Pac-12 Conference

The Pac-12 Conference is a group of universities who play each other in football, basketball, and other sports. It has won more national championships than any other conference.

Stanford University playing football against the University of California, Berkeley

The history of the Pac-12 started in 1915 with the founding of the Pacific Coast Conference (PCC) by four schools in West Coast states. By 1928, the membership grew to 10 schools. One of these members left in 1950. In 1959, after years of infighting between members and a series of "pay-for-play" scandals in the 1950s, the PCC disbanded. Four of its members—the University of California, Berkeley (California), the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), the University of Southern California (USC), and the University of Washington—then formed the Athletic Association of Western Universities (AAWU) under a new charter that still functions. Another PCC member, Stanford University, joined a month later. By 1964, three more PCC members, the University of Oregon, Oregon State University, and Washington State University, joined. In 1968, the conference changed its name to the Pacific-8 Conference, abbreviated as Pac-8.

The conference name changed to Pacific-10 Conference (Pac-10) in 1978 when Arizona's two largest universities, the University of Arizona and Arizona State University, joined. In 2011, with the arrival of the University of Colorado Boulder (Colorado) and the University of Utah, the conference name became Pac-12 Conference (not "Pacific").

Despite the PCC and Pac-12 operating under different charters, the Pac-12 includes the PCC in its own history.

After 10 of the previous 12 members left in 2024, the conference now has only 2 members. Seven new members will join in July 2026.

Current members

School	Location	Founded	Type	Nickname	Joined
Oregon State University	Corvallis, Oregon	1868	Public	Beavers	1915
					1964
Washington State University	Pullman, Washington	1890	Public	Cougars	1915
					1962

Future members

Gonzaga is the only future member without a football team, having last played the sport in 1941.

School	Location	Founded	Type	Nickname	Joining	Current conference
Boise State University	Boise, Idaho	1932	Public	Broncos	2026	Mountain West Conference
Colorado State University	Fort Collins, Colorado	1870	Public	Rams	2026	Mountain West Conference
California State University, Fresno (Fresno State)	Fresno, California	1911	Public	Bulldogs	2026	Mountain West Conference
Gonzaga University	Spokane, Washington	1887	Private	Bulldogs	2026	West Coast Conference
San Diego State University	San Diego, California	1897	Public	Aztecs	2026	Mountain West Conference
Texas State University	San Marcos, Texas	1899	Public	Bobcats	2026	Sun Belt Conference
Utah State University	Logan, Utah	1888	Public	Aggies	2026	Mountain West Conference

Former members

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	Current conference
University of Montana	Missoula, Montana	1893	1924	1950	Public	Grizzlies	Big Sky
University of Idaho	Moscow, Idaho	1889	1922	1959		Vandals
University of Oregon	Eugene, Oregon	1876	1915			Ducks	Big Ten
			1964	2024
University of Washington	Seattle, Washington	1861	1915			Huskies
University of California, Los Angeles	Los Angeles, California	1919	1928			Bruins
University of Arizona	Tucson, Arizona	1885	1978			Wildcats	Big 12
Arizona State University	Tempe, Arizona[a]					Sun Devils
University of Colorado Boulder	Boulder, Colorado	1876	2011			Buffaloes
University of Utah	Salt Lake City, Utah	1850				Utes
University of California, Berkeley	Berkeley, California	1868	1915			Golden Bears	ACC
Stanford University	Stanford, California	1891	1918		Private	Cardinal
University of Southern California	Los Angeles, California	1880	1922			Trojans	Big Ten

Footnotes

1. Tempe hosts the main campus and university administration. ASU has three other physical campuses in the Phoenix area.

References

• "Pac-12 Conference". pac-12.org. Archived from the original on 2012-01-14. Retrieved 2012-01-19.