SAN BRUNO, CA - The West Coast Conference announced that Brigham Young University has
formally accepted an invitation to join the WCC with competition to begin in the 2011-12 academic year, and Gonzaga University officials believe it's a positive move.
BYU, which will become an independent in FBS football, will compete in the West Coast Conference in baseball, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's cross country, men's and women's golf,
women's soccer, men's and women's tennis, and women's volleyball.
Gonzaga athletic director Mike Roth said he is excited about the future.
"I'm excited about BYU joining WCC. Everybody that's been paying attention to the national landscape of intercollegiate athletics and what happened with the Big Ten and Pac-10 earlier this spring, and
recently with BYU seriously considering going independent in football, meant their (BYU's) other sports had to land someplace. It's impossible to create an independent schedule in all of those sports," Roth said.
Gonzaga head men's basketball coach Mark Few and head women's basketball coach Kelly Graves were also upbeat about the addition of the Cougars.
"It's a positive step for the WCC," Few said. "In BYU we're definitely adding a quality program from a basketball point of view. They've been in the Top 25 in recent years and have been a NCAA Tournament participant. Anytime we add somebody like that it's a positive thing."
Graves echoed Few's sentiments.
"I'm really excited. I'm a Utah kid and been following BYU since I was a little boy. Ironically, Jeff Judkins, who is the women's basketball coach, was one of my heroes when I was a kid. He and I have
become good friends so I'm excited about it. I think it's a great move, a high profile school that fits in a lot of ways in what we believe in and do in the WCC," Graves said.
Roth said speculation of rising travel costs associated with adding BYU is far-fetched.
"You have to realize we are adding two games to our schedule, but it means we have to take two games off our schedule. You're saying it adds to your travel costs, but technically it doesn't," Roth said. "You're replacing in all of your double-round robin sports (volleyball, men's soccer and men's and women's basketball) a home and away. So you're not traveling someplace else to travel to Provo, but
you're also getting a home game. In single round-robin sports you're replacing games in sports like women's soccer and baseball. Plus, it's easy to get there (Provo)."
Roth also senses an excitement within the Gonzaga athletic department.
"Our coaches are excited about the opportunity. One of the things we believe at Gonzaga, and I believe the conference embraces this also, is to get better you have to continue to want to get better. You have to try and find ways to improve," Roth noted. "We're not bringing in just in men's and women's basketball, but virtually in each league sport, a program from BYU that will be competitive in every sport. What that will do for us is across the board make us more competitive. BYU is a national brand, are nationally known and will raise the profile of the league even more so. That's a positive thing."
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