The Pac-12 Conference is a college athletic conference that operates in the Western United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I. Before the conference's collapse in 2024, its football teams competed in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS; formerly Division I-A), the higher of two levels of NCAA Division I football competition. The two remaining members continue to operate as a two-team FBS conference through the 2025–26 school year, after which the conference will return to full competition with the confirmed arrival of six new members (with others likely to follow).
The conference's 12 pre-2024 members (which are primarily flagship research universities in their respective regions, well-regarded academically, and with relatively large student enrollment) competed within the Pac-12 in 22 NCAA sports.
It was founded as the Pacific Coast Conference (PCC) in 1915, which principal members founded the (Athletic Association of Western Universities) (AAWU) in 1959, and went by the names Big Five, Big Six, Pacific-8, Pacific-10, becoming the Pac-12 in 2011. The "Conference of Champions," the Pac-12 has won more NCAA National Team Championships than any other conference in history; the top three schools with the most NCAA team championships belong to the Pac-12 (UCLA, Stanford and USC, in that order). With Arizona State's softball title in 2011, the conference won its 400th NCAA Championship.
In late 2022, the Pac-12 was rocked by the announcement that two of its flagship programs, UCLA and USC, would leave for the Big Ten Conference after the then-current Pac-12 media contracts expired in 2024. This cost the conference its largest media market of Los Angeles when it was preparing to negotiate new media contracts. The Pac-12 compounded its problems by allowing the Big 12 Conference, whose media deal was set to end after the Pac-12 deal, to jump ahead of the Pac-12 in media negotiations. In July 2023, Colorado announced it would return to its former home of the Big 12 in 2024. On August 4, 2023, the conference presidents and chancellors were preparing to vote on a streaming-centric media deal with Apple TV+ when Washington announced it would leave for the Big Ten in 2024. The vote was canceled, and before the day was over, Oregon announced it would follow Washington to the Big Ten, and the other three members in the Four Corners states (Arizona, Arizona State, Utah) announced they would follow Colorado to the Big 12. This was followed on September 1 by the announcement that California and Stanford would move to the Atlantic Coast Conference.
After a brief legal battle, the two remaining members, Oregon State and Washington State, won control of the Pac-12 name and most of the conference assets. Under a standard provision of NCAA Division I rules, the conference is allowed to operate for two years with fewer than the 7 full members needed for "all-sports' status and 8 full members with football programs needed for FBS status. During the conference's hiatus, Oregon State and Washington State are housing most of their sports, including basketball, in the West Coast Conference (WCC).
In September 2024, the Pac-12 began its rebuilding process with a raid of the Mountain West Conference, announcing that Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, and San Diego State would join in 2026. Later than month, a fifth MW member, Utah State, announced it too would join the Pac-12 in 2026. This gave the Pac-12 the seven members needed to maintain its "all-sports" status. On October 1, Gonzaga, which has not fielded a football team since 1941, announced it would leave the WCC for the reimagined Pac-12 in 2026.
The current commissioner of the conference is Teresa Gould, who replaced George Kliavkoff on March 1, 2024. Kliavkoff and his predecessor Larry Scott were among the individuals most blamed for the conference's collapse.
Membership[]
Full members[]
| Institution | Location | Founded | Nickname | Joined |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oregon State University | Corvallis, OR | 1868 | Beavers | 1915, 1964 |
| Washington State University | Pullman, WA | 1890 | Cougars | 1917, 1962 |
Future members[]
| Institution | Location | Founded | Nickname | Joining |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boise State University | Boise, ID | 1932 | Broncos | 2026 |
| Colorado State University | Fort Collins, CO | 1890 | Rams | |
| California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) |
Fresno, CA | 1911 | Bulldogs | |
| Gonzaga University | Spokane, WA | 1887 | Bulldogs | |
| San Diego State University | San Diego, CA | 1897 | Aztecs | |
| Utah State University | Logan, UT | 1888 | Aggies |
Former members[]
Before 2024, no school had left the Pac-12 since its founding as the AAWU in 1959. Two members of the PCC never joined the AAWU.
| University of Arizona | Tucson, AZ | 1885 | Wildcats | 1978–2024 | Big 12 |
| Arizona State University | Tempe, AZ | 1885 | Sun Devils | 1978–2024 | Big 12 |
| University of California, Berkeley | Berkeley, CA | 1868 | Golden Bears | 1915–2024 | ACC |
| University of Colorado Boulder | Boulder, CO | 1876 | Buffaloes | 2011–2024 | Big 12 |
| University of Idaho | Moscow, Idaho | 1889 | Vandals | 1922–1959 | Big Sky |
| University of Montana | Missoula, Montana | 1893 | Grizzlies | 1924–1950 | Big Sky |
| University of Oregon | Eugene, OR | 1876 | Ducks | 1915–1959, 1964–2024 |
Big Ten |
| Stanford University | Stanford, CA | 1891 | Cardinal | 1918–2024 | ACC |
| University of California, Los Angeles | Los Angeles, CA | 1919 | Bruins | 1928–2024 | Big Ten |
| University of Southern California | Los Angeles, CA | 1880 | Trojans | 1922–2024 | Big Ten |
| University of Utah | Salt Lake City, UT | 1850 | Utes | 2011–2024 | Big 12 |
| University of Washington | Seattle, WA | 1861 | Huskies | 1915–2024 | Big Ten |
History[]
Pacific Coast Conference[]
The roots of the Pac-12 Conference go back to December 2, 1915, when the Pacific Coast Conference (PCC) was founded at a meeting at the Imperial Hotel in Portland, Oregon.(Portland) Oregon Daily Journal, December 3, 1915. "Four Colleges Form Coast Conference at Very Secret Session" Charter members were the University of California (now University of California, Berkeley), the University of Washington, the University of Oregon, and Oregon Agricultural College (now Oregon State University). The conference began play in 1916. One year later, Washington State College (now Washington State University) joined the league, followed by Stanford University in 1918. In 1922, the PCC expanded to eight teams with the admission of USC and Idaho. Montana joined the Conference in 1924, and in 1928, the PCC grew to 10 members with the addition of UCLA. For many years, the conference split into two divisions for basketball—a Southern Division comprising the four California schools and a Northern Division comprising the six schools in the Pacific Northwest. In 1950, Montana departed to join the Mountain States Conference. The PCC continued as a nine-team league through 1958.
AAWU (Big Five and Big Six)[]
Following a "pay-for-play" scandal at several PCC institutions (specifically California, USC, UCLA and Washington), the PCC disbanded in 1959. When those four and Stanford started talking about forming a new conference, retired Admiral Thomas J. Hamilton interceded and suggested the schools consider creating a "power conference." Nicknamed the "Airplane Conference", the five PCC schools would have played with other big schools including Army, Navy, Air Force, Notre Dame, Penn, Penn State, Duke, and Georgia Tech among others. The effort fell through when a Pentagon official vetoed the idea and the service academies backed out.Dunnavant, Keith. "The 50 Year Seduction." Thomas Dunne Books: New York, 2004 On July 1, 1959 the new Athletic Association of Western Universities was formed, with California, Stanford, UCLA, USC, and Washington as charter members. The conference also was popularly known as the Big Five from 1960 to 62;NCAA Men's Basketball Records - Division I conference alignment history (PDF copy available at NCAA.org) when Washington State joined in 1962, the conference was then informally known as the Big Six.
Pacific-8[]
Oregon and Oregon State joined in 1964. With the addition of the two Oregon schools, the conference became known unofficially as the Pacific-8 (as there already was a Big Eight Conference). Idaho was never invited to join the AAWU; the Vandals were independent for four years until the formation of the Big Sky Conference in 1963. In 1968, the AAWU formally renamed itself the Pacific-8 Conference, or Pac-8 for short.
Pacific-10[]
Final Pac-10 Conference logo
In 1978, the conference added WAC schools Arizona and Arizona State, to create the Pacific-10 Conference or Pac-10. In the mid-1990s the conference expressed interest in admitting the University of Colorado, as well as the University of Texas after the collapse of the Southwest Conference. Texas expressed an interest in joining a strong academic conference, but joined three fellow SWC schools (Texas A&M, Texas Tech, and Baylor) to combine with the Big Eight Conference to form the Big 12 Conference in 1996. Colorado elected at the time to remain in the newly-formed Big 12 Conference.Mark Wangrin - "Power brokers: How tagalong Baylor, Tech crashed the revolt". San Antonio Express, August 14, 2005 Before the addition of Colorado and Utah in 2011, only one Division I conference, the Ivy League, had maintained its membership for a longer time than the Pac-10. Commissioner Larry Scott said on February 9, 2010, that the window for expansion by the conference was open for the next year as the conference began negotiations for a new television deal. Speaking on a conference call to introduce former Big 12 commissioner Kevin Weiberg as his new deputy, Scott talked about possibly adding new teams to the conference and launching a new television network. Scott, the former head of the Women’s Tennis Association, took over the conference in July 2009. In his first eight months on the job, he saw growing interest from the membership over the possibility of adding teams for the first time since Arizona and Arizona State joined the conference in 1978.
Pacific-12[]
In early June 2010, there were reports that the Pac-10 would be considering adding up to six teams to the conference, including Texas Tech University, University of Texas at Austin, University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State University, University of Colorado at Boulder, or possibly Baylor University and Texas A&M University.Ratto, Ray (August 13, 2010). "Pac-10 considers becoming Pac-12". The San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/02/09/SPTB1BUVCC.DTL.Ratto, Ray (August 8, 2010). "The Pac-10's meet market". The San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/06/03/SPQN1DPK0U.DTL. On June 10, 2010, the University of Colorado at Boulder officially accepted an invitation to join the Pac-10 Conference, effective in the 2012–2013 academic year."University of Utah Joins Pac-10". Pacific-10 Conference. p. 4. http://www.pac-10.org/auto_pdf/p_hotos/s_chools/pac10/genrel/auto_pdf/061710UtahPresser.http://www.pac-10.org/genrel/061010aaa.html The school later announced it would join the conference a year earlier than previously announced, in the 2011-2012 academic year. On June 15, 2010, a deal was reached between Texas and the Big 12 Conference to keep Texas, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State in the Big 12. Following Texas' decision, the other Big 12 schools that had been rumored candidates to join the Pac-10 announced they would remain in the Big 12. This deal effectively ended the Pac-10's ambition to potentially become a sixteen-team conference.Texas, Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Oklahoma State stay put in Big 12 Conference - ESPN On June 17, 2010, the University of Utah officially accepted an invitation to join the Pac-10 Conference, effective in the 2011–2012 school year. Utah was a member of the WAC with Arizona and Arizona State before those two left for the Pac-10. The Utes joined the Pac-12 from the Mountain West Conference. Utah is also the first "BCS Buster" to join a BCS conference, having played in (and won) two BCS games beforehand, and one of the first to leave the MWC, of which Utah was a charter member. On July 27, 2010, the conference unveiled a new logo and announced that the Pac-10 would be renamed to the Pac-12 when two new universities would join the conference. On October 21, 2010 the Pac-12 announced that it would be divided into two divisions for purposes of football, with the North Division consisting of the schools in Oregon, Washington, and Northern California and the South Division consisting of Colorado, Utah, and the schools in Arizona and Southern California. On July 1, 2011 the Pac-12 assumed its current alignment when both Colorado and Utah officially joined as full members. To this day, the Pac-12 claims the PCC's history as its own. It inherited the PCC's berth in the Rose Bowl, and the eight largest schools in the old PCC all eventually joined the new league. However, the older league had a separate charter.
NCAA national titles[]
Rivalries[]
During the 1970s, UCLA and Notre Dame had an intense men's basketball rivalry. For several years, it was the only non-conference game in Division I basketball that was played twice a season (home-and-away). The most famous game in the rivalry was on January 19, 1974, when Notre Dame scored the last 12 points of the game to nip UCLA and end the Bruins' record 88-game winning streak. This rivalry is now dormant, partly because Notre Dame is no longer independent in sports other than football (Big East). Due to the unique geographic nature of the Pac-12 teams, the teams travel in pairs for road basketball games. For example, on Thursday, February 28, 2008, USC played Arizona and UCLA played Arizona State. Two nights later the teams switched and USC played Arizona State and UCLA played Arizona. The teams are paired as follows: USC and UCLA (the L.A. teams), Arizona and Arizona State (the Arizona teams), California and Stanford (the Bay Area teams), Washington and Washington State (the Washington teams), Oregon and Oregon State (the Oregon teams), and Colorado and Utah (the Rocky Mountain teams). Usually, the games are played on Thursdays and Saturdays with a game or occasionally two on Sundays for television purposes. This pairing formula is also used in women's volleyball. To make scheduling simpler for men and women's basketball (a sport in which each conference member uses a single venue for both teams' home games), the schedule for women's basketball is the opposite of the men's schedule. For example, when the Oregon schools are hosting the men's teams from the Arizona schools, the Arizona schools host the women's teams from Oregon schools the same weekend. This formula has made a tradition in conference play to keep track of how a team does against a particular region; and stats are kept at to how successful a team is against, for example, "the Bay Area schools" at home or away. Effective in the 2011-12 season, with the expansion into 12 teams, a 10-year rotation model has been developed to maintain the existing 18-game conference schedule. Teams remained paired with their regional rival. Each school plays its regional rival and six other teams both home and away, and the other four teams once - two at home and two away. The newest members, Colorado and Utah, are paired with each other. The single play opponents rotate every two years.
Conference facilities[]
Future members in gray.
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Commissioners[]
PCC[]
- Edwin N. Atherton 1940–44
- Victor O. Schmidt 1944–59
AAWU[]
- Thomas J. Hamilton 1959–68
Pacific-8[]
- Thomas J. Hamilton 1968–71
- Wiles Hallock 1971–78
Pacific-10[]
- Wiles Hallock 1978–83
- Thomas C. Hansen 1983–2009
- Larry Scott 2009–2011
Pac-12[]
- Larry Scott 2011–2021
- George Kliavkoff 2021–2024
- Teresa Gould 2024–
References[]
External links[]