USD Magazine Spring 2026

TOREROS MAKE HISTORY WINNING FOURTH STRAIGHT WCC TITLE The No. 7 University of San Diego men’s soccer team captured its fourth consecutive West Coast Conference (WCC) title with a statement road win over No. 10 Oregon State. With the championship on the line at Paul Lorenz Field, the Toreros delivered a composed and clinical performance to secure the outright crown. The victory makes USD the first program in conference history to win four straight WCC men’s soccer titles, further cementing its dominance within the league. After a tightly contested first half, the Toreros surged after the break, scoring multiple second-half goals against a top-10 opponent to seal the result. USD ended the regular season 13-2-3 overall and 7-1-1 in conference play and made it to the first round of the NCAA Division Men’s Soccer Tournament.

JR Blount Set to Lead Men’s Basketball A new era of USD men’s basketball is

had incredibly high integrity,” Massey said. “In addition to who he is as a person, his basketball acumen is second to none.” Blount is widely regarded as a rising star in college basketball. He’s coached five seasons at Iowa State, where he held the lead assistant spot on T.J. Otzelberger’s staff. Together, they’ve helmed what is considered one of the greatest program turnarounds in NCAA history. The year before Blount and Otzelberger arrived, Iowa State won just two games. The next season, they won 22. At an introductory press conference at USD, fans learned that Blount wakes up at 4 a.m. each morning to get his workout in and get an early start to his day. He lives by the mantra “Get better daily” and will instill that mindset into the Torero program. Beyond that, he said Torero Men’s Basketball will be built upon three words: Love. Humility. Excellence. “We start with love because that’s how we will treat each other: with respect, care and genuine investment in one another’s success,” Blount said. “Humility will keep us grounded, no matter what. After we win a WCC championship, you’ll come to practice, and it’ll look the exact same as before because we will continue to work on our daily habits. And excellence is a standard and the expectation.”

underway following the hire of JR Blount as the team’s new head coach. Blount joins USD after five years as an assistant coach at Iowa State, where his teams ranked as high as No. 2 nationally and reached the Sweet 16 three times. “This is more than just a coaching position for me — it’s a chance to become part of a community and build something meaningful,” he said. “I come to USD with a deep desire to win, to compete relentlessly, to develop our young men to their fullest potential and to build a program our fans can be proud of.” Associate Vice President and Executive Director of Athletics Kimya Massey called this a pivotal moment for the men’s basketball program, and he believes Blount can replicate his success in the Jenny Craig Pavilion. More importantly, both Massey and President James T. Harris III, DEd, praised Blount’s character, calling him humble and a great fit for the campus culture. “There’s always background work done to determine who the best coaches are, and who they are as people first and foremost. From the very first conversation we had, I knew there was something special about JR. And as I continued to get to know him throughout the process, it was clear that he

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