WCC Commissioner Gloria Nevarez to depart for Mountain West Conference

After leading the WCC since 2018, Nevarez will join the Mountain West Conference on Jan. 1

The West Coast Conference announced Friday that Commissioner Gloria Nevarez will take over the same position for the Mountain West Conference. 

Nevarez is replacing current Mountain West Commissioner Craig Thompson, who announced his retirement in September. She will take over on January 1. 

Leading the WCC since 2018, Nevarez is credited with adopting a diversity hiring initiative, directing an overhaul of the conference’s branding, expanding national television contracts and guiding the conference through the pandemic.

“The WCC is one of the premier conferences across collegiate athletics,” Nevarez said in a WCC release. “Vying for national titles is in the DNA of the WCC. I am incredibly proud of what we accomplished inside and outside of the competition arena and believe we have positioned the WCC well in the current NCAA landscape.”

Gonzaga President Thayne McCulloh, chair of the WCC presidents’ council, said the conference would feel the impact of Nevarez’s departure.

“It is bittersweet to learn that Gloria Nevarez will be departing the West Coast Conference to become Commissioner of the Mountain West Conference,” McCulloh said. “While we are excited for the opportunity this provides her, our Conference will miss the tremendous leadership and stewardship Gloria has demonstrated in her time as our commissioner. Our member institutions and student-athletes have been victorious at the highest level competitively, and WCC member institutions continue to achieve increasing levels of academic success.”

The announcement comes just a week after ESPN reported that Gonzaga had talked with the Big 12 about joining that conference.

When asked about the conference realignment rumors, Gonzaga men’s basketball head coach Mark Few wasn’t surprised.

“Coaches talk, ADs talk, commissioners talk, everybody does,” Few said. "Probably not doing your job if you’re not talking. At the end of the day, like I’ve always said, we’re going to do what’s best for Gonzaga. So, we just have to analyze everything. Where we’ve been and what we’ve done so far have been great. We’ll let all the chatter happen and we’ll do what we gotta do.”

The future leadership of the conference will be discussed by the WCC Presidents’ Council at its regularly scheduled meeting this month, according to McCulloh.