When Randy Bennett became the men’s basketball head coach at Saint Mary’s in 2001, he inherited not only a struggling team but also a facility that resembled a high school gym. Over the past two decades, both the team and its home have seen significant improvements. The venue, now known as University Credit Union Pavilion, has undergone renovations including new locker rooms, coaches’ offices, weight room, and a modern sports medicine center.
“It’s a pretty cool gym now,” Bennett said.
Chris Callahan, President at the University of the Pacific and chair for the West Coast Conference Presidents’ Council, commented on facility upgrades throughout the league. “Saint Mary’s, that gym is completely transformed. And all the ancillary support is absolutely first rate,” Callahan said. “We’re seeing that over and over again. We need to do that. We want to be competitive as a conference.
“The West Coast Conference is a basketball conference and more and more we see our member schools really investing in their coaches and their teams, but also in their facilities,” he added. “When you look at the basketball-centric conferences, I feel like we’re right there. Investing in the facilities is really critical and I think it’s been a long time coming for a lot of these schools.”
Among recent projects across the West Coast Conference:
San Diego opened its $35 million Basketball Performance Center last April. The 28,000-square-foot building includes courts, training areas, locker rooms, player lounge, film room and other amenities designed to support athletes’ development on and off court. “It’s a game-changer, and I don’t say that lightly,” USD athletic director Kimya Massey said.
LMU completed $15 million in renovations to Gersten Pavilion’s West Wing this September with an Academic Success Center for athletes along with updated administrative spaces and basketball offices. “For all of our athletes, the academic center is as good or better than anyone in the conference,” athletic director Craig Pintens said.
Pacific will soon finish its $11 million Student-Athlete and Sports Medicine Center featuring new locker rooms for basketball teams and expanded rehabilitation space for all Tigers sports programs—nearly tripling current capacity according to athletic director Adam Tschuour.
Pepperdine has started work on The Mountain at Mullin Park—a four-phase project totaling $150 million—that will replace Firestone Fieldhouse with a new 3,600-seat arena located centrally on campus. It includes plans for parking structures as well as practice gyms and recreation centers accessible by students university-wide. Pepperdine athletic director Tanner Gardner stated: “We’re building what will be one of the best college arenas on the West Coast, if not in the country.” The new arena is expected to open by November next year.
West Coast Conference Commissioner Stu Jackson highlighted how these developments help position member schools competitively: “Many student-athletes in this new world of college basketball are focused on revenue benefits, but if you don’t have those facilities and amenities, you really can’t become part of the conversation,” Jackson said. “So it helps tremendously to see the way our schools are investing overall.”
First-year San Diego women’s head coach Blanche Alverson noted how upgraded facilities attract recruits: “It sends a message that USD is really investing in basketball and is able to compete in that space nationally now,” she said.
Other WCC schools have made similar investments:
– Saint Mary’s created dedicated practice space after building its student recreation center.
– San Francisco upgraded War Memorial Gym with VIP seating areas; later they opened Malloy Pavilion as an additional practice site.
– Santa Clara improved Leavey Center with technology upgrades like video boards plus renovated locker rooms; they also opened Schott Athletic Excellence Center supporting performance training.
– At Portland, philanthropy from Chiles Foundation enabled ongoing improvements to Chiles Center.
– Seattle U partnered with Climate Pledge Arena for select games since 2021 while opening Wright Family Athletic Performance Center last fall.
Many enhancements benefit both athletics programs and broader student life—for example Pepperdine’s arena aims to be central gathering place adjacent to housing while Pacific’s new medical center offers training opportunities beyond athletics majors.
“I’m just so proud of this conference in large part because we’ve leaned into who we are,” Callahan said about future members Denver and UC San Diego joining WCC after demonstrating commitment to similar investments.
Pintens described LMU’s improved sense of community due to better study areas: “At the same time we didn’t have a good sense of community for them because we didn’t have an adequate space.” Recruits visiting since September “all have been blown away by our facilities.”
Seattle U athletics director Shaney Fink added about their facility upgrade: “The Wright Family Athletic Performance Center reflects Seattle University’s commitment to competitive excellence through student athlete-centered initiatives that focus on performance and well-being.”
As these projects move forward or near completion across campuses—from Malibu to Portland—the focus remains on providing modern resources both for competition success within NCAA Division I men’s basketball as well as enhancing campus experience overall.
