Gonzaga set to become part of Pac-12 in 2026 as conference undergoes a transformation | Sports

Gonzaga will be part of the Pac-12 in 2026, giving the conference one of the nation’s premier basketball packages as it continues its rebuild.

Gonzaga, as a non-football college, received’t be a full Pac-12 member, that means the conference nonetheless has seven full members. But for the Pac-12, it’s an addition of a males’s basketball program that reached the nationwide championship recreation in 2017 and 2021 and has made 25 consecutive NCAA Tournaments. Gonzaga’s ladies’s basketball program additionally has 15 match appearances since 2007 and made the Sweet 16 in 2024.

Gonzaga, positioned in Spokane, Wash., is becoming a member of the Pac-12 from the West Coast Conference, the place it had been since 1979.

“Following discussions with Pac-12 member presidents, I believe membership will represent an opportunity to participate in building a conference that imagines new, forward-thinking ways to support student-athletes in a rapidly changing collegiate sports landscape,” Gonzaga President Thayne McCulloh mentioned in a assertion. “Partnerships with a new group of universities can also assist in our student recruitment and enrollment efforts, create opportunities for academic collaboration with new faculty colleagues, and attract more students who value an excellent education distinctively rooted in our Jesuit identity and tradition.”

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The Pac-12, which was down to Oregon State and Washington State after shedding 10 colleges to the Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC, added Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State and San Diego State final month. All are additionally set to be part of in 2026. After an try to add colleges from the American Athletic Conference fell brief, the Pac-12 then added Utah State as the seventh full member.

Its try to add UNLV fell brief, as the six remaining full Mountain West members, together with football-only member Hawaii, opted to keep collectively and signal a binding settlement. The Mountain West is predicted to add UTEP from Conference USA, a individual briefed on the discussions mentioned Tuesday.

The Pac-12 as it's now has sufficient members to qualify for computerized qualification for NCAA championships, such as the boys’s and ladies’s basketball tournaments. The conference wants yet one more soccer member to attain Football Bowl Subdivision standing, which for NCAA functions is said to voting and committee illustration.

More importantly, it wants to be at eight soccer colleges to meet the College Football Playoff’s requirement for entry to the 5 bids that go to conference champions.

With Gonzaga, the Pac-12 is creating a formidable males’s basketball conference. Along with the Zags’ historical past of success, San Diego State performed in the 2023 nationwide championship recreation and has reached the NCAA Tournament 11 instances since 2010, together with the final 4 years. Utah State has reached 4 of the final 5 tournaments, and Boise State has reached the match in every of the final three years. Gonzaga, coached by Mark Few since 2000, has made 9 consecutive Sweet 16s.

In the rebuilt Pac-12, College Football Playoff and NCAA males’s and ladies’s match unit cash might be shared on a efficiency foundation, in accordance to an settlement signed on Sept. 11 by six colleges and obtained by The Athletic. Schools will retain 50 % of the cash earned by their look, with the remaining 50 % shared equally among the many relaxation of the faculties. The league will break up match bills equally.

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(Photo: Sean M. Haffey / Getty Images)