LAS VEGAS – West Coast Conference Commissioner Stu Jackson hosted a news conference at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas on March 10, where he provided updates on the Conference and shared an agreement between the WCC and Orleans Arena on a one-year extension with the venue as the host of the Credit Union 1 West Coast Conference Basketball Championship in 2026.
Opening Statement:
This has obviously, so far been a great tournament. I just have been so impressed with the level of competitiveness. The teams have already produced what I think are some very exciting moments. The upsets are just a reminder of the madness of March. This tournament for us really exemplifies the commitment of the WCC staff and the Orleans staff. Their commitment is to producing a gold standard event for the players, coaches, referees and administrators. I’m very thankful about that. Personally, I’m also grateful in this conference that I get the opportunity to work with these athletics directors as well as the presidents who are very passionate and committed to providing our student-athletes with quality experiences across all of our championships.
There is a lot to love about this conference. We are a strong western region-based conference but our success and our history is national. Over the past couple years, we have nationally ranked teams in more than half our sports. We received multiple bids with teams advancing deep into their respective tournaments in men’s and women’s soccer, men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s golf, cross country and men’s and women’s tennis. We also have a growing list of All-Americans across all of those sports. Our schools and our conference continue to prioritize the success of Olympic sports amidst a landscape that includes the pending house settlement approval and the future of student-athlete revenue sharing in addition to our priority focus which is basketball.
Which is a great segue into talking about our women’s basketball teams. What an exciting tournament we have had so far. They have earned multiple bids to the NCAA Tournament over the last five years and eight of the last 10.
This season, the men’s teams, fueled by our overall strength, have had an extraordinary non-conference and conference season, as one of four conferences nationally, along with the SEC, the Big Ten and the Big 12, with multiple teams in the top 20 in the NET, which is the NCAA’s metric. Like our women, our men also have had multiple invitations to the tournament in the last five years.
As of today, it does appear that we will have a minimum of two teams, being Saint Mary’s and Gonzaga, invited to this year’s NCAA Tournament and likely with favorable seeds. This will again set us up for more national success and recognition.
If that is not enough, in this conference of very good coaches, who, acclaimed in their own right and well known, we have two of the best in Randy Bennett and Mark Few, who are recognized nationally as two of the best to have ever done it. Both are now among the top ten in active coaches with the highest winning percentage and both with 500+ wins.
The bottom line is the national level of performance in all of our sports is really the WCC brand.
You have to think that it’s part of the reason that Oregon State and Washington State chose this conference to compete during their transition years. In return, they have helped us competitively across 12 sports particularly adding to basketball strength which resulted in 24 Quad 1 and Quad 2 opportunities within our conference season. Which has never happened.
Our basketball future is bright as our current members continue to step up their game as well as investing in capital projects across the conference that will hopefully enhance our basketball future. Pepperdine will open a new basketball facility late in 2026, the University of San Diego has a new practice facility opening in April. San Francisco recently opened a new practice facility and there are planned renovations at LMU. That’s a real positive.
We are in our 17th year here at Orleans Arena and both everyone at Orleans Arena and Las Vegas Events have been great partners for us and provide a great setting for our national audience on ESPN. We are happy to announce that we will be back here next year. I want to thank the Vice President and General Manager at Boyd Gaming, Christopher Joy, and the Executive Director of Orleans Arena, Ian Seidenberg, for all of their support.
Lastly, as we look forward in the West Coast Conference and our future, we see real value in the national recognition of our brand and telling our story. We have to do a better job of telling our success as part of our story as well as our history. We are grateful in recent months to see the increasing number of former student-athletes help us elevate and enhance our brand with their own voice. People like Jalen Williams, Steve Nash, Bill Cartwright, and Cy Young Award winner Corbin Burnes.
Our story continues to evolve and continues to grow. As we go forward for us, it is all gas and no breaks.
What advantages does it bring to the conference to have the tournament in Las Vegas?
Over the past 15 years, my own personal view is that Las Vegas has become a hub for the game of basketball. What better place to be for the WCC, which is a basketball-centric conference. More importantly, it is a place that our fans want to come. It has become an annual event in many of their households. It is a trek they make to here in Las Vegas to be a part of the WCC tournament. It just makes good sense for us, given that the basketball spotlight has historically been on the city of Las Vegas and our fans love to be here.
Can you clarify the terms of your extension with Orleans Arena?
It is a one-year extension. Beyond that, we will continue to talk with the Orleans Arena as well as go through discovery and discussions with potentially other arenas. I can tell you we are very happy here.
Have you been in ongoing discussions on expansion?
Those discussions are only ongoing every day. It is no secret that in this collegiate landscape in realignment, it is like a food chain. As one conference loses a member, or a few, that conference, it is incumbent upon them, they have to go get new members and we are no different. Certainly, we have said publicly before that our presidents are committed to continue to expand this conference upwards to an additional one or three members. There is no timetable on that, but we are committed in doing so.
What are you learning in the process as part of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Committee? With seven members being from non-power conferences and five from power conferences, do you feel it gives the little guys a little bit more of a chance to get in this year?
I was a little naïve. I was extremely honored and excited to be a part of the committee, but I had no idea of the scope of responsibility of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Committee. The common fan looks at it as the selection committee. It is so much more than that. I am dating back to my initial meeting last summer, and as part of the first meeting, we are listening to bids of cities with dignitaries in a room making their pitch on why they should get the Final Four. A governor showed up. A mayor showed up. Council members showed up. It was a little bit of an eye opener for me. But they are also responsible for everything involving the tournament and the Final Four. That includes the budget. Expansion is a topic. It includes everything down to the nuts of bolts of game entertainment. I just wasn’t aware of the scope.
The second part, I’ve learned how adept the NCAA staff is at running the tournament, especially the selection process. They’ve done it so many times, they are so good at it, there is such a breadth of data which can be overwhelming at times. The composition of the committee, I would say being in the room and having gone through a simulation of selections, there is really no weight given one way or the other to power conferences or non-power conferences. It comes down to the teams, the game you have, what your resume says, who you played, where you played, and how you did. There’s a great deal of integrity in that room in making those decisions and casting your vote that in the end I see why they’ve historically come out with a very good feel. You’ll have exceptions one way or the other, anomalies here and there but they know what they are doing. I’m blessed to be there.
Besides expansion, what are your priorities for the next year or two?
I feel really strongly and I’m going to go back to two years ago, I felt that one of the characteristics of this conference that made it so special was the historic success in Olympic sports. I felt if we could continue basketball that this conference could truly be special and I still believe that today. Shame on us, we have to get better and tell people nationally our story and understand our strength and value of this conference. If that means marketing social or digital, we need to keep finding ways to enhance our brand and tell our story. That’s a priority, it's a big priority and it's something we need to continue to get better at.
The second part is that over the next two years we’ve got to understand what our scheduling is going to look like and what our media rights are going to be in one to two years with Gonzaga departing, which is a major loss for us, and what our media rights will look like. That, in itself, will determine just how financially stable we can continue to be which is a really healthy place.
With Seattle coming, are you considering a 20-game conference schedule?
The answer is that we are content with 18 but that’s an issue that will circulate through our governance system to get their view. Today I think they are comfortable with 18. When we add new members, a 20-game schedule would be back on the table.
Have there been discussions about conference challenges or scheduling alliances?
I can’t speak for other conferences, but I will tell you there have been discussions with other conferences. It’s my own personal view, getting those scheduling alliances in basketball and for the WCC along with others like ours, is the only vehicle we that have to stabilize in realignment. Otherwise, we are going to continue in this world of adding and losing members. The advantage that a scheduling alliance affords you is, without actually merging, it affords you the ability to strengthen schedules, strengthen resumes, and enhance each other's ability to access the NCAA Tournament. While it’s something that I’d like to do, I have to think it is something that other conferences have to be entertaining that type of structure given the environment we are in.
What’s the ideal number for the league in realignment?
I’d love to get to 12, but I don’t want to imply that we would go out and get three all at once. I think it's important for the WCC that we be very strategic about who we add. Our presidents are adamant about adding basketball strength in members that we do add. We can’t just add to add. They have to bring value, and that value would be to do as best we can to remain a multi-bid league, which you can do two ways: Further investment of your existing members, and/or adding members that will also ensure that you are a multi-bid league and we are going to take both avenues.
You mentioned Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s both being deserving tournament teams that are deserving of high seeds. I am not sure if you are able to advocate for them for high seeds, but what have they done to command high seeds and do you have a general idea of where they will land on selection Sunday?
The last two I can not really answer in detail, but I would anticipate that they are invited to the tournament. Where they are seeded, it is fascinating and something I love. It's based on a variety of factors but to their credit, their resumes their body of work are very favorable from a metric standpoint any way you cut it. Whether it be their neutral and away performances, whether it be the way that they scheduled which is another key factor. They’ve done their job. Now it's up to the committee to do their job and accurately select them and seed them. As for me, I have no advocacy for them at all. It is actually quite funny in going through the simulation when they are speaking about one of your institutions, whether you are an athletics director or a commissioner, they send you out of the room. It's happened many times before because there is a buzzer to buzz you back in the room. When you return to the room, it's as if you walked in on a conversation where people are talking about you, because no one says anything. I look forward to having that opportunity that they talk about our two members or three if we are fortunate.
What is the plan to keep large crowds at the WCC Basketball Championship with Gonzaga leaving?
The first thing to do is attack it before they leave and we have done that this season. We were very focused this year, coming into this tournament, dating back to last summer, coming up with a proactive ticket sales plan in anticipation that post BYU and in anticipation when Gonzaga leaves. While I’m not privy to the data right now, I do think our ticket sales, at least for this tournament, we may be in a position we have increased sales over last year and reached levels of two years ago. That doesn’t account for the loss for potential tickets of Gonzaga, but we’ve got a strategy in place that we will continue to build upon so that when they depart in 2026, we are at least position with a framework for adding tickets and putting butts in seats.