After years of will they, won’t they conference realignment drama, the Gonzaga Bulldogs are on their way out of the West Coast Conference, joining with whatever number the Pac 12 2.0 ends up at. Gonzaga will officially be in the league starting July 2026.
If news of Gonzaga’s departure from the WCC leaves a bitter taste in your mouth, well, it should. It is gross and everything that is wrong with college sports at the moment. At the same time, it is entirely necessary for Gonzaga if they wish to retain as much national relevance as possible in the future.
On one hand, someone can easily make the argument that the Zags do not need to leave the WCC. Since 1979, it has proven to be a warm and loving community that has paid dividends for the program, going from plucky upset pick to Final Four contender year in and year out.
Gonzaga’s success, especially in recent years, lends itself to the argument of why try and fix something that is not broken?
However, trying to fix something that is not broken is akin to just doing something the same way because that is how it has always been done. It is not forward thinking and if you are not forward thinking you are as good as dead.
The only consistent through this conference realignment saga the past few years is that it is an absolute free for all. When Oklahoma and Texas jumped ship for the SEC in 2021, there probably weren’t too many people who thought any conference as it stood would completely implode in less than two years.
If you are like me, and you enjoy the value of what conferences rivalries bring to the table–a level of essence and passion that makes college sports what it is, the important thing to note is that does not matter at this moment in time. The only thing that matters is more money.
So it is fine to have a bad taste in your mouth and also be at peace for what has transpired. Even though Gonzaga is the little mighty school from Spokane, it still doesn’t have enough weight whatsoever to influence the terms and conditions that college sports is currently focused on.
The Pac 12 2.0 is also not the Big 12 or the Big East. It is fair to be disappointed in that. However, two (at minimum) games against the likes of San Diego State, Colorado State, Utah State, and Boise State are immediate upgrades over what the WCC can consistently offer not named Saint Mary’s. Going forward, the January-March basketball calendar just got more exciting. Not to mention the prestige that of being little old Gonzaga in a “major” conference. Try telling someone in 2001 that the Zags would be doing this 20 years later.
This move seems like a necessary evil, which is hardly the way to try and get excited about something. The language will ring about as fulfilling as Stanford’s, “The academic success and personal wellbeing of Stanford student-athletes have been a foremost consideration for us in this process,” explanation for why the move to the ACC should have been considered a good thing.
Conference realignment has been swirling around Gonzaga for years now, starting with serious flirtations with the Mountain West, brief convos with the Big East, pipe dreams with the Big 12, and now we are here. If there is one good thing that comes out of all of this–for now, we can finally stop reading about realignment rumors.
All of this isn’t necessarily inspiring. Not reading realignment rumors and making sure you have more money to stay relevant are hardly the topics of speeches to get the locker room hyped, but that is current state of college basketball. Gonzaga can either get on board, or watch the train depart the station, and have an authentically real worry about what is to come next.
We held on for as long as possible, but all good things must come to an end. I obviously get it why we did it, but this still saddens me. I am curious if St. Mary’s joins us, which feels like it would somehow lessen the blow to tradition we’re all currently feeling.