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American collegiate athletics conference From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level for all sports, and its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), the highest level of NCAA football competition. The conference currently comprises two members, Oregon State and Washington State.
| |
| Formerly | Pacific Coast Conference (PCC, 1915–1959) Athletic Association of Western Universities (AAWU, 1959–1968) Pacific-8 (1968–1978) Pacific-10 (1978–2011) |
|---|---|
| Association | NCAA |
| Founded | 1915 (as Pacific Coast Conference) 1959 (as AAWU) |
| Commissioner | Teresa Gould (since March 1, 2024) |
| Sports fielded |
|
| Division | Division I |
| Subdivision | FBS |
| No. of teams | 2 (8 in 2026) |
| Headquarters | San Ramon, California |
| Region | Pacific Northwest |
| TV partner(s) | CW Sports, Fox Sports |
| Official website | pac-12 |
| Locations | |
 | |
The modern Pac-12 Conference formed after the disbanding of the Pacific Coast Conference (PCC), the principal members of which founded the Athletic Association of Western Universities (AAWU) in 1959. The conference previously went by the names Big Five, Big Six, Pacific-8, and Pacific-10. The Pac-12 moniker was adopted in 2011 with the addition of Colorado and Utah.
Nicknamed the "Conference of Champions", the Pac-12 has won more NCAA national championships in team sports than any other conference in history.[1] Washington's national title in women's rowing in 2017 was the 500th NCAA championship won by a Pac-12 school.[2] The Pac-12 holds a 200-plus championship lead over the second-place conference.
On August 2, 2024, 10 of the 12 members departed from the conference. The Pac-12 is operating as a two-team conference through the 2025–26 academic year, sponsoring five sports—baseball, football, track and field, women's gymnastics, and wrestling.[3] In 2026, the Pac-12 will expand to eight members with the addition of five schools from the Mountain West Conference and one from the West Coast Conference.[4]
The Pac-12 currently has two full-member institutions. The conference was previously split into two divisions, the North Division and the South Division, for football only.
| Institution | Location | Founded | Joined | Type | Enrollment (Fall 2023)[5] | Endowment (millions)[6] | Nickname | Colors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oregon State University | Corvallis, Oregon | 1868 | 1915 | Public | 36,636 | $830 | Beavers | |
| Washington State University | Pullman, Washington | 1890 | 1917 | Public | 26,490 | $1,267 | Cougars |
– Full members
– Associate members
– Future membersOn September 12, 2024, the conference announced it would be adding four new members, Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State and San Diego State, on July 1, 2026.[7] The conference needs to add at least two more members before that date to be recognized by the NCAA as an FBS conference.[8] On September 23, 2024, Utah State accepted an offer to join the league as its seventh member.[4] This gave the Pac-12 the seven members needed to preserve its official "multisport" status,[9] though one more football-sponsoring full member will be needed to preserve FBS status.[10] On September 30, 2024, the conference announced that Gonzaga, a non-football college, would be joining as a full member.[11]
| Institution | Location | Founded | Joining | Type | Enrollment
(Fall 2023) |
Endowment
(millions) |
Nickname | Colors | Current conference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boise State University | Boise, Idaho | 1932 | July 1, 2026 | Public | 26,155 | $143 | Broncos | Mountain West | |
| California State University, Fresno | Fresno, California | 1911 | 25,047 | $229 | Bulldogs | ||||
| Colorado State University | Fort Collins, Colorado | 1870 | 33,648 | $580 | Rams | ||||
| Gonzaga University | Spokane, Washington | 1887 | Private (Jesuit) |
7,421 | $399.6 | Bulldogs | West Coast | ||
| San Diego State University | San Diego, California | 1897 | Public | 32,599 | $415 | Aztecs | Mountain West | ||
| Utah State University | Logan, Utah | 1888 | 28,063 | $538 | Aggies |
The Pac-12 has two affiliate member institutions in California and one in Arkansas. All three participate in the Pac-12 for wrestling.
| Institution | Location | Founded | Joined | Type | Enrollment | Nickname | Colors | Pac-12 sport(s) | Primary conference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| California Polytechnic State University | San Luis Obispo, California | 1901 | 1986–87 | Public | 21,812[12] | Mustangs | Wrestling | Big West | |
| California State University, Bakersfield[a] | Bakersfield, California | 1965 | 1987–88 | 11,206[15] | Roadrunners | ||||
| University of Arkansas at Little Rock | Little Rock, Arkansas | 1927 | 2019–20 | 8,197[16] | Trojans | OVC |
No school had left the Pac-12 from its founding as the AAWU in 1959 until 2024, when 10 of its 12 schools left. Two members of the PCC, Idaho and Montana, were not invited to join the AAWU or its successors.
| Institution | Location | Founded | Joined | Left | Type | Nickname | Colors | Current conference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of Arizona | Tucson, Arizona | 1885 | 1978 | 2024 | Public | Wildcats | Big 12 | |
| Arizona State University | Tempe, Arizona[a] | Sun Devils | ||||||
| University of California, Berkeley | Berkeley, California | 1868 | 1915 | Golden Bears | ACC | |||
| University of Colorado Boulder | Boulder, Colorado | 1876 | 2011 | Buffaloes | Big 12 | |||
| University of Idaho | Moscow, Idaho | 1889 | 1922 | 1959 | Vandals | Big Sky | ||
| University of Montana | Missoula, Montana | 1893 | 1924 | 1950 | Grizzlies | |||
| University of Oregon | Eugene, Oregon | 1876 | 1915 | 1959 | Ducks | Big Ten | ||
| 1964 | 2024 | |||||||
| Stanford University | Stanford, California | 1891 | 1918 | Private (non-sectarian) |
Cardinal | ACC | ||
| University of California, Los Angeles | Los Angeles, California | 1881 | 1928 | Public | Bruins | Big Ten | ||
| University of Southern California | Los Angeles, California | 1880 | 1922 | Private | Trojans | |||
| University of Utah | Salt Lake City, Utah | 1850 | 2011 | Public | Utes | Big 12 | ||
| University of Washington | Seattle, Washington | 1861 | 1915 | Huskies | Big Ten |
The Pac-12 claims the PCC's history as its own. Not only did it maintain the automatic bid from the Rose Bowl inherited from the PCC, but the eight largest schools in the old PCC all eventually joined the new league. However, the old PCC operated under a separate charter.
The Pac-12 is one of the founding members of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF), a conference organized to provide competition in non-revenue Olympic sports. All-Pac-12 members participate in at least one MPSF sport (men's and women's indoor track and field both actually have enough participating Pac-12 schools for the conference to sponsor a championship, but the Pac-12 has opted not to do so). For certain sports, the Pac-12 admits certain schools as associate members.
Full members Full members (non-football) Other Conference Other Conference Associate members (non-football)
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.[17] Charter members were the University of California (now University of California, Berkeley), University of Washington, University of Oregon, and Oregon Agricultural College (now Oregon State University).[17] An official of Stanford University also attended the meeting but declined to join right away because, unlike the other schools, it was not going to sponsor a football team in the coming year and it was not willing to prohibit freshmen from competing in sports.[17] The PCC 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 and baseball—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 June 1959.
Following "pay-for-play" scandals at California, USC, UCLA, and Washington, the PCC disbanded in June 1959. Ten months earlier in August 1958, these four schools agreed to form a new conference that would take effect the following summer.[18][19] When the four schools and Stanford began discussions for a new conference in 1959, retired Admiral Thomas J. Hamilton interceded and suggested the schools consider creating a national "power conference" (Hamilton had been a key player, head coach, and athletic director at Navy, and was the current athletic director at Pittsburgh). Nicknamed the "Airplane Conference",[20][21][22] the five former PCC schools would have played with other major academically-oriented schools, including Army, Navy, Air Force, Notre Dame, Pitt, Penn State, and Syracuse.[20][23] The effort fell through when a Pentagon official vetoed the idea and the service academies backed out.[24]
On July 1, 1959, the new Athletic Association of Western Universities was launched, with California, UCLA, USC, and Washington as the four charter members.[25] Stanford joined during the first month.[19][26] Hamilton left Pittsburgh to become the first commissioner of the AAWU,[25][27] and remained for twelve years.[28] The conference also was popularly known as the Big Five from 1960 to 1962.[29] When Washington State joined in 1962,[30] the conference became informally known as the Big Six.[29][31] The new league inherited the PCC's berth in the Rose Bowl; since 1947, the PCC champion had received an automatic bid to the bowl.
Oregon and Oregon State joined in the summer of 1964.[32][33][34] With their addition, the conference was known unofficially as the Pacific Athletic Conference,[35][36][37][38][39] and then the Pacific-8 (as there already was a major conference called the Big Eight). In 1968, the AAWU formally renamed itself the Pacific-8 Conference, or Pac-8 for short. The Pac-8 did not allow a second bowl team from the conference until the 1975 season;[40] in basketball, participation in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) was not allowed until 1973.[41]
Idaho was never invited to join the AAWU;[34] the Vandals were independent for four years until the formation of the Big Sky Conference in 1963, and were independent in football until 1965.
In 1978, the conference added Arizona and Arizona State from the Western Athletic Conference, becoming the Pacific-10 Conference or Pac-10. The invitations to the schools were extended in December 1976,[42] and the expansion formally announced in May 1977.[43]
In the mid-1980s, three of the northwest schools (Oregon, Oregon State, Washington State) were having financial difficulties in athletics, primarily with revenue from football, and their long-term membership in the conference was in question.[44]
The Pac-10 began sponsoring women's athletics in the fall of 1986. Women's teams previously competed with other large universities on the Pacific coast in either the Northern Pacific Conference or the Western Collegiate Athletic Association.
In the mid-1990s, the conference expressed interest in admitting the University of Colorado and 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 Southwest Conference schools (Texas A&M, Texas Tech, and Baylor) to merge with the Big Eight Conference to form the Big 12 Conference in 1996. Colorado elected to remain in the newly formed Big 12.[45]
Before the addition of Colorado and Utah in 2011, only the Ivy League had maintained its membership for a longer time than the Pac-10 among Division I conferences. Commissioner Larry Scott said on February 9, 2010, that the window for expansion 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.[46] 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.
In early June 2010, there were reports that the Pac-10 was considering adding up to six teams to the conference: the University of Texas, Texas A&M University, Texas Tech University, the University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State University, and the University of Colorado.[47]
On June 10, 2010, the University of Colorado Boulder accepted an invitation to join the Pac-10 Conference, effective starting with the 2012–2013 academic year.[48][49] 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 A&M, Texas Tech, 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.[50]
On June 17, 2010, the University of Utah accepted an invitation to join the Pac-10 Conference, effective starting July 2011.[48] Utah was a member of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) with Arizona and Arizona State before those two left for the Pac-10 in 1978. The Utes left an expanded WAC with seven other schools in 1999 to form the new Mountain West Conference. Utah became the first "BCS Buster" to join a BCS conference, having played in (and won) two BCS games beforehand.
On July 27, 2010, the conference unveiled a new logo and announced that the Pac-10 would be renamed the Pac-12 when Utah and Colorado formally joined in July 2011. On October 21, the Pac-12 announced that its football competition would be split into two divisions—a North Division comprising the Pacific Northwest and Bay Area schools, and a South Division comprising the Mountain Time Zone and Southern California schools. On July 1, 2011, the Pac-12 assumed its 12-team alignment when both Colorado and Utah officially joined as full members.
On August 15, 2012, the conference debuted the Pac-12 Network. It was the third college sports conference to launch a dedicated network, and the first to completely fund and own their own network outright.
The conference had been based in Walnut Creek since the late 1970s until August 2014.[51] Since 2014, the conference was headquartered in San Francisco, California, with the conference moving to working remotely once the lease expires in June 2023.[52] The Pac-12 Network and meeting space for headquarters employees are now located at Bishop Ranch in San Ramon, an East Bay suburb.[53]
On August 24, 2021, the Pac-12, ACC, and Big Ten announced the formation of a "historic alliance" that would bring their member institutions "together on a collaborative approach surrounding the future evolution of college athletics and scheduling."[54] The formation of this alliance between three of the Power Five conferences was in response to Oklahoma and Texas announcing plans to leave the Big 12 and join the SEC. The alliance included an inter-conference scheduling component for football and men's and women's basketball. In 2021, the Pac-12 paid $19.8 million to its member schools, the lowest distribution in the Power Five.[55]
Despite the alliance, on June 30, 2022, UCLA and USC announced their departure for the Big Ten Conference beginning in the 2024–25 academic year.[56][57] As a result of losing two of the conference's tentpole programs (and the entirety of the Los Angeles television market), the conference's ongoing media rights negotiations became much more complicated. ESPN reportedly had made an offer in which the ten remaining schools would receive around $30 million per year. This was rejected by member schools, who countered with a demand for $50 million per school per year. ESPN responded by walking away from the negotiating table.[58]
Reports began circulating that Commissioner Kliavkoff had been to the San Diego State University and SMU campuses for tours. This was allegedly part of the conference's vetting process for expansion.[59] San Diego State sent the Mountain West Conference a letter notifying it of the school's impending departure. The Pac-12, however, was adamant about securing a media rights deal before expanding. Without an incoming offer before a June 30, 2023, deadline, San Diego State had to rescind its notice of intention to leave the Mountain West.[60]
At the start of Pac-12 Media Days on July 21, 2023, Commissioner Kliavkoff was asked about the status of the media rights deal and conference expansion, deflecting most questions on the matter. Having heard enough, Colorado president Rick George left Media Days early to return to Boulder. Less than a week later on July 27, 2023, Colorado announced it would return to the Big 12 as of the 2024–25 school year.[61]
The nine remaining Pac-12 members then demanded an update on the negotiations, including numbers on expected payouts. Kliavkoff came back with a deal from the Apple TV+ streaming service that paid member institutions in the low-to-mid-$20 million range, albeit with escalators for meeting subscriber quotas. On August 4, 2023, Oregon and Washington announced they would be following UCLA and USC to the Big Ten conference for the 2024 season.[62] Later on that same day, Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah announced that they would follow Colorado to the Big 12 Conference starting in 2024.[63] On September 1, 2023, California and Stanford announced their departure for the Atlantic Coast Conference starting in 2024.[64]
In September 2023, Yahoo! Sports reported that the Pac-12 is "expected to operate as a two-member conference at least for [2024–25]"[65] and would be recognized under a two-year grace period, until 2026, to meet conference requirements in the NCAA bylaws.[66]
On December 5, 2023, Oregon State and Washington State announced that had entered into a football alliance with the Mountain West Conference (MWC) for the 2024 season. With the alliance, both programs will play three home games and three away games against MWC opponents.[67] The West Coast Conference (WCC) has invited both schools to join as affiliate members for basketball and most other non-football sports.[68][69] Both partnerships are expected to last from the fall of 2024 to the spring of 2026. Washington State will also participate in the Mountain West for baseball,[70] but Oregon State, a three-time College World Series champion, will become a baseball independent.[71]
After the ten schools departed, the conference continued using the Pac-12 name and branding for at least the 2024–25 academic year.[72] Oregon State and Washington State were nicknamed the "Pac-2" by media outlets, to the point that a game between the two teams during the 2023 football season was jokingly dubbed the "Pac-2 Championship Game" by fans.[73][74][75]
On September 8, 2023, Oregon State and Washington State filed a lawsuit against the Pac-12 and Commissioner George Kliavkoff in Washington State Superior Court for control of the conference and its assets. They contended that the departing schools, under the conference constitution, forfeited their right to participate in governing the conference by publicly declaring their intention to leave, and that if they retain control they might use it to dissolve the league and drain its millions of dollars in assets.[76] On November 14, 2023, Judge Gary Libey of the Whitman County, Washington, Superior Court ruled in favor of the two schools.[77] The University of Washington (UW) filed an emergency motion to keep the two schools from gaining full control of the conference for the 2023–24 academic year; a Washington Supreme Court commissioner granted UW's motion on November 28, 2023.[78] However, this was overturned on December 15, 2023, by the Washington State Supreme Court, giving Oregon State and Washington State sole control of the Pac-12, meaning the departing schools will no longer be able to vote on conference decisions.[79]
| Institution | Academics | Admissions | Research | U.S. News & World Report rankings | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Graduation rate (6-yr – 2023)[80] |
Retention rate (Fall 2022)[80] |
Admit rate (Fall 2023)[80] |
Yield rate (Fall 2023)[80] |
AAU member[81] | Earned doctorates (AY2022)[82] |
Expenditures (millions – FY2022)[83] |
National (2023)[84] |
Global (2024)[85] | |
| Oregon State University | 71% | 87% | 79% | 20% | No | 290 | $297.9 | 142 (tie) | 365 (tie) |
| Washington State University | 62% | 81% | 85% | 19% | No | 276 | $368.40 | 178 (tie) | 397 (tie) |
Total revenue includes ticket sales, contributions and donations, rights and licensing, student fees, school funds and all other sources including TV income, camp income, concessions, and novelties.
Total expenses includes coach and staff salaries, scholarships, buildings and grounds, maintenance, utilities and rental fees, recruiting, team travel, equipment and uniforms, conference dues, and insurance.
The following table shows institutional reporting to the United States Department of Education as shown on the DOE Equity in Athletics website for the 2021–22 academic year.[86]
| Institution | 2021–22 Total Revenue from Athletics | 2021–22 Total Expenses on Athletics |
|---|---|---|
| Oregon State University | $87,727,179 | $87,727,179 |
| Washington State University | $84,195,555 | $82,858,720 |
| San Diego State University | $67,245,917 | $67,245,917 |
| Colorado State University | $59,275,605 | $59,275,605 |
| California State University, Fresno | $53,448,649 | $45,811,581 |
| Boise State University | $44,813,743 | $44,813,269 |
| Utah State University | $43,035,302 | $43,035,302 |
| Gonzaga University | $42,866,823 | $36,995,886 |
The following table shows revenue specifically from NCAA / Conference Distributions, Media Rights, and Post-Season Football reported by the Knight Commission for the 2021–22 academic year.[87]
| Institution | 2021–22 distribution (millions of dollars) |
|---|---|
| Oregon State University | $42.41 |
| Washington State University | $40.61 |
| School | Provider |
|---|---|
| Boise State | Nike |
| Fresno State | Adidas |
| Colorado State | Under Armour |
| Gonzaga | Nike |
| Oregon State | Nike,[88] Asics (volleyball only) |
| San Diego State | Nike |
| Utah State | Nike |
| Washington State | Nike[89] |
Since restarting in 1959 as the AAWU, the Pac-12 has had six commissioners:
| Name | Years | Tenure | Conference name(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thomas J. Hamilton[25] | 1959–1971 | 12 years | AAWU / Pacific-8 |
| Wiles Hallock[28][90] | 1971–1983 | 12 years | Pacific-8 / Pacific-10 |
| Thomas C. Hansen[91] | 1983–2009 | 26 years | Pacific-10 |
| Larry Scott[92] | 2009–2021 | 12 years | Pacific-10 / Pac-12 |
| George Kliavkoff | 2021–2024 | 2 years | Pac-12 |
| Teresa Gould[93] | 2024–present | 8 months | Pac-12 |
Commissioners of the forerunner PCC
| School | Football stadium | Capacity | Basketball arena | Capacity | Baseball stadium | Capacity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boise State | Albertsons Stadium | 36,387 | ExtraMile Arena | 12,480 | Non-baseball school | |
| Colorado State | Canvas Stadium | 41,000 | Moby Arena | 8,745 | Non-baseball school | |
| Fresno State | Valley Children's Stadium | 40,727 | Save Mart Center | 15,544 | Pete Beiden Field | 5,757 |
| Gonzaga | Non-football school | McCarthey Athletic Center | 6,000 | Patterson Baseball Complex | 1,300 | |
| Oregon State | Reser Stadium | 35,548[97] | Gill Coliseum | 9,604[98] | Goss Stadium at Coleman Field | 3,587[99] |
| San Diego State | Snapdragon Stadium | 35,000 | Viejas Arena | 12,414 | Tony Gwynn Stadium | 3,000 |
| Utah State | Maverik Stadium | 25,513 | Dee Glen Smith Spectrum | 10,270 | Non-baseball school | |
| Washington State | Martin Stadium | 32,952[100] | Beasley Coliseum | 11,671[101] | Bailey-Brayton Field | 3,500[102] |
| School | Athletic director | Football coach | Salary[103] | Men's basketball coach | Salary[104] | Women's basketball coach | Baseball coach | Softball coach | Women's volleyball coach |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oregon State | Scott Barnes | Trent Bray | $2,000,000 | Wayne Tinkle | $2,674,012 | Scott Rueck | Mitch Canham | Laura Berg | Mark Barnard |
| Washington State | Anne McCoy | Jake Dickert | $2,700,000 | David Riley | TBA | Kamie Ethridge | Nathan Choate | No team | Korey Schroeder |
Salaries based on 2022–23 academic year
 | This section needs to be updated. (December 2020) |
Team titles through the June 10, 2024; individual titles through July 1, 2016[105]
These totals do not include football national championships, which the NCAA does not officially award at the FBS level. Various polls, formulas, and other third-party systems have been used to determine national championships, not all of which are universally accepted. These totals also do not include championships prior to the inception of the NCAA.
Source:[106]
| Season | Sport | Men's champion | Women's champion |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fall 2023 | Cross Country | Stanford | Washington |
| Volleyball | – | Stanford | |
| Soccer | UCLA | UCLA | |
| Football | Washington | – | |
| Winter 2023–24 | Swimming & Diving | Arizona State | California |
| Basketball | Oregon | USC | |
| Wrestling | Arizona State | – | |
| Gymnastics | – | Utah | |
| Spring 2024 | Golf | Arizona State | Stanford |
| Tennis | Arizona | Stanford | |
| Beach Volleyball | – | USC | |
| Lacrosse | – | Stanford | |
| Track & Field | Washington | Oregon | |
| Rowing | Washington | Stanford | |
| Softball | – | UCLA | |
| Baseball | Arizona | – |
The NACDA Learfield Sports Directors' Cup is an annual award given by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics to the U.S. colleges and universities with the most success in collegiate athletics.
The Capital One Cup is an annual award given by ESPN. Universities compete against each other by acquiring points throughout the school year based on how each individual sport teams finish in their respective sport. The sports are divided into two separate groups based on the popularity of the sport and the number of teams competing in the sport, with the group B sports group counting for 3 times the amount of points as group A. There are two separate cups for both the men & women. The winning schools receive $200,000 to their student athlete scholarship fund.[117]
Men's
Women's
The Pac-12 Conference sponsors championship competition in three men's and two women's NCAA-sanctioned sports, plus one men's sport that is not sanctioned by the NCAA. Four schools are associate members, each in a single men's sport.[142]
| Sport | Men's | Women's |
|---|---|---|
| Baseball | 1 | – |
| Football | 2 | – |
| Gymnastics | – | 1 |
| Track & Field Outdoor | 1 | 2 |
| Wrestling | 1 | – |
Member-by-member sponsorship of men's sports sponsored by Pac-12 Schools. It has not been announced which sports will be sponsored by the Pac-12 when the conference expands its football membership to eight or more teams. The current conference affiliation is listed for each sport.
| School | Baseball | Basketball | Cross Country | Football | Golf | Rowing | Soccer | Track & field indoor | Track & field outdoor | Wrestling | Total Pac-12 sports |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full members | |||||||||||
| Oregon State | Pac-12 | WCC | No | Pac-12 | WCC | MPSF | WCC | No | No | Pac-12 | 3 |
| Washington State | MW | WCC | WCC | Pac-12 | WCC | No | No | MPSF | Pac-12 | No | 3 |
| Current Totals | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 17 |
| Future members | |||||||||||
| Boise State | No | MW | MW | MW | MW | No | No | MW | MW | No | 2 |
| Colorado State | No | MW | MW | MW | MW | No | No | MW | MW | No | 2 |
| Fresno State | MW | MW | MW | MW | MW | No | No | MW | MW | No | 3 |
| Gonzaga | WCC | WCC | WCC | No | WCC | IRA | WCC | MPSF | Independent | No | 2 |
| San Diego State | MW | MW | No | MW | MW | No | WAC | No | No | No | 2 |
| Utah State | No | MW | MW | MW | MW | No | No | MW | MW | No | 2 |
| Affiliate members | |||||||||||
| Cal Poly | Yes | 1 | |||||||||
| CSU Bakersfield | Yes | 1 | |||||||||
| Little Rock | Yes | 1 | |||||||||
| Current Totals | 5 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 54 |
Member-by-member sponsorship of the 13 women's Pac-12 sports. It has not been announced which sports will be sponsored by the Pac-12 when the conference expands beyond the eight confirmed members in 2026–27. The current conference affiliation is listed for each sport.
| School | Basketball | Cross country | Equestrian | Golf | Gymnastics | Lacrosse | Rowing | Soccer | Softball | Swimming & diving | Tennis | Track & field indoor | Track & field outdoor | Volleyball (beach) | Volleyball (indoor) | Water polo | Total sports |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full members | |||||||||||||||||
| Oregon State | WCC | WCC | No | WCC | Pac-12 | No | WCC | WCC | WCC | No | No | MPSF | Pac-12 | No | WCC | No | 10 |
| Washington State | WCC | WCC | No | WCC | No | No | WCC | WCC | No | MW | WCC | MPSF | Pac-12 | No | WCC | No | 10 |
| Current totals | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 20 |
| Future members | |||||||||||||||||
| Boise State | MW | MW | No | MW | MW | No | No | MW | MW | No | MW | MW | MW | Southland | MW | No | 9 |
| Colorado State | MW | MW | No | MW | No | No | No | MW | MW | MW | MW | MW | MW | No | MW | No | 9 |
| Fresno State | MW | MW | Big 12 | MW | No | No | No | MW | MW | MW | MW | MW | MW | No | MW | GCC | 11 |
| Gonzaga | WCC | WCC | No | WCC | No | No | WCC | WCC | No | No | WCC | MPSF | Independent | No | WCC | No | 8 |
| San Diego State | MW | MW | No | MW | No | Big 12 | No | MW | MW | MW | MW | MW | MW | No | MW | GCC | 11 |
| Utah State | MW | MW | No | No | MW | No | No | MW | MW | No | MW | MW | MW | No | MW | No | 7 |
| 2026-27 Totals | 8 | 8 | 1 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 1 | 8 | 2 | 83 |
This list goes through the 2023 season.[143]
| # | Team | Records | Pct. | Division championships |
Pac-12 championships |
Claimed national championships |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | USC Trojans | 875–365–54 | .695 | 3 | 37† | 16 |
| 2 | Washington Huskies | 784–464–50 | .624 | 4 | 18 | 2 |
| 3 | Colorado Buffaloes | 723–544–36 | .569 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 4 | Utah Utes | 719–481–31 | .597 | 4 | 2 | 0 |
| 5 | Oregon Ducks | 703–513–46 | .575 | 6 | 13 | 0 |
| 6 | California Golden Bears | 694–570–51 | .547 | 0 | 14 | 5 |
| 7 | Stanford Cardinal | 670–496–49 | .572 | 5 | 15 | 2 |
| 8 | UCLA Bruins | 637–446–37 | .585 | 2 | 17 | 1 |
| 9 | Arizona Wildcats | 633–499–37 | .557 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 10 | Arizona State Sun Devils | 623–429–24 | .590 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| 11 | Washington State | 576–581–45 | .498 | 1 | 4 | 0 |
| 12 | Oregon State | 569–629–50 | .476 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
† The NCAA sanctioned USC in June 2010 for violations in the football, men's basketball, and women's tennis programs. USC football vacated two wins from their final two games of the 2004 season (one conference game and a bowl game) and all 12 wins from the 2005 season, as well as the conference titles from both years. Their 2004 BCS National Championship was vacated, while their 2004 Associated Press title was not removed.[144][145][146]
Number of Claimed National Championships, as well as win–loss–tie records, include all seasons played, regardless of conference membership.
Each of the ten schools that were conference members before 2011 has its own in-state, conference rivalry. One is an intracity rivalry (UCLA–USC) and another is within the San Francisco/Oakland metropolitan area (California–Stanford). Colorado and Utah, who joined in 2011, were historic rivals in the Rocky Mountain region prior to 1962 when they suspended the series. These rivalries (and the name given to the football forms) are:
| Rivalry name | Standings |
|---|---|
| Duel in the Desert | Arizona leads, 51–45–1 |
| The Big Game | Stanford leads, 65–50–11 |
| Rumble in the Rockies | Utah leads, 35–32–3 |
| Oregon–Oregon State | Oregon leads, 69–49–10 |
| UCLA–USC | USC leads, 50–34–7 |
| Apple Cup | Washington leads, 76–34–6 |
The most frequently played rivalries in the conference are between Oregon and Oregon State (126 meetings through 2022) and Big Game between Stanford and California (125 meetings). These rivalries are among the most-played rivalries in college football.
The two newest members, Colorado and Utah, had a football rivalry that had been dormant since 1962 – both were conference rivals previously in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (now a Division II conference) and later the now-defunct Mountain States Conference (also known as the Skyline Conference). Even after Colorado joined what became the Big 12 in 1948 (the conference was then known popularly as the Big 7 Conference), the two schools continued their football rivalry for over a decade before ending it after the 1962 season. With the two schools being placed in the same division for football starting in 2011, the rivalry was revived with their 58th meeting during the 2011 season.
All of the California schools consider each other major rivals due to the culture clash between Northern and Southern California.[147] California and UCLA have a rivalry rooted in their shared history as the top programs within the University of California system. Stanford and USC have a rivalry rooted in their shared history as the only private schools in the Pac-12. California and USC also have a long history, playing each other beginning in 1915.
The Pacific Northwest schools of Oregon, Oregon State, Washington, and Washington State all consider each other major rivals due to their proximity and long history; a sweep of the other 3 teams is known as the Northwest Championship. The Oregon–Washington rivalry is sometimes referred to as the Border War.[148]
Arizona and New Mexico have a recently renewed rivalry game, based upon when they were both members of the WAC and both states were longtime territories before being admitted as states in 1912. They played for the Kit Carson Rifle trophy, which was no longer used starting with their meeting in the 1997 Insight Bowl.[149][150]
USC and Notre Dame have an intersectional rivalry (see Notre Dame–USC football rivalry). The games in odd-numbered years are played at Notre Dame Stadium in mid-October, while the games in even-numbered years are played at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, usually in late November.
Stanford and Notre Dame also have an intersectional rivalry (See Notre Dame–Stanford football rivalry). The schedule of the Stanford–Notre Dame rivalry mirrors that of USC–Notre Dame. The games in even-numbered years are played at Notre Dame in mid-October, while the games in odd-numbered years are played at Stanford in late November.
The isolated rural campuses of Washington State and Idaho are eight miles (13 km) apart on the Palouse, creating a natural border war known as the Battle of the Palouse. Idaho rejoined FBS in 1996 and was a member until 2017.
Utah and BYU have a fierce rivalry nicknamed the Holy War that goes back to 1896.
Colorado also has a rivalry with in-state rival Colorado State called the Rocky Mountain Showdown.
With the NCAA permanently approving 12-game schedules in college football beginning in 2006, the Pac-10—alone among major conferences in doing so—went to a full nine-game conference schedule. Previously, the schools did not play one non-rival opponent, resulting in an eight-game conference schedule (four home games and four away). In 2010, the last season before the arrival of Colorado and Utah, the only other BCS conference that played a round-robin schedule was the Big East. The schedule consisted of one home and away game against the two schools in each region, plus the game against the primary in-state rival.
On October 21, 2010, the Pac-10 announced the creation of divisions and a championship game in football, to be used when Colorado and Utah joined the conference effective July 1, 2011. The twelve members were split into two divisions for football only: a North Division comprising the Pacific Northwest and Bay Area schools, and a South Division comprising the Mountain Time Zone and Los Angeles schools.[151]
A nine-game conference schedule was maintained, with five games within the assigned division and four games from the opposite division. The four California teams, noted in the table in gray, still played each other every season— consequently, the four non-California teams in each division will only play one of the two California teams from the opposite division each year.
The Pac-12 Football Championship Game featured the North Division Champion against the South Division Champion for the first 11 years of its existence, with divisional champions determined based on record in all conference games (both divisional and cross-divisional). However, on May 18, 2022, the NCAA Division I Council announced that conferences would no longer be required to maintain divisions in order to hold a conference championship. As a result, later that same day, the Pac-12 announced that it would eliminate its divisions for the 2022 football season and beyond, with the championship game instead featuring the two Pac-12 teams with the highest winning percentage.[152] It was the first FBS conference to scrap its divisions as a result of this change.
| North Division | South Division |
|---|---|
| Oregon | Arizona |
| Oregon State | Arizona State |
| Washington | Colorado |
| Washington State | Utah |
| California | UCLA |
| Stanford | USC |
As of the 2023 college football season, the following is the selection order of bowl games with Pac-12 tie-ins. If a Pac-12 team is selected to participate in the College Football Playoff, all other bowl-eligible teams move up one spot in the order.
| Pick | Name | Location | Opposing conference |
Opposing pick |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rose Bowl | Pasadena, California | Big Ten | 1 |
| 2 | Alamo Bowl | San Antonio, Texas | Big 12 | 2 |
| 3 | Holiday Bowl | San Diego, California | ACC | 3 |
| 4 | Las Vegas Bowl | Las Vegas, Nevada | SEC or Big Ten | 3(SEC)/4(Big Ten) |
| 5 | LA Bowl | Los Angeles, California | MWC | 1 |
| 6 | Sun Bowl | El Paso, Texas | ACC | 7 |
| 7 (2020, 2023, 2024) | Independence Bowl | Shreveport, Louisiana | NCAA Division I FBS independent schools | Army in 2020 and 2024, BYU in 2023 |
In honor of the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the conference, an All-Century Team was unveiled on December 2, 2015, voted on by a panel of coaches, players, and the media.[153]
Note: Bold Italic notes Offensive, Defensive and Coach of the Century selections. The voting panel was made up of 119 former players, coaches and media.[154]
As of 2023[update], Pac-12 schools have won 15 Division I national titles. This was tied with the Atlantic Coast Conference for the most of any conference. [155][156][157] Oregon won the first NCAA tournament in 1939.[158] UCLA has won 11 national titles, the most of any Division I team.[159] Arizona has won the most recent national title, winning in 1997. Stanford in 1942, Utah in 1944 and California in 1959 are the other NCAA champions.[160]
Source:[161]
| # | Pac-12 | Overall record |
Pct. | Pac-12 regular-season championships |
Pac-12 tournament championships |
NCAA national championships |
Claimed pre-tournament championships |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | UCLA Bruins | 1986–888–0 | .691 | 32 | 4 | 11 | 0 |
| 2 | Arizona Wildcats | 1912–977–1 | .662 | 17 | 9 | 1 | 0 |
| 3 | Utah Utes | 1875–1067–0 | .637 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 4 | Washington Huskies | 1842–1253–0 | .595 | 12 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | Oregon State Beavers | 1797–1417–0 | .559 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | Oregon Ducks | 1754–1407–0 | .555 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 0 |
| 7 | USC Trojans | 1698–1243–2 | .577 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | Washington State | 1665–1585–0 | .512 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 9 | California Golden Bears | 1626–1295–0 | .557 | 15 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 10 | Stanford Cardinal | 1596–1220–0 | .567 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 11 | Arizona State Sun Devils | 1454–1285–0 | .531 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 12 | Colorado Buffaloes | 1400–1244–0 | .526 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Pac-12 Conference basketball programs have combined to win 15 NCAA men's basketball championships as Pac-12 members, with another member having won a national championship before joining the conference. UCLA has won 11 national championships with Arizona, California, Oregon, Stanford winning one each as Pac-12 members, Utah won one national championship as a member of the Mountain States Conference. Eleven of the twelve Pac-12 schools have advanced to at least 1 final four, with Arizona State the only school that has not made an appearance.
Members departing for the Big Ten
Members departing for the Big 12
Members departing for the ACC
| School | Men's NCAA championships | Men's NCAA Final Fours |
Men's NCAA Elite Eights |
Men's NCAA Sweet Sixteens |
Men's NCAA tournament appearances |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arizona Wildcats | 1 (1997) |
4 (1988, 1994, 1997, 2001) |
11 (1976, 1988, 1994, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2011, 2014, 2015) |
21 (1951, 1976, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1994, 1996–1998, 2001–2003, 2005, 2009, 2011, 2013–2015, 2017, 2022, 2024) |
38 (1951, 1976, 1977, 1985–2009, 2011, 2013–2018*, 2022–2024) |
| Arizona State Sun Devils | 3 (1961, 1963, 1975) |
5 (1961, 1963, 1973, 1975, 1995*) |
17 (1958, 1961–1964, 1973, 1975, 1980, 1981, 1991, 1995, 2003, 2009, 2014, 2018, 2019, 2023) | ||
| California Golden Bears | 1 (1959) |
3 (1946, 1959, 1960) |
5 (1946, 1957–1960) |
6 (1957–1960, 1993, 1997) |
19 (1946, 1957–1960, 1990, 1993, 1994, 1996*, 1997, 2001–2003, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2016) |
| Colorado Buffaloes | 2 (1942, 1955) |
6 (1940, 1942, 1946, 1955, 1962, 1963) |
5 (1954, 1955, 1962, 1963, 1969) |
16 (1940, 1942, 1946, 1954, 1955, 1962, 1963, 1969, 1997, 2003, 2012–2014, 2016, 2021, 2024) | |
| Oregon Ducks | 1 (1939) |
2 (1939, 2017) |
7 (1939, 1945, 1960, 2002, 2007, 2016, 2017) |
8 (1960, 2002, 2007, 2013, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2021) |
18 (1939, 1945, 1960, 1961, 1995, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2007, 2008, 2013–2017, 2019, 2021, 2024) |
| Oregon State | 2 (1949, 1963) |
8 (1947, 1949, 1955, 1962, 1963, 1966, 1982*, 2021) |
7 (1955, 1962, 1963, 1966, 1975, 1982*, 2021) |
18 (1947, 1949, 1955, 1962–1964, 1966, 1975, 1980*–1982*, 1984, 1985, 1988–1990, 2016, 2021) | |
| Stanford Cardinal | 1 (1942) |
2 (1942, 1998) |
3 (1942, 1998, 2001) |
5 (1997, 1998, 2001, 2008, 2014) |
17 (1942, 1989, 1992, 1995–2005, 2007, 2008, 2014) |
| UCLA Bruins | 11 (1964–1965, 1967–1973, 1975, 1995) |
19 (1962, 1964–1965, 1967–1976, 1976, 1980*, 1995, 2006–2008, 2021) |
23 (1950, 1962, 1964–1965, 1967–1976, 1979–1980*, 1992, 1995, 1997, 2006–2008, 2021) |
37 (1952, 1956, 1962–1965, 1967–1980*, 1990, 1992, 1995, 1997–1998, 2000–2002, 2006–2008, 2014–2015, 2017, 2021–2023) |
46 (1950, 1952, 1956, 1962–1965, 1967–1981, 1983, 1987, 1989–2002, 2005–2009, 2011, 2013–2015, 2017–2018, 2021–2023) |
| USC Trojans | 2 (1940, 1954) |
4 (1940, 1954, 2001, 2021) |
5 (1954, 1961, 2001, 2007*, 2021) |
21 (1940, 1954, 1960–1961, 1979, 1982, 1985, 1991–1992, 1997, 2001–2002, 2007*–2009, 2011, 2016–2017, 2021–2023) | |
| Utah Utes | 1 (1944) |
4 (1944, 1961, 1966, 1998) |
6 (1944, 1956, 1961, 1966, 1997, 1998) |
16 (1955, 1956, 1959–1961, 1966, 1977, 1978, 1981, 1983, 1991, 1996–1998, 2005, 2015) |
29 (1944, 1945, 1955, 1956, 1959–1961, 1966, 1977–1979, 1981, 1983, 1986, 1991, 1993, 1995–2000, 2002–2005, 2009, 2015, 2016) |
| Washington Huskies | 1 (1953) |
4 (1943, 1948, 1951, 1953) |
7 (1951, 1953, 1984, 1998, 2005, 2006, 2010) |
17 (1943, 1948, 1951, 1953, 1976, 1984–1986, 1998, 1999, 2004–2006, 2009–2011, 2019) | |
| Washington State | 1 (1941) |
1 (1941) |
1 (2008) |
7 (1941, 1980, 1983, 1994, 2007, 2008, 2024) |
Seasons are listed by the calendar years in which they ended. Italics indicate honors earned before the school competed in the Pac-12.
† denotes overtime games. Multiple †'s indicate more than one overtime.[162]
| Year | Champion | Runner-up | MVP | Venue and city | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1940 | Colorado | 51 | Duquesne University | 40 | Bob Doll, Colorado | Madison Square Garden | New York City |
| 1947 | Utah | 49 | Kentucky | 45 | Vern Gardner, Utah | Madison Square Garden | New York City |
| 1974 | Purdue | 87 | Utah | 81 | Mike Sojourner, Utah | Madison Square Garden | New York City |
| 1985 | UCLA | 65 | Indiana | 62 | Reggie Miller, UCLA | Madison Square Garden | New York City |
| 1991 | Stanford | 78 | Oklahoma | 72 | Adam Keefe, Stanford | Madison Square Garden | New York City |
| 1999 | California | 61 | Clemson | 60 | Sean Lampley, California | Madison Square Garden | New York City |
| 2012 | Stanford | 75 | Minnesota | 51 | Aaron Bright, Stanford | Madison Square Garden | New York City |
| 2015 | Stanford | 66OT | Miami (FL) | 64 | Chasson Randle, Stanford | Madison Square Garden | New York City |
| 2018 | Penn State | 82 | Utah | 66 | Lamar Stevens, Penn State | Madison Square Garden | New York City |
In a 2017 study by OlympStats, USA Olympians and the medals they won were counted and sorted by their college affiliations.[163][164] Stanford led all schools with 289 athletes, 408 games, and 282 total medals won. UCLA was second, USC was third, California was fourth, Harvard was fifth in each category, respectively.
Leading the country with the most participants in their respective events are, Colorado in alpine skiing and cycling, Arizona State in archery and badminton, Stanford in baseball, rugby, swimming, tennis and water polo, UCLA in basketball, beach volleyball, gymnastics and softball, USC in athletics and volleyball, and Utah in freestyle skiing.
Since 1924, a Pac-12 school has led the country in the number of athletes in every Summer Olympic Games as of the 2017 study.[164]
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