SCU’s premier program is…well…still premiere. Up to #8 in the coaches poll with their best start to a season since 1999 at 6-0. Two major challenges are incoming with Cal on deck (picked 4th in the Pac-12) and a #2 Stanford squad. Cal Poly is stuck in between those two. All three are away games.
Gonzaga, surprisingly, appears to be the next best WCC squad and is even ranked at #23. And former member BYU shot all the way to #1 after soundly beating defending champions UCLA in Provo. Sadly, no BYU game on the schedule this year which feels like a missed opportunity.
Here’s a good recent interview from Jerry Smith in which he largely discusses the National Team (before the loss in the World Cup) and alumnae Julie Ertz and Sofia Huerta. He gives a couple pretty candid answers toward the end about how NIL and the transfer portal is affecting SCU’s recruiting strategy. He also says that he passed up the opportunity to coach the National Team because he just loves his job at SCU too much–that needs to be in every recruiting pitch across pretty much all sports.
And keep an eye on Volleyball. The volleyball team is 6-1 with a recent win over Notre Dame. Volleyball used to be Santa Clara’s other spectacular program, and it would be nice to see them ascend back to that level.