|
|
|
|
|
West Coast ConferenceThe West Coast Conference is an NCAA collegiate athletic conference consisting of eight member schools in California, Oregon, and Washington. It was founded in 1952 by a group of five schools in the San Francisco Bay Area. All of the current members are private, religiously-affiliated institutions; four of the eight are Jesuit, and only Pepperdine is not Catholic. It is also a remarkably stable union in the constantly changing world of college athletics. The WCC has not had a school join or leave the conference since 1980. Only two conferences, the Ivy League and the Pac-10, have remained unchanged for a longer period of time. The WCC participates in NCAA Division I. The conference sponsors 13 sports but does not include football as one of them. In fact, San Diego is the only conference member that still plays football at any level--the rest have either dropped the sport or never sponsored it in the first place. The WCC's strongest sports historically have been soccer (seven national champions, including back-to-back women's soccer titles in 2001 and 2002) and tennis (five individual champions and one team champion). The conference has also made its presence felt nationally in men's basketball, with San Francisco winning two consecutive national titles in the 1950s with all-time great Bill Russell, Loyola Marymount's inspired NCAA tournament run in 1990 following the tragic death of Hank Gathers, and most recently Gonzaga's rise to national prominence since the late 1990s. Current members (and year joined) Former members Sports The WCC sponsors intercollegiate competition in mens baseball, mens and womens basketball, mens and womens cross country, mens and womens golf, men's and womens soccer, mens and womens tennis, women's rowing, and womens volleyball. Famous athletes Some of the famous athletes who played collegiately in the WCC include NBA legends Bill Russell and John Stockton; current NBA star Steve Nash; Brandi Chastain, Shannon MacMillan and Tiffeny Milbrett of the 1999 USA Women's World Cup champions; USA men's soccer team goalkeeper Kasey Keller; and former major league pitchers Mike Scott and Tom Candiotti. External links *
|
 |
|
| Copyright 2005-2009 OnPedia.com. All Rights Reserved |
|
|