Would Grand Canyon, Stanford and Cal be good fits for the WCC?
If conference realignment becomes too much to handle in the coming years and college football breaks away, what would that look like for non-football leagues like the West Coast Conference?
Even in a world without college football, there are numerous things the WCC would have to consider before adding more programs — religious affiliation, academic fit, enrollment rate, an athletic department’s budget and the TV rights that hold conferences together, just to name a few.
If the WCC decides to expand, here are some colleges that would fit:
SEATTLE UNIVERSITY
Bleacher Report once dubbed Seattle U as having the potential to be “the next Gonzaga” given the coaching staff, prime recruiting in the Pacific Northwest and the ability to schedule nonconference games against its in-state rivals.
That was 14 years ago, back when the school was a Division-I independent and was hoping to rejoin the WCC after leaving the conference in 1980. But in 2007, then-WCC commissioner Michael Gilleran halted all talks of expansion. The Redhawks eventually joined the Western Athletic Conference in 2011 amid a realignment that saw 12 schools leave the WAC in a three-year span.
Safe to say the WCC is more stable and given its geographical ties, Seattle’s private, Jesuit Catholic institution and its sports teams would be a great fit in the WCC.
Along with religious affiliation, the Redhawks have comparable enrollment numbers to Gonzaga and its WCC counterparts. Seattle U has a combined 10 WAC tournament championships in men’s and women’s soccer since 2013 (the men have won the last two head-to-head matchups against Gonzaga) and the men’s basketball program earned its first WAC regular season title two seasons ago.
The Redhawks finished last season 20-12 and 141st in KenPom’s advanced metrics. It’s not spectacular by any means, but it’s better than what Portland (157th), Pepperdine (188th), Pacific (192nd) and San Diego (224th) did in 2022-23.
Moving to the WCC makes sense given the WAC’s presence is largely based around its Texas schools. In fact, Seattle U’s closest rivals are in Riverside, California and Orem, Utah.
With the WAC and ESPN bound by a multi-year TV contract, it’s hard to say how feasible it would be to pull Seattle U away without complication. But given its historical, cultural and geographic fit, the move makes a lot of sense.
GRAND CANYON UNIVERSITY
Talks of GCU heading for the WCC picked up once word got around that BYU was walking out the door to the Big 12. The men’s basketball program, the university’s real money-maker in athletics, has made it to the NCAA Tournament twice in the last three seasons with Bryce Drew at the helm. The level of competition on the court is near par with the WCC, though cultural differences might play a more important factor in realignment talks.
According to the U.S. Department of Education, GCU is a private for-profit Christian University with about 25,000 students on campus. Most WCC schools have an enrollment under 10,000 with Pepperdine being the biggest at 10,446. U.S. News & World Report ranked GCU 331st-440th out of 443 universities. That wouldn’t be a great look for a conference that has most of its members in the top 100, except San Francisco (105th) and Pacific (194th).
GCU attempted to reclassify as a non-profit university with the U.S. Department of Education, but the bid was rejected in 2022 and reaffirmed by a federal judge after the university sued. The school is recognized as a non-profit by the IRS, the state of Arizona, the Higher Learning Commission and the Arizona Postsecondary Board, according to a GCU spokesperson.
That aside, the school is solely dedicated to basketball. The Antelopes went 24-12 and finished 108th in KenPom’s metrics, just one spot behind Washington and one ahead of Loyola Marymount, and earned a 14-seed in the NCAA Tournament where they gave the Zags everything they had in the first-round matchup in Denver. With so much invested in the program, it’s reasonable to assume more conference titles will be heading to Phoenix in the future.
GCU’s hoops are comparable to the middle of the pack in the WCC, though not much else about the university aligns with the conference’s values. Saint Mary’s head coach Randy Bennett was for the WCC adding GCU back in 2015 — safe to say no one else at the time really considered it, though.
CAL AND STANFORD
Obviously both California schools would like to remain in a Power 5 conference, namely the ACC, but in a universe where football isn’t in the equation, staying on the West Coast for all other sports makes the most sense in terms of finances and travel.
An athletic director told the Athletic recently that the West Coast schools in the Big Ten will have to figure in an extra $10 million in travel expenses into their annual budgets for non-football teams. That’s a steep price tag for any school to pay and could be a determining factor in this made-up universe where football doesn’t factor into realignment, not to mention the strain and burden of traveling on student-athletes.
Should Stanford and Cal opt to cut costs and stay out west and let football do its own thing, the WCC would theoretically be a potential landing spot for all other sports. Now, neither university really fits the part — both are research-based institutions with no religious affiliations and athletic budgets that well exceed any other WCC school — but they’re well respected in academics and some athletic programs could benefit from competing in a non-Power 5 conference.
It's been difficult for both schools to stay relevant in men’s basketball as of late. Stanford has had but two appearances in the NIT since making it to the Sweet 16 in 2014, as Jerod Haase has kept the Cardinal hovering around .500 ever since he arrived seven years ago. Cal hasn’t made the NCAA Tournament since 2016, posting a 54-134 record from 2017-2023. Maybe Stanford-alum and new Cal head coach Mark Madsen can turn things around in Berkeley, but that remains to be seen.
Consider this, though — despite the lack of postseason success, Stanford and Cal each have contributed three NCAA Tournament units to the Pac-12 since 2013, which is just as many as BYU’s contribution to the WCC in that same span.
Based on projections from revenue generated in last season’s NCAA Tournament, the Pac-12, which sent four teams to the big dance, is estimated to bring in $2 million more than the WCC, which sent two teams. That’s not the considerable drop-off most expect to see between a Power 5 conference and a mid-major.
Oh, and it certainly wouldn’t cost an extra $10 million in travel either. Cal and Saint Mary’s are separated by 3 miles, while Stanford is within a 45-minute drive to Santa Clara and San Francisco. There would be potential for new rivalries all throughout California, with nine of the 11 WCC members residing there.
