The marriage between the West Coast Conference and UC Santa Barbara became a reality within a few weeks, but both parties have taken steps towards membership for some time.
 
The Gauchos will be competing members of the conference beginning with the 2027-28 academic year, as the addition brings the West Coast Conference to 12 members, the largest in conference history. West Coast Conference Commissioner Stu Jackson and the West Coast Conference Presidents’ Council had a target to bring full membership to 12 institutions.
 
“This is a monumental moment for the West Coast Conference as we grow our membership to 12 institutions for the first time in our history and enhance our national profile with the addition of UC Santa Barbara,” Jackson said.
 
UC Santa Barbara sought the right time and partner with which to make a move and expand its reach.
 
“I like to move fast,” quipped UC Santa Barbara Chancellor Dr. Dennis Assanis, who came on board at Santa Barbara last September after a decade as president of the University of Delaware. 
 
Assanis, a native of Greece with a background as a mechanical engineer, also called the move to the West Coast Conference “a monumental occasion.”
 
“UC Santa Barbara is thrilled to become the 12th member — that’s a record number — of the West Coast Conference,” he said. “I know we’re going to be the best member that you have.”
 
Jackson applauded the merger between the conference and a university that is ranked as one of the nation’s elite academic institutions, boasts eight Nobel Prize winners and won the 2024-25 Division I-AAA Athletics Directors Association All-Sport Trophy, awarded to the top non-football athletic program.
 
“When you enter a place like this, you get a little bit of a sense of the energy and the excitement for what this day brings,” Jackson said while on campus Monday for the news conference announcing the partnership. “This is an exciting day for the West Coast Conference.”
 
Jackson said arriving at the unprecedented total of 12 full-time conference members, with the recent additions of Denver, UC San Diego and now UC Santa Barbara, was a priority.
 
With the depth of having 12 schools going forward, Jackson explained, recruiting will benefit, as will the metrics that provide opportunity to gain berths in NCAA championships.
 
Denver comes on board as a competing member in July, with UC San Diego and UC Santa Barbara arriving a year later. Jackson called UC Santa Barbara “a perfect fit” with the conference.
 
“Their values align with ours, their aspirations match our trajectory, and their addition strengthens the conference competitively, academically and geographically.” he said. “We are thrilled to welcome the Gauchos and we look forward to building an exciting future together.”
 
Assanis, reflecting on his move to UC Santa Barbara, said he recognized unfulfilled potential that athletics brings to the goal of sharing the university's story with others beyond the campus. The shift to the West Coast Conference, he said, will help enhance the university’s brand, identity, community engagement.
 
“We have been at places where athletics is indeed the front porch of the university and when we arrived, almost immediately, we basically said, `Look, we have everything here. It’s brewing. It’s ready to ignite. Let’s give them the opportunity.’ That was an active objective from Day 1.
 
“We were excited from the beginning,” he added. “Those who know me, I like to be a winner. I like to be with the best. I like to give others the opportunity to be the best. We have a lot of dreams and we had to take the next steps. I’m glad that it happened.”
 
UC Santa Barbara men’s basketball head coach Joe Pasternack said transfer portal recruits with multiple years of eligibility to play already are responding to the news. And they’re not the only ones. 
 
“When you think of college basketball, when you think of West Coast basketball, the West Coast Conference is such a prevalent conference, even nationally,” Pasternack said. “The West Coast Conference has cache. It’s an exciting moment for our university, our alumni and everyone involved with UC Santa Barbara.”
 
Pasternack, whose 187 victories are the most by any UC Santa Barbara head coach in his first nine seasons, said he looks forward to the competitive challenge. “We’ve played a lot of teams from the league,” he said, referencing an 11-4 record in non-conference play against current members of the West Coast Conference. “We’ve competed with all of them and we expect to do the same when we get there.”
 
Assanis said that the West Coast Conference’s history of being a multi-bid league for the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament was attractive. Jackson noted that the league has earned multiple spots in the men’s tournament for seven consecutive events, and five of the last seven women’s tournaments.
 
Jackson said the Gauchos’ success beyond men’s basketball, including in Olympic sports, added to the easy fit with the West Coast Conference. "The combination of being successful in basketball and Olympic sports truly makes this conference special.” 
 
UC Santa Barbara Arnhold Director of Athletics Kelly Barsky said she was impressed by the commitment and investment other West Coast Conference schools are making in athletics, and particularly basketball. Those efforts align with the Gauchos’ vision, she said.
 
She cited NCAA championships the Gauchos won in men’s soccer (2006) and men’s water polo (1979), also alluding to 188 conference titles and 16 Olympians. UC Santa Barbara’s Manu Duah was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 MLS SuperDraft, pitcher Tyler Bremner was the No. 2 selection in the 2025 MLB Draft and Ajay Mitchell averaged 13.6 points this season for the reigning NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder.
 
“Our expectation is to win and to be successful,” Barsky said. “That’s in all areas and that’s doing it the right way. That’s academically, that’s athletically.”
 
Pasternack gave credit to Assanis and Barsky for shepherding the Gauchos through this conference move. “Our athletic director and chancellor are really aligned and that’s what made this go,” he said.
 
“Our regional expansion has been guided by strengthening our competitive excellence and national exposure, with a focus on providing an enriching student-athlete experience,” Jackson said. “Chancellor Dennis Assanis and Director of Athletics Kelly Barsky have demonstrated a strong commitment to supporting athletics and positioning their programs for success in today’s NCAA environment. UC Santa Barbara augments the West Coast Conference as an esteemed partner as We Rise in the West.”