“Landmark day”

SEATTLE — Seattle University is no longer a school without a conference.

Since beginning the transition back to Division I status in 2007, Seattle U has functioned as an independent, meaning difficult scheduling and a lot of travel. As of the 2012-2013 school year, the Redhawks will be athle

tic nomads no longer, having agreed Tuesday to join the Western Athletic Conference.

“This is a landmark day for all of our sports,” men’s basketball coach Cameron Dollar said at a festive press conference. “We’re on that path to go to (NCAA) championships, this is a significant mile marker on that path.”

The Redhawks become the ninth team in the WAC in 2012, joining the University of Denver, Idaho, Utah State, San Jose State, Texas-San Antonio, Texas State, Louisiana State and New Mexico State. Seattle U will one of two non-football members of the conference along with Denver.

The announcement from the WAC and the school came a day after Seattle U president Father Stephen V. Sundborg, S.J., was in Park City, Utah presenting Seattle’s case for inclusion in the conference.

Sundborg called the news “a good decision for Seattle University and a good decision for the WAC.”

“It gives us visibility both for athletics and academics at Seattle University,” Sundborg said. “It helps us build towards championships in sports. … Joining the Western Athletic Conference is really a great boost for our university in terms of what it does for visibility and the opportunities for our students.

The 2012-2013 school year marks the final year of Seattle U’s five-year transition back to Division I athletics, and is the first year all sports are eligible to compete in NCAA tournaments.

With a conference affiliation, the road to those NCAA tournaments is much clearer. One of the prevailing themes at Tuesday’s press conference was that the school expects to compete for conference championships, and do it “on a sooner-than-later basis,” as women’s basketball coach Joan Bonvicini put it.

“Honestly, I feel like the year we’re actually in the conference, I feel like we’ll be competing then, no doubt,” said men’s basketball player Sterling Carter, who will be a junior when Seattle U joins the WAC. “… I feel like we’ll be competing right away, as soon as we get there.”

For Carter and the rest of Seattle U’s student athletes, joining a conference should make for a more manageable travel schedule, even if the conference features school as far away as Louisiana and Texas.

“It’s definitely very exciting,” Carter said. “… We’re in a conference now, you don’t have to worry about having to go to 19 different states to play 19 different games.

“The road trips we had last season were tough on us. School comes first before sports, and it was hard to balance school and basketball while traveling all over the country. It was a good experience, but it was kind of tough.”

Added athletic director Bill Hogan: “That’s the single biggest thing, just to know that our student athletes are going to be in better hands, better situations.”

Dollar never complained about the challenges of being an independent, but said joining the WAC certainly helps the school’s most visible program, particularly when it comes to recruiting.

“It helps for sure,” he said. “… Two questions you get are, ‘What conference are you in and how are you going to get in the tournament?’ We won’t get those questions anymore. That instantly wipes that out.”

Dollar’s basketball team gets a head start on assessing how it measures up against WAC competition. Next year’s schedule includes a home-and-home series with the top team in the conference, Utah State, as well as games against Idaho and San Jose State.

Sundborg said WAC commissioner Karl Benson already mentioned the idea of Seattle U hosting a WAC soccer championship at the school’s recently renovated on-campus field, and in a teleconference Benson mentioned the possibility of KeyArena as the site of a future conference basketball tournament.

Herald Writer John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com.