Gonzaga Bulldogs

The Gonzaga Bulldogs (also known unofficially as the Zags) are the athletic teams at Gonzaga University, in Spokane, Washington, U.S.; the term applies to any of the school's varsity teams. Gonzaga University is a member of the West Coast Conference, which participates in the NCAA Division I. The athletic program comprises 8 women's sports: volleyball, basketball, soccer, tennis, cross country, track, crew and golf; and 8 men's sports: basketball, baseball, soccer, golf, tennis, cross country, track and crew. The school also offers various intramural sports.

At one time, Gonzaga went by the nickname of Fighting Irish in the 1910s to early 1920s. This name was dropped in 1921 favor of the current "Bulldogs" mascot. Although the school's official mascot is the Bulldog, marketing materials, fans and television announcers often use the term "Zags" as a mascot, which puts the school in the unique position of having a mascot sharing a name with the school, hence the "Gonzaga Zags."

Gonzaga was an NAIA school from 1947 to 1957 when they moved to the NCAA and played as an independent school. They were a charter member of the Big Sky Conference in 1963 and moved over to the West Coast Conference in 1979 (swapping conference affiliations with the University of Nevada's Reno campus, now in the Mountain West Conference).