The Loyola Marymount Lions are the athletic teams that represent Loyola Marymount University, a Jesuit institution in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. The school competes in

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...

and the

West Coast Conference The West Coast Conference (WCC) — known as the California Basketball Association from 1952 to 1956 and then as the West Coast Athletic Conference until 1989 — is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I consisting of ...

Sports sponsored

Baseball

The Lions have produced 30 future Major Leaguers, including

Billy Bean William Daro Bean (born May 11, 1964) is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as an outfielder for the Detroit Tigers (1987–1989), Los Angeles Dodgers (1989), and San Diego Padres (1993– ...

, MLB's Vice President and Special Assistant to the Commissioner, First-Team All-American and West Coast Conference Player of the Year

Billy Traber William Henry Traber, Jr. (born September 18, 1979) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Cleveland Indians, Washington Nationals, New York Yankees, and Boston Red Sox. Playing caree ...

, two-time

Major League Baseball All-Star The Major League Baseball All-Star Game, also known as the "Midsummer Classic", is an annual professional baseball game sanctioned by Major League Baseball (MLB) and contested between the all-stars from the American League (AL) and National ...

CJ Wilson, and David Fletcher. The Lions have been to the College World Series once, in 1986, and also recorded 9 NCAA appearances, and 10 West Coast Conference Championships (three Championship Series and seven regular season). Ryan Wheeler congratulated on his home run

Ryan Wheeler congratulated on his home run

The Lions play home games at George C. Page Stadium, a 1,200 seat stadium which has been home to the program since 1983.

Men's basketball

The Lions burst onto the national basketball scene in the late 1980s under coach

Paul Westhead Paul William Westhead (born February 21, 1939) is an American Retired basketball coach. He was the head coach for three National Basketball Association (NBA) teams and an assistant for four others, and also coached in the National Collegiate Athl ...

. His teams led Division I in scoring in 1988 (110.3 points per game), 1989 (112.5) and 1990 (122.4). LMU's 122.4 point per game in 1990 was still a record as of October 2010. As of October 2010, Loyola Marymount held the five highest combined scoring games in Division I history. Four of the five occurred during Westhead's career, including a record 331 in the 181–150 win over

United States International University United States International University (USIU) was a nonprofit university based in San Diego, California that was accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. At its peak, it had two additional American campuses and three interna ...

on January 31, 1989. The team's last appearance in the

NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, branded as NCAA March Madness and commonly called March Madness, is a single-elimination tournament played each spring in the United States, currently featuring 68 college basketball teams from ...

was in

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

, where they advanced to the Elite Eight. They would lose to eventual national champion

UNLV The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. It includes the S ...

. Prior to the tournament, Lions star player Hank Gathers died during the WCC conference tournament from a heart condition. LMU's current men's head coach is

Stan Johnson Stanley Lucius Johnson (February 12, 1937 – April 17, 2012) was an American professional baseball baseball player, player. He was an outfielder who appeared in eight games in Major League Baseball, 96 games in Nippon Professional Baseball, ...

Women's basketball

The Lions won their first ever West Coast Conference title in 2004, going 24-6 (13-1) while beating Gonzaga to go to the NCAA tournament.

Men's soccer

Michael Erush Michael Erush (born January 24, 1984) is a former professional soccer player and current soccer coach. He is the Head Men's Soccer Coach at California State University-Los Angeles. He was inducted into the Birmingham Community Charter High S ...

was a Loyola Marymount University Lions men's soccer standout, a four-time All-

(WCC) selection (2000, 2001, 2002), was named First Team in 2003, and served as team captain during his junior and senior seasons. He was named First Team National Soccer Coaches Association of America All Far West Selection in 2002, and was named First Team

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

by the ''

Jewish Sports Review ''Jewish Sports Review (JSR)'' is a bi-monthly magazine that was established in 1997. Its editors are Ephraim Moxson and Shel Wallman. The magazine identifies which star and professional athletes are Jewish. It also covers and has all-time lists ...

'' in 2003. During his last three years, he helped the Lions advance to the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

Tournament, and in 2003 finished in a first-round bye and national seeding (#13) in the postseason. He was inducted into the Loyola Marymount Athletics Hall of Fame in 2017.

Beach volleyball

The Lions fielded their first beach volleyball team during the 2012 season. The Lions won their first WCC Championship in 2019, which they defended in 2021 and 2022 (championships were not held in 2020 due to COVID-19). In 2021, the Lions were selected for their first NCAA Beach Volleyball Championship in Gulf Shores, Alabama, where they became the first team since the inaugural season to win its first two matches. The team entered the field of eight as the number five seed and finished the

2021 NCAA Beach Volleyball Championship The 2021 NCAA Beach Volleyball Championship was held from May 7 through May 9, 2021 in Gulf Shores, Alabama as the final part of the 2021 NCAA Beach Volleyball season. It was the fifth edition of the NCAA Beach Volleyball Championship that began in ...

in third place.

Water polo

The women's water polo team was the WWPA Champion in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2007. At the conclusion the 2004 season, Loyola Marymount's women's water polo team lost to the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

, 10-8, in the NCAA Women's Water Polo Championship game at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

's Avery Aquatic Center.

Former varsity sports team

*Football *Men's Ice Hockey *Men's Volleyball (Reid Priddy, LMU Class of 2000 graduate, played volleyball for the Loyola Marymount Lions. He went on to win Olympic gold & bronze medals for the USA.)

Athletic facilities

Gersten Pavilion The Gersten Pavilion is a 3,900-seat multi-purpose arena in Los Angeles, California. It is the home of the Loyola Marymount Lions, Loyola Marymount University Lions. It was built in 1981 and has been used for home games by the university's Loyola ...

– Men's and women's basketball, Volleyball * George C. Page Stadium – Baseball

Notes

References

External links

* {{Golden Coast Conference navbox