Gonzaga AD calls WCC expansion ‘very stabilizing’ amid chaos in college athletics

Chris Standiford said Grand Canyon, Seattle U will provide ‘consistent scheduling models’ and more entertainment to the league

Dec 18, 2019; Spokane, WA, USA; A basketball sit atop of the new WCC logo before a Gonzaga Bulldogs men s basketball game against the North Carolina Tar Heels at McCarthey Athletic Center. Mandatory Credit: James Snook-Imagn Images / James Snook-Imagn Images

Chris Standiford’s first three years as athletic director of Gonzaga University have been anything but dull.

Name, image and likeness has challenged the NCAA’s firm stance on amateurism in college sports. The transfer portal has opened up opportunities for student-athletes to chase their goals limitlessly without penalty. Traditions and rivalries uprooted from conference realignment that’s being driven by mega TV contracts. 

A year ago, the Pac-12 seemingly dissolved after 10 of its members left for other power conferences. The league’s final two members — Oregon State and Washington State — clung onto life preservers from the Mountain West and West Coast Conference, which provided a temporary home for both football and Olympic sports while they figured out what to do next.

As the Beavers and Cougars head into their first athletic season as WCC affiliates, the Pac-12 is ready to play its next hand. The league announced it added four MWC schools — Boise State, Colorado State, San Diego State and Fresno State — by the 2026-27 season earlier this week, which is sure to set off the next wave of conference realignment. The Pac-12 still isn’t done expanding, and the MWC will have to make up for losing its four biggest brands in the aggregate with schools from other smaller conferences. 

OSU and WSU won’t be sticking around the WCC for long, though conference commissioner Stu Jackson didn’t put all of his eggs into the Pac-12 basket. A few months after bringing in the Cougars and Beavers, Jackson expanded the league’s footprint once again by adding Grand Canyon and Seattle U as full-time members starting in 2026. 

Not only has Jackson added talent, but he’s done so without extending the WCC’s geographical footprint. Most realignment moves have seen some schools travel cross country for league play. With the exception to Grand Canyon in Phoenix, Arizona, all WCC schools are located in the Pacific Standard Time Zone. 

“I think it's very stabilizing for the West Coast Conference,” Standiford said of the WCC’s latest moves. “To have a mass of that many good teams will bring in some consistent scheduling models and some things that we will be able to predictably provide great entertainment to our fans, but also be able to be amongst a cohort of institutions that are similarly aligned in terms of where they're putting the resources athletically.”

Seattle U fits the WCC’s identity as a private Jesuit university. The men’s basketball team has won at least 20 games in three straight seasons and was crowned the College Basketball Invitational champion this past season.

GCU’s approach to academics differs slightly in comparison to the rest of the WCC, though the Antelopes basketball program is backed by a fanatic home crowd and has been to the NCAA Tournament in three of the past four seasons under head coach Bryce Drew. 

“They're going to be awesome,” Standiford said. “It's going to be a lot of fun. They're going to push us to innovate in different ways.”

Standiford shared more of his thoughts on conference realignment, the House v. NCAA settlement and much more, on a new Gonzaga Nation episode.

WATCH THE FULL EPISODE BELOW:

Produced by Thomas Gallagher.

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