If you’re a Seattle University sports fan, you are probably aware that in recent years, Seattle U has established an in-conference rivalry with Grand Canyon University (GCU). Every year, Seattle U fans look forward to matchups against the Antelopes, but GCU announced Nov. 1 that they will be joining the Mountain West Conference (MW). This comes just over six months after GCU committed to joining the West Coast Conference (WCC) with Seattle U, seemingly ending the rivalry between the two schools.
Additionally, basketball powerhouse Gonzaga University announced Oct. 1 that they will be dropping out of the WCC and joining the refurbished Pac-12. This marks the end of Gonzaga’s 45-year tenure with the WCC. Gonzaga will be competing in the WCC for the 2025-26 athletic season and beginning its new membership July 1, 2026, with GCU joining the MW by at least the 2026-27 athletic season.
Gonzaga and GCU add to the recent major surge of conference realignment in the NCAA, with many schools heading to different conferences. The biggest of these moves was the disbandment of the Pac-12 conference, one of the strongest conferences in NCAA athletics. Gonzaga’s move is part of the effort to reinvigorate the diminished Pac-12.
When Seattle U announced that they would be joining the WCC in May, fans and athletes were filled with excitement. Basketball fans were looking forward to the increase in competition, taking on Gonzaga, a team that has made it to the March Madness tournament in the last 24 consecutive years. Fans like First-year Nursing Major Zach Guce still looked forward to continuing the rivalry with GCU.
“I really wanted to watch some of the teams play against our rival school, but unfortunately I can’t really watch them anymore after [this season],” Guce said.
There has been some disappointment from the fans about GCU and Gonzaga leaving the conference, but Andy Fee, deputy athletic director at Seattle U, has a different perspective.
“We feel really… excited about the opportunity because there are so many great schools in the league right now,” Fee said.
Fee and the rest of the athletics administration aren’t the only ones who feel this way. Seattle U athletes have also shown excitement about joining the new conference.
“Those aren’t the only two teams in the conference… the WCC is a really good conference, so I’m looking forward to joining the new conference next year,” Sophomore baseball player Kenny Ishikawa said.
Despite two major teams leaving the conference, there is still a lot to look forward to with Seattle U joining the WCC. The conference is full of good competition with the likes of Loyola Marymount University (LMU), the University of Portland, Pepperdine University and Santa Clara University. Also, the WCC member schools all share similar values to those of Seattle U, with all the schools being faith-based institutions and a majority being Catholic institutions. LMU, Santa Clara University and the University of San Francisco are also all Jesuit institutions, sharing the same mission-driven and student-centric values as Seattle U.
In recent years, the NCAA has had a lot of turnaround when it comes to schools joining and leaving conferences, but what makes the WCC stand out is that the conference has not had much change in its time as a conference. The last big move prior to recent years was Brigham Young University leaving to join the Big 12 in 2023. Since then, there have been no major moves, except for Seattle U, GCU and Gonzaga.
It is currently uncertain if there will be any more big changes to the conference. But despite the recent moves, it will be very exciting to see Seattle U Athletics compete against a high level of competition in the WCC.
