Gonzaga, baby, Gonzaga

The day he lost his job as the coach at San Diego, Brad Holland talked about the “monster up in the Pacific Northwest.”

Dick Davey, pressured to retire at Santa Clara after 15 seasons, put it plainly: “The Gonzaga Syndrome has affected a lot of coaches in our league, I think.”

Call it Zag Envy, if you will. The small Jesuit university in Spokane, Wash., has won seven consecutive West Coast Conference regular-season titles and, more impressively, made repeated NCAA tournament runs and become a regular in the Associated Press Top 25.

One side effect, in some people’s minds: Six of the league’s eight schools have changed coaches in the last four years.

“I think in any conference, if one institution is dominant, it’s just a question of when -- and not if -- the tension increases,” said Mike Gilleran, commissioner of the WCC. “You hope it’s productive tension.

“Everyone wants to be like Gonzaga. But it’s tricky. If it was that easy, everyone would be doing it. What I always hear from fans is, ‘If Gonzaga’s doing it, why can’t we, and why not tomorrow?’ Well, Gonzaga didn’t do it in a day either.”

Only two coaches, Gonzaga’s Mark Few, entering his ninth season, and St. Mary’s Randy Bennett, in his seventh, have more tenure than a fifth-year senior.

And once again, Gonzaga is picked to win the league, with St. Mary’s not far behind.

The rest of the league?

Rodney Tention is starting his third season at Loyola Marymount with little back after an injury-riddled 13-18 season. Vance Walberg is in his second at Pepperdine, and after an 8-23 struggle as players tried to adapt to his system or left the program, lost leading scorer Kingsley Costain, who was dismissed from school for a violation of university policy this month.

Elsewhere, Eric Reveno is in his second season at Portland, Jessie Evans is in his fourth at San Francisco and two coaches are new this year.

Kerry Keating, an assistant to Ben Howland on UCLA’s consecutive Final Four teams, was hired to replace Davey at Santa Clara, though he notes that Gonzaga was “never mentioned” during the hiring process. “I’m more concerned about Santa Clara,” he said.

At San Diego, Athletic Director Ky Snyder’s choice to replace Holland seems telling: It’s Bill Grier, who was Few’s top assistant and had been at Gonzaga for 16 years, reaching the Sweet 16 four times and the Elite Eight in 1999.

But Snyder said, “I don’t buy into the so-called Gonzaga Effect,” adding that San Diego wants to be more successful in all its athletic programs, and saying he looked beyond the league before making a decision.

Grier, for one, doesn’t think the Gonzaga blueprint can be duplicated everywhere.

“The problem I see is so many administrations and alumni want the same thing. They say, ‘Why can’t our program do what Gonzaga has done?’ Yet the dynamics aren’t the same,” Grier said.

“There are some unique dynamics there. There’s been a lot of continuity in the coaching staff. There’s not a professional team, only one Division I team, a fairly large community.

“It’s certainly a lot different in San Diego because we have two Division I schools in the city, and it’s a large city with so much to do.

“Developing a loyal following, whether you’re winning or losing, that’s the thing Gonzaga was able to establish.”

Keating, mindful of the importance of student support at Santa Clara, was outside the dorms when freshmen moved in, introducing himself.

“I wasn’t moving couches or carpets,” he said with a laugh. “It was more of a meet-and-greet.”

At a women’s volleyball game, Keating offered $1,000 of his own money to any of 10 students who could make a half-court shot. When nobody did, he gave them each $100 anyway.

“The whole thing starts with the students,” he said. “You’ve got to create an attitude where they want to say, ‘Hey, I was at the game, and we beat so-and-so.’ ”

Keating said the WCC is aiming too low if schools are just hoping to split up the financial pie from one team making an NCAA tournament run.

“I think there needs to be an attitude we can get three teams in,” he said.

The league hasn’t always been Gonzaga and the seven dwarfs.

Loyola Marymount reached the Elite Eight in 1990 after the death of Hank Gathers. Santa Clara upset second-seeded Arizona with a team led by Steve Nash in 1993, and Pepperdine has made many appearances, memorably upsetting Indiana in Bob Knight’s last game as the Hoosiers’ coach. In another era, San Francisco won two national championships with Bill Russell.

Yet, despite the occasional year when two WCC teams make the field -- and even though Gonzaga lost an uncharacteristic three WCC games last season -- the Gonzaga program owns the league.

Grier remembers what Dan Monson, now the Long Beach State coach, told him after he left Gonzaga for Minnesota.

“He said it takes until you get outside the program to see what really has been accomplished there,” Grier said. “Now for me, having to compete against them, I see it.”

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robyn.norwood@latimes.com

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Scouting report

GONZAGA

* Last season: 23-11, 11-3.

* Key players: F Josh Heytvelt, 6-11, Jr. (Reinstated to team this month, a season after he averaged 15.5 ppg and 7.7 rpg before being suspended in February after a drug-possession arrest.); G Jeremy Pargo, 6-2, Jr. (12.1 ppg; 4.6 apg); G Matt Bouldin, 6-5, So. (8.9 ppg; 3.6 rpg).

* Opener/home opener: Nov. 11, 1 p.m. vs. Montana.

LOYOLA MARYMOUNT

* Last season: 13-18, 5-9.

* Key players: G Jon Ziri, 6-2, Sr. (5.3 ppg; 4.1 rpg); F Marko Deric, 6-9, Jr. (5.0 ppg; 2.8 rpg).

* Opener/home opener: Nov. 9, 7:30 p.m. at UC Irvine; Nov. 12, 7 p.m. vs. Arkansas Little Rock.

PEPPERDINE

* Last season: 8-23, 4-10.

* Key players: G Jason Walberg, 6-4, Sr. (Averaged 14 points in first five games last year before season-ending knee injury.); G Rico Tucker, 6-0, Jr. (Minnesota transfer averaged 4.5 points for Gophers in 2005-2006.); G Tyrone Shelley, 6-6, Fr. (San Diego Section player of the year averaged 34.9 points at San Diego Crawford High.)

* Opener/home opener: Nov. 10, 4 p.m. at Oregon; Nov. 17, 7 p.m. vs. Cal State Northridge.

PORTLAND

* Last season: 9-23, 4-10.

* Key players: F Sherrard Watson, 6-6, Sr. (9.0 ppg; 3.8 rpg); G Taishi Ito, 6-0, So. (7.0 ppg, 3.3 apg).

* Opener/home opener: Nov. 9, 8 p.m. at Fresno State; Nov. 17, 7 p.m. vs. Oregon.

ST. MARY’S

* Last season: 17-15, 8-6.

* Key players: F Diamon Simpson, 6-7, Jr. (14.1 ppg; 7.7 rpg); C Omar Samhan, 6-11, So. (9.2 ppg, 5.6 rpg).

* Opener/home opener: Nov. 9, 8 p.m. vs. Sonoma State.

SAN DIEGO

* Last season: 18-14, 6-8.

* Key players: F Gyno Pomare, 6-8, Jr. (14.9 ppg; 8.3 rpg); G Brandon Johnson, 6-0, Jr. (12.8 ppg; 4.8 apg).

* Opener/home opener: Nov. 9, 10 p.m. at Hawaii; Nov. 12, 7 p.m. vs. Cal State Monterey Bay.

SAN FRANCISCO

* Last season: 13-18, 8-6.

* Key players: G Manny Quezada, 6-2, Jr. (13.2 ppg; 3.0 apg); G Danny Cavic, 6-6, Sr. (6.0 ppg; 46.2% 3-pt).

* Opener/home opener: Nov. 8, 5 p.m. at Oklahoma; Nov. 17, 7 p.m. vs. Sacramento State.

SANTA CLARA

* Last season: 21-10, 10-4.

* Key players: C John Bryant, 6-10, Jr. (10.4 ppg; 6.7 apg) ; G Brody Angley, 5-11, Sr. (8.3 ppg; 3.8 apg).

* Opener/home opener: Nov. 13, 6 p.m. at Simpson; Dec. 12, 7 p.m. vs. Pacific.

-- Robyn Norwood