I’m not really sure any major conference wants SMC.
With Gonzaga out of the picture, perhaps it increases the chances for SCU to make the NCAA tourney. And for Gonzaga, the move to the new conference might backfire.
Regardless of how this all falls into place, my distaste for this new era of college sports continues to grow. I am happy for the players, but as a fan I am disappointed. How can I root for a bunch of mercenaries?
Millionaire mercenarie…
I mentioned that St. Marys is looking and any conference would love to have them as They carry their own basketball legacy. The pac-12 would’ve taken them had it not been for the non-football technicality.
Don’t be shocked if the Mountain West comes knocking.
The beauty in the WCC is that this past season was a healthy balance of top 6 schools that were top 100 in the NET rankings which over a longer period of that same success could make it a multiple bid league.
The transformation of NIL and NCAA vs. the House over the sport has created a huge disruption for the WCC.
The pay for play system at the college rank need guardrails just like NBA free agency to govern healthy player movement.
Players like JT Toppin who are blue chip first rounders will stay in school because they will receive more than 46 established players if they stay in school.
# NCAA Approves Rule Change to Allow Direct Payment to Athletes Pending House Settlement
The most interesting detail is that even pre-July 1 NIL deals will have to be audited if any payment is made after July 1. So schools are handing over all of the NIL cash now. My guess is that there will be at least a couple of players who take the NIL money in June and then try to leave for a different school after the July date.
Again, there are like 5 NCAA basketball players whose name, image, and likeness is worth more than a nominal amount, so precious few NIL deals will survive scrutiny if (and it’s a big if) this all comes to pass.
I check in on the Pac-12 / MWC drama periodically out of perverse interest because of the current and former WCC players involved (Zags, Wazzu, Beavers, former Commish Nevarez, et al.).
The Pac-12 still has not announced a media deal. The time has passed for any AAC school (i.e. Memphis and Tulane) or additional MWC school (i.e. UNLV) to leave without paying an augmented exit fee. The Pac and MWC are in mediation over the exit fees and poaching penalties which, if paid in full, would basically wipe out Wazzu and OSU’s “war chest” left them by the former Pac-12 big dogs. And they still have no 8th football member (required for an FBS conference) which points to Texas State being the addition as all other options are dropping off the board.
The Zags are basically getting an all cash offer. Even if the media deal comes in really low ($7-10 million per school) that would be basically unsustainable long-term for the football schools, the Zags would still be taking the Brinks truck home with them compared to their WCC revenue. But I’d also have already started to put together the 2031 departure plan together (the year the new Pac’s grant of rights expires) because the new Pac does not seem long for this world, at the moment.
Many an SMC fan thinks that the Pac-12 invitation is held up in the post office somewhere. I doubt it. But the situation is looking bad enough from the outside for me to believe that maybe the Pac will see if they can entice the Gaels away for a bottom-barrel offer like a 1/6 media share or something.
Latest WCC rumor: St. Thomas (MN) is coming with potentially Denver. I’ve mentioned St. Thomas before as a great add–probably the best realistically available–if the long travel issues could be worked around. There’s a ton of potential in that program and school. Not for nothing, it was Julie Sullivan’s former post.
I’m mixed on Denver. @getnashty will love it, which is enough for me, but I hope that the conference asks for Denver to make some important commitments upon entry.
St. Thomas is pretty good. Denver is nothing more than a market and I don’t really think it moves the needle.
Fine with me. Both are private, St. Thomas is catholic. There
While the travel issue to Minneapolis isn’t ideal it’s not like Cal & Stanford traveling to the ACC locations. For Seattle U and Portland, it’s not much different than flying to San Diego.
I prefer these two over GCU everyday and twice on Sunday…yes, GCU hoops is stronger but never could get past the ick factor, diploma mill connotations, etc.
At first glance at UST (is that their abbreviation?), their gym in St Paul was smaller than Pepperdine’s.
However, I noticed that they have a brand new arena opening in October in time for hockey and basketball season - will be a brand new 5k seater, $75M arena. Might not be a bad addition if they keep the investments coming since they joined D1 in 2022.
Loyola Chicago seems like a dolid WCC prospect as any. Loyola Chicago has established themselves as a mid-major power over the last few years. They feature a rich faith based tradition like many of the WCC institutions and they feature strong academics.
How possible is this? I do not know but it makes sense to me even more than St. Thomas, Denver or many of the other schools we discussed. I would love to seem them join the WCC!
what do you all think?
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0% chance, unfortunately. Chicago is the Midwest, but geographically, it is just a two-hour flight from the east coast rather than a 4-hour flight to the Bay Area, etc. And the A-10 is a league that’s on par with the WCC and probably a bit better than the post-Gonzaga, Wazzu, and Oregon State version that arrives next year.
Like, I have a pipe dream of the WCC and A-10 becoming a combined super conference, but that won’t happen unless D1 sports becomes even more dire than it is. Maybe a scheduling alliance could be in the cards, but Loyola is staying. St. Thomas is a great addition under the circumstances. Population density west of the Mississippi just inherently limits your options which is affecting the new “Pac-12,” Mountain West, and WCC in different ways as each tries to play offense and defense with an ever-shallower pool of players.
From Jon Rothstein on X, UC San Diego finalizing details to join the WCC in 2027-2028
Julie Sullivan’s husband, Bob, was a dean at UCSD and was involved in the Tritons transitioning to D1. Wonder how much of a role the Sullivan’s played in UCSD coming to the WCC.
Interesting that the WCC will have both USD & UCSD in it.
UCSD/USD sounds like a great local rivalry.
UCSD’s size and being a public school makes for an odd fit in the WCC but I still prefer them over GCU by miles as well as Cal Baptist.
That said, it surprises me that the CA UC/State U regents and leaders if not the State legislature haven’t stepped in and mandated that the Big West CA public schools stay in the Big West or at least require some sort of State approval to move elsewhere. For the past decade+ the Big West has more or less exclusively been a league of CA public universities. The primary recent exception has been Hawaii as an affiliate member plus a few other schools who play in the Big West for a handle of sports that their home conference doesn’t sponsor. I can’t think of another D1 conference current or recent past that has a similar situation….an entire conference of public schools from the same state. This situation provides both security and some degree of power and reduces the likelihood of the league imploding if a couple of schools leave for another conference. There is power in #’s and security and stability for the conference and it’s member schools if they are effectively tied together as a group. It would insure you always have a viable conference of 8 to 10 schools. They could still allow select private schools or non-Californian schools to join the league if desired; ie- Cal Baptist and Utah Valley are joining in 2026.
But good for the WCC I guess, gets the league to 12 teams which is a sweet spot IMO.
I’m less certain about the Cal State system, but the UC Regents are basically political patronage spots, and they don’t really exercise much control over stuff like athletic affiliation unless forced to by public outcry. The UCLA jump to the Big 10 and then weak-handed compensation to Cal (“Calimony”) was pretty good evidence that the overseers of the state University systems don’t spend much of their jobs thinking about conference affiliation or probably even sports in general.
I love the UCSD addition. I’d still push for UC Irvine and St. Thomas (the latter a much harder geographical swing). You don’t want the conference too bloated, but you do need a solid core. Those three would get the WCC to 12 schools after the Zags, OSU, and Wazzu depart, and the WCC would start looking a little like the A-10 with a mix of basketball-focused private and public universities–not a bad thing.
So UCSD to the WCC is probably as strong of a pull as we could have hoped for…
I think “fit” has to be thrown out the window. This is about survival.
A quick trip over to the Gaels board makes me laugh. They are still dreaming of the P12. The “P12 Needs us” takes are quality.
This is a school that’s about to add four new sports to try and offset enrollment issues.
I think Irvine is on the way to the WCC.
Great trivia question (NO CHEATING!)
Before the addition of UCSD, who are the 5 public universities who have been FULL members of the WCC/WCAC/CBA?
Bonus questions: which school was the most recent full member and what year did that school depart the conference?