Gloria Nevarez

In April 2018, Gloria Nevarez was selected to serve as the fourth full-time Commissioner in the 66-year history of the West Coast Conference. Nevarez is one of 10 female conference commissioners serving in Division I Athletics and is the first Latin American to ascend to the commissioner's chair in Division I. She is currently serving on the NCAA’s Men’s Basketball Oversight Committee, a group responsible for Division I men’s basketball policy. Since rejoining the WCC, Nevarez has shaped nearly every facet of the internal and external operations of the Conference. In the last two years, she has directed major overhauls to the conference branding, expanded national television contracts in men’s basketball, added a longterm title sponsor for the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments and launched groundbreaking social justice initiatives.

When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, Nevarez guided the conference to a safe conclusion of the 2020 UCU WCC Basketball Tournaments working in conjunction with local and state health agencies. In the weeks and months following the subsequent shutdown of collegiate sports, Nevarez has worked tirelessly with university presidents and athletic directors to ensure the WCC is represented on the national, state and local levels in determining when and how competition can resume safely. In addition, Nevarez closed the in-person office and guided the WCC staff to a remote model emphasizing maximum flexibility and extensive collaboration. In the aftermath of the international protests in response to the death of George Floyd, Nevarez drove enhancements of the EDI initiatives established in the Summer of 2019 and received unanimous adoption and representation from all Conference members. The WCC was the first Division I conference to adopt a diversity hiring initiative, the groundbreaking “Russell Rule” adopted in July of 2020. All schools are required to include a member of a traditionally underrepresented community in the final candidate pool for every athletic director, senior administrator, head coach and full-time assistant coaching position in the athletic department. Named for legendary Bill Russell – a two-time WCC and NCAA Champion, Olympic Gold Medalist and 11-time NBA Champion – the rule will be monitored by The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport (TIDES) founded by Dr. Richard Lapchick, which will produce an annual race and gender report card for the WCC and its member institutions. Nevarez is actively involved on a host of national committees, including, but not limited to: NCAA Men’s Basketball Oversight Committee, NCAA Transfer Working Group, US International University of Sport Federation Board of Directors and the NCAA NIT Selection Committee. Nevarez returned to the WCC following a successful stint at the Pac-12 Conference. She was named the Pac-10’s Senior Associate Commissioner, Senior Woman Administrator, in April 2010. In this role, Nevarez oversaw all sports and championships except football, while also serving as the Conference liaison for men’s basketball and tournament director the men’s basketball tournament in Las Vegas. Nevarez had led all-star teams to China and Australia and brought conference teams to China for the first ever NCAA regular season game. In her tenure at the Pac-12 Nevarez was instrumental in league expansion, relocation and success of the both men’s and women’s basketball tournament, creation and operation of the Pac-12 Networks, development of international initiatives and sustainability efforts.

A graduate of the NCAA Fellows Program and the NACWAA Executive Institute, Nevarez completed five years as an adjunct faculty member for the University of San Francisco Sport Management Master's program where she taught sport law prior to her OU tenure. A four-year scholarship athlete and letter-winner in basketball at the University of Massachusetts, she graduated cum laude from UMass. She served on the board of advisors for the UMass sports management department, a division of the Isenberg School of Business. Nevarez received her Juris Doctorate from the University of California. While a student, she served on the La Raza Law Journal and was a co-founder of the Boalt Hall Sport and Entertainment Law Society. A native of Santa Clara, Calif., Nevarez is married to Richard Young.

“2020 taught me how to be flexible. This is the longest and fastest changing crisis situation I’ve ever experienced.”