Completed Event: Men's Soccer at UC Santa Barbara on September 21, 2025 , Tie , 1, to, 1
M Soccer
at UC Santa Barbara
T 1-1
Grand Canyon University Athletics
Coro: Lopes get final approval – it's 'go time' for postseason
8/23/2017 11:00:00 AM | General, Paul Coro
NCAA grants GCU eligibility for tournament play
The next time a Grand Canyon team wins a Western Athletic Conference regular-season championship, it will not be the limit of its season's glory.
The next time sold-out crowds pack GCU Arena for men's basketball games, a win will count for more than smiles and the standings.
The next time WAC and NCAA tournaments are held, GCU can join the party.
The NCAA capped GCU's four-year Division I transition period on Wednesday by approving the athletic department for active membership and postseason eligibility, starting with this 2017-18 school year.
"It's been a long four years of saying, 'Soon we're going to be eligible to play in the tournament,' " GCU fifth-year senior basketball player Joshua Braun said. "It's awesome. It's super-exciting to maybe be alive in March. That'd be a blast. That's what we've been working for. Since I got here, it's always been, 'Prepare for March Madness.' It's go time now."
The GCU athletic program proved fit for the Division I ascension, winning 13 WAC championships over the four-year transition period despite recruiting without the lure of chasing postseason titles.
The baseball and softball programs are building more than success. Each program's venue has a new stadium grandstand under construction that could play host to NCAA regionals someday. Each program won a WAC regular-season championship this spring.
"The level of expectations gets even higher now for our program," Lopes baseball head coach Andy Stankiewicz said. "We expect to be competitive in the WAC Tournament, get to the final game, win it and go to an NCAA regional.
"Just because you're competitive doesn't mean you're ready to go make noise in a regional or Omaha (site of the College World Series). We've still got a ways to go, so we have to make sure we keep moving in the right direction."
In GCU's first Division I season, the Lopes softball team was picked to finish last in the WAC. Head coach Ann Pierson reassembled the "SIXTH PLACE" sheet for her office shelf because that 2014 team pulled the bulletin board material off the dugout wall and trampled it with spikes once the Lopes clinched the title.
"Nobody knew anything about us," Pierson said. "We didn't have a lot of credibility, which fueled us.
"This year's senior class was the only one to never have an opportunity to play postseason (teams were previously Division II). They played hard. They played hungry. They played for the pride of the program. Their unselfishness helped us build."
Lopes teams turned WAC regular-season competition into their playoffs. Now, no manufactured motivation is necessary. Teams can vie for WAC and NCAA postseason spots. Recruiting can cast a wider brush.
When the men's soccer team opens its season this weekend in Nebraska against Omaha and No. 14 Creighton, the weight of non-conference games will become heavier.
"It gives us that much more of an edge to go into the season with everything we have to make it to the top," men's soccer star senior Niki Jackson said.
NCAA tournament appearances were practically built into the annual schedule for men's soccer head coach Schellas Hyndman when he coached 24 successful seasons at SMU. His next NCAA appearance will be a historic feat for a program that hired him in 2015 and opened GCU Stadium in 2016.
"The purpose was to make the soccer program relevant," Hyndman said. "I can't think of any other way of making it more relevant than getting into the NCAA Tournament. This is a big, big step for us."
The 21-team athletic program has spent the past four years under the eyes of the NCAA Division I Strategic Vision and Planning Committee. It will spend many more years trying to catch the eyes of the NCAA Division I Tournament selection committees.
"The more we can do that, the more national attention we bring to Grand Canyon University and all the extraordinary things that are happening here," GCU Vice President of Athletics Mike Vaught said. "There's a campus-wide excitement for this."
Follow Paul Coro on Twitter: @paulcoro.
The next time sold-out crowds pack GCU Arena for men's basketball games, a win will count for more than smiles and the standings.
The next time WAC and NCAA tournaments are held, GCU can join the party.
The NCAA capped GCU's four-year Division I transition period on Wednesday by approving the athletic department for active membership and postseason eligibility, starting with this 2017-18 school year.
"It's been a long four years of saying, 'Soon we're going to be eligible to play in the tournament,' " GCU fifth-year senior basketball player Joshua Braun said. "It's awesome. It's super-exciting to maybe be alive in March. That'd be a blast. That's what we've been working for. Since I got here, it's always been, 'Prepare for March Madness.' It's go time now."
The GCU athletic program proved fit for the Division I ascension, winning 13 WAC championships over the four-year transition period despite recruiting without the lure of chasing postseason titles.
The baseball and softball programs are building more than success. Each program's venue has a new stadium grandstand under construction that could play host to NCAA regionals someday. Each program won a WAC regular-season championship this spring.
"The level of expectations gets even higher now for our program," Lopes baseball head coach Andy Stankiewicz said. "We expect to be competitive in the WAC Tournament, get to the final game, win it and go to an NCAA regional.
"Just because you're competitive doesn't mean you're ready to go make noise in a regional or Omaha (site of the College World Series). We've still got a ways to go, so we have to make sure we keep moving in the right direction."
In GCU's first Division I season, the Lopes softball team was picked to finish last in the WAC. Head coach Ann Pierson reassembled the "SIXTH PLACE" sheet for her office shelf because that 2014 team pulled the bulletin board material off the dugout wall and trampled it with spikes once the Lopes clinched the title.
"Nobody knew anything about us," Pierson said. "We didn't have a lot of credibility, which fueled us.
"This year's senior class was the only one to never have an opportunity to play postseason (teams were previously Division II). They played hard. They played hungry. They played for the pride of the program. Their unselfishness helped us build."
Lopes teams turned WAC regular-season competition into their playoffs. Now, no manufactured motivation is necessary. Teams can vie for WAC and NCAA postseason spots. Recruiting can cast a wider brush.
When the men's soccer team opens its season this weekend in Nebraska against Omaha and No. 14 Creighton, the weight of non-conference games will become heavier.
"It gives us that much more of an edge to go into the season with everything we have to make it to the top," men's soccer star senior Niki Jackson said.
NCAA tournament appearances were practically built into the annual schedule for men's soccer head coach Schellas Hyndman when he coached 24 successful seasons at SMU. His next NCAA appearance will be a historic feat for a program that hired him in 2015 and opened GCU Stadium in 2016.
"The purpose was to make the soccer program relevant," Hyndman said. "I can't think of any other way of making it more relevant than getting into the NCAA Tournament. This is a big, big step for us."
The 21-team athletic program has spent the past four years under the eyes of the NCAA Division I Strategic Vision and Planning Committee. It will spend many more years trying to catch the eyes of the NCAA Division I Tournament selection committees.
"The more we can do that, the more national attention we bring to Grand Canyon University and all the extraordinary things that are happening here," GCU Vice President of Athletics Mike Vaught said. "There's a campus-wide excitement for this."
Follow Paul Coro on Twitter: @paulcoro.
GCU Athletics 2025-26 Welcome Back
Tuesday, September 16
Kendra Potts Post Match Press Conference | GCU vs NAU 9.7.25
Monday, September 08
"Your Life Arizona" Featuring Vice President of Athletics Jamie Boggs
Friday, September 05
Kaleb Smith | Media Availability | 9.3.25
Thursday, September 04