SAN BRUNO - West Coast Conference Commissioner Stu Jackson has been appointed Vice Chair of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee, as announced on Thursday by the NCAA. In addition, Jackson will later serve as the committee chair in 2027-28.
In 2026-27, he will serve under the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Committee Chair Martin Newton, Samford Director of Athletics. Jackson will serve on the men’s basketball committee for a third consecutive year.
"This committee plays a vital role in one of the most anticipated events in all of sports, and it has been one of the greatest professional honors of my career to serve alongside such an outstanding group of colleagues," Jackson said. "I am grateful for their confidence in me and look forward to supporting Martin Newton this season before assuming the chairmanship in 2027-28. With the expansion of the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship, our responsibilities have become even more significant. Our focus will remain on conducting a thorough, season-long evaluation process and ensuring the selection, seeding, and bracketing of the nation's best 76 teams is done with fairness, integrity, and consistency.”
Also announced during this week’s Division I Men’s Basketball Committee annual meeting, Wichita, Kan., has obtained hosting rights for the Opening Round of the 2027 and 2028 Division I Men’s Basketball Championships. Wichita and Dayton, Ohio, both will host three games each day on the Tuesday and Wednesday after Selection Sunday. The change was necessitated by the decision in May to expand the tournament field from 68 to 76 teams. The Opening Round of the 2027 championship will take place March 16 and 17 and will feature the 12 lowest-seeded automatic qualifiers and the 12 lowest-seeded at-large teams.
Under Jackson’s leadership, the West Coast Conference has enjoyed tremendous success and milestone achievements. The Conference recently added new full-time members in Seattle University and the University of Denver in the last two years. On July 1, 2027, the West Coast Conference will reach the largest membership in conference history at 12 full-time members with the additions of UC San Diego and UC Santa Barbara.
Men’s and women’s basketball have thrived in recent years, as well. For the fourth time in conference history, men’s basketball featured three teams in the NCAA Tournament. For a record seventh consecutive tournament and 12th time in the last 14 events, men’s basketball was a multi-bid league in the NCAA Tournament. In women’s basketball, a conference-record seven teams earned postseason berths. Combined with the six postseason teams from the previous season, women’s basketball boasted 13 total postseason berths in the last two years.
In addition to competitive success, under Jackson’s guidance, the Conference consistently emphasizes the holistic student-athlete experience. The Conference gives its student-athletes a place to be seen and celebrated. Initiatives are regularly promoted like mental health awareness and the conference works cohesively with each school’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) on all important issues to the general student-athlete populace.
Along with Newton and Jackson, members of the 2026-27 committee will include Pete Bevacqua, the director of athletics at Notre Dame; Keith Carter, the director of athletics at Ole Miss; Irma Garcia, the director of athletics at Manhattan; Jeff Jackson, the commissioner of the Missouri Valley Conference; Mark Jackson, the director of athletics at Northwestern; Arthur Johnson, the director of athletics at Temple; Zack Lassiter, the director of athletics at Abilene Christian; Lee Reed, the director of athletics at Georgetown; Chad Weiberg, the director of athletics at Oklahoma State; and Tom Wistrcill, the commissioner of the Big Sky Conference.
Jackson, who is in his fourth year as Commissioner of the West Coast Conference, has served in collegiate athletics administration or as a NCAA Division I men’s basketball coach for more than 15 years. Prior to his appointment as West Coast Conference Commissioner, Jackson oversaw men’s basketball operations for nine years at the Big East Conference. He was a men’s basketball student-athlete at the University of Oregon and Seattle University and later held coaching positions at Providence College and Washington State University, before serving as the head coach at the University of Wisconsin.
Jackson also served in the National Basketball Association league office and as an NBA head coach and general manager before returning to collegiate athletics as an executive with the Big East Conference.