WCC is one of the more stable conferences in the nation. Current members of the WCC include: Gonzaga University, Loyola Marymount University, Pepperdine University, the University of Portland, Saint Mary’s College of California, the University of San Diego, the University of San Francisco, and Santa Clara University. The WCC has operated with the same eight schools since 1979, when Gonzaga joined. Only the Ivy League and the Pac-10 conference have remained unchanged for a longer period of time.
  
The conference was founded in 1952 using the name California Basketball Association. After two seasons, the conference became the West Coast Athletic Conference. In 1989, the conference dropped the word “Athletic”, and began being known as the West Coast Conference.
  
The WCC does not sponsor football, but is considered one of the best “mid-major” conferences in the nation. The WCC’s strongest sports are men’s and women’s soccer (nine national championships) and tennis (five individual champions and one team championship), but is known nationally for it’s performance in men’s basketball.
   
The San Francisco Dons, led by NBA legend Bill Russell won two consecutive national titles in the 1950’s. Recently several schools have NCAA Tournament accomplishments that stand out. In 1990, the Loyola Marymount Lions, following the tragic death of Hank Gathers, and the inspiring play of Bo Kimble had one of the deepest runs a WCC representative has had since the Bill Russell days.
  

NBA MVP Steve Nash led the Santa Clara Broncos to one of the biggest upsets in tournament history when the #15 seeded Broncos upset the #2 seed Arizona Wildcats in 1993. More recently, Gonzaga has risen to become an NCAA power, making the tournament every year since 1999, with several sweet 16 appearances; including an Elite 8 appearance in 1999.
  
The list of WCC alum to have success at the next level of sports is very impressive. In addition to Russell and Nash: John Stockton (Gonzaga), Dennis Johnson (Pepperdine), Kurt Rambis (Santa Clara) and Bill Cartwright (San Francisco) are a few of the NBA greats that played the game. In the last few season, Gonzaga alone has sent Dan Dickau, Adam Morrison and Ronny Turiaf to the NBA.
  
Not only have great basketball players come from the WCC, but some very successful coaches have WCC roots as well. NBA coaches Rick Adelman (LMU), Bernie Bickerstaff (San Diego), K.C. Jones (San Francisco), Eric Mussellman (San Diego) and Mike Brown (San Diego)have coached WCC teams.
  
Success as professional athletes is not limited only to the basketball court. 1999 World Cup Champion Brandi Chastain played collegiate at Santa Clara. The WCC has produced several Major League Baseball players as well. Most recently: Jason bay (Gonzaga), Randy Winn (Santa Clara, also played basketball on the Broncos team that upset Arizona), Dan Haren (Pepperdine) and Boston Red Sox General Manager Theo Epstein, who attended the School of Law at San Diego.