What is the likelihood that St. Marys leaves the conference? Hearing this speculation that they will ultimately leave for the Pac 12.
They’d be gone if offer was there.
I put it at 5%.
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This has to be a trick question. When you mean “full” members, do you mean every sport the WCC/WCAC/CBA hosted? That’s a fluid list of sports.
For sure can’t be Oregon State—no WCC baseball.
So maybe WSU was the last.
I recall the Sunnyvale State Cherrypickers were in for 2-3 years in the late 70s before they went NAIA and then folded all together.
I can name three that I’m pretty sure about: UNR, Fresno State, and San Jose State.
I’d guess the other two are UNLV and UCSB.
Last to leave? Oof. Maybe UNR back in the early 80s? Give me Nevada in '84–final answer.
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Ding ding ding! Nice job. UNR left in 1979.
“Full Member” as opposed to “Associate Member”. Associate WCC Member example is SJSU who competes in WCC for water polo, I believe. Full Members of a conference have most or all of their sports in the conference and have voting rights.
Here is a deeper ChatGPT-generated answer:
Full member (aka core/primary member)
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Sports covered: Most or all varsity sports placed in that conference (per league rules).
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Governance: Full voting rights in presidents/AD councils; helps set league policy.
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Money: Full or pro-rated share of media payouts, CFP/bowl/NCAA distributions, league revenue.
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Obligations: Broad scheduling requirements across many sports; branding/media obligations.
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Contracts: Usually bound by longer deals (e.g., exit fees, notice periods, sometimes a Grant of Rights).
Associate member (aka affiliate member)
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Sports covered: One or a few sports only (e.g., just wrestling or hockey).
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Governance: Little to no vote beyond sport-specific matters.
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Money: Sport-specific revenue shares/expense splits only; no cut of football/basketball TV money.
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Obligations: Scheduling/participation rules only for the sport they’re in.
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Contracts: Shorter, sport-specific agreements; easier to move.
Championships & AQs (auto-bids)
- Associates can compete for that sport’s conference title and auto-bid if they meet league/NCAA eligibility rules. Conferences sometimes add affiliates to hit the minimum number of sponsoring schools needed to keep an NCAA auto-bid; whether “associates count” can vary by sport/bylaw, so leagues structure membership accordingly.
Why schools do it
- Better geographic/competitive fit in a particular sport, budget control, or a home for a sport their main conference doesn’t sponsor.
Why conferences do it
- Stabilize scheduling in niche sports, reach/maintain auto-bid thresholds, strengthen sport quality without adding a full-sport member.
Familiar examples
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Notre Dame: Full member of the ACC for most sports; football independent; associate in Big Ten for hockey.
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Johns Hopkins: Associate in the Big Ten for men’s & women’s lacrosse while its other sports compete elsewhere.
Here’s how it works in the West Coast Conference (WCC):
Full member (WCC)
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Fields most of its varsity sports in the WCC (across the league’s 16 sponsored sports).
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Sits on WCC governance bodies (Presidents’ Council/AD groups) with full voting power.
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Participates in league-wide media arrangements and revenue distributions as a core member.
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Bound to broad scheduling/branding rules and standard exit/notice provisions.
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2025–26 full-member schools (10): Gonzaga (through 2025–26), LMU, Pacific, Pepperdine, Portland, Saint Mary’s, San Diego, San Francisco, Santa Clara, Seattle U (new this year). (WCC Sports)
• Future change: UC San Diego joins as a competing member in 2027–28. (WCC Sports)
Associate (affiliate) member (WCC)
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Joins the WCC for specific sport(s) only; governance/voting is typically limited to that sport.
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Contract terms are sport-specific (shorter, easier to move) and revenue participation is limited to those sports.
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Still eligible for WCC championships and the NCAA automatic bid in those sports (if league/NCAA criteria are met). The WCC explicitly confirmed this for recent affiliates. (WCC Sports)
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Current examples:
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Oregon State & Washington State: two-year multi-sport affiliates (2024–26) competing in 12 sports (e.g., M/W basketball, women’s soccer, women’s rowing; plus OSU men’s soccer & softball; WSU women’s tennis & men’s cross-country). They’re also included in WCC media-rights arrangements for those sports. (WCC Sports)
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Augusta University: affiliate in men’s & women’s golf starting 2025–26. (WCC Sports)
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UC Davis: affiliate in men’s water polo and beach volleyball beginning 2026–27 (men’s water polo lineup will include LMU, Pacific, Pepperdine, Santa Clara, Air Force, San Jose State, with Cal Baptist exiting after 2025). (WCC Sports)
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Notes on recent realignment that can confuse things
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Seattle U is a full WCC member starting 2025–26. (WCC Sports)
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Gonzaga remains WCC through 2025–26 and will move to the Pac-12 in 2026–27. (ESPN.com)
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Grand Canyon was announced as a future WCC member in May 2024 but later withdrew and is moving to the Mountain West (accelerated for 2025–26). (WCC Sports, AP News)
Saw this article on the UCSB board. It is behind a paywall. Mark Zeigler from the San Diego Union Tribune should have good contacts. UC San Diego announces it is joining West Coast Conference
If the WCC is trying to do a North/South Pod, my ideal scenario would be something like this.
South
UCSB
UC-Irvine
San Diego
UC-San Diego
Loyola Marymount
Pepperdine
North
Santa Clara
USF
St.Mary’s
Pacific
Portland
Seattle
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As I remember, Nevada, UNLV, San Jose state were members in the 70’s. Saying WSU and OSU were not full members. I’m hard pressed to get two more but will go with UCSB and Cal Poly SLO.
Conjuring images of Pete Padgett and Edgar Jones…the WCAC had a lot of talent in the late 70’s.
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This guy does a great job comparing the WCC and Big West. He also gives reasons why UC San Diego might have made the switch.
Haven’t listened to this but I find it illuminating, if true, SCU’s MB budget is 4th and 1 Mil to 3 mil less than the top 3 and we’d be 5th with Gonzaga in this chart….
I assume this has no NIL money. Sorta shocked SMC is above us.
Great news for me! Now I get to see 2 SCU in-conference games in SD each year!
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Looks like it’s Denver coming with UCSD. It was probably inevitable, though I really wanted St. Thomas or UC Irvine. I could see the Anteaters still on their way. St. Thomas is probably too hard to work out geographically.
Men’s basketball isn’t everything, but Denver would be projected to finish last by a healthy margin this year. Torvik ranks them at 316–40 spots lower than the next lowest WCC squad in Pepperdine.
I don’t understand this move by the WCC. Denver will drag the conference down, especially after the impending departures of Gonzaga, OSU, and WSU. Unless this move is focused on the “other” sports. Or Denver has committed to spending gobs of money on hoops players, and got boosters to allocate $100 million in NIL funds.
I think there’s hope (and maybe a behind-the-scenes commitment) that Denver can commit the resources to MBB to take a big leap. The Pioneers make sense across every other variable besides basketball. Well regarded research university in the western US that doesn’t sponsor football; significant success in other sports programs; gets the conference a presence in the Mountain Time Zone.
Endowments aren’t a perfect proxy for resources that can be committed to athletics. But DU has an endowment of more than $1 billion and would be third, I believe, behind SCU and Pepperdine in terms of overall financial resources.
But it only makes sense if Stu Jackson has secured real commitments behind the scenes, so I’m assuming that the WCC has reasonable hope for meaningful improvement from the Pioneers.
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FWIW I’ve heard thru the grapevine SMC is looking to add 4-6 new sports in order to be more attractive to the new PAC 12. Had a friend of a friend who was approached to see if they were interested in coaching the swimming team they are starting
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There’s only one sport that the Gaels could add to get into the Pac-12, and it would bankrupt the school.
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The Gaels adding sports is purely enrollment based. Water Polo + Swimming aren’t getting you into the P12. Enrollment there has dropped 25% over last 10 years. They only have 1800 kids!
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