Gonzaga set to join rebuilt Pac-12, while UTEP goes to Mountain West
FILE - Gonzaga head coach Mark Few signals from the sideline during the first half of a Sweet 16 college basketball game against Purdue in the NCAA Tournament, March 29, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Duane Burleson, File)
Rebuilding the Pac-12 Conference centered around football. It’ll be a pretty good basketball conference, too, after landing one of the perennial hoops powers on the West Coast.
Gonzaga will become the latest member of the rebuilt Pac-12, the conference and school announced Tuesday, ending several years of conversations with other leagues as the Zags tried to capitalize on their basketball success and recognizable brand.
“I think what we’re able to bring to this conference is an enhancement to a basketball opportunity for them, but also what we got in return is a commitment that this conference really cares about basketball,” Gonzaga athletic director Chris Standiford said. “That it’s an opportunity for us to have an impact on them and be an important partner in who they are and what they do.”
Also Tuesday, the Mountain West moved quickly to secure its future by adding UTEP.
Gonzaga will move from the West Coast Conference, where it has been a member for more than 40 years and dominated for most of the last quarter-century. The Zags enter a conference that was being rebuilt around football, but should be pretty stout on the basketball court.
Gonzaga will become the eighth Pac-12 member along with holdovers Washington State and Oregon State, and fellow newcomers Boise State, San Diego State, Fresno State, Utah State and Colorado State from the Mountain West.
Gonzaga will join the conference in all sports beginning on July 1, 2026, as the Pac-12’s only private college up to this point.
“Today represents an exciting milestone for the Pac-12 as we welcome another outstanding institution with a rich history of success into our league,” Pac-12 Commissioner Teresa Gould said.
Adding Gonzaga still leaves the Pac-12 in need of another football-playing member for College Football Playoff purposes. Gonzaga does not have a football program.
“I think Gonzaga is truly viewed as an equal partner in the work of governing the Pac-12 moving forward and that’s important to us, because we do want to play a role in helping to realize the vision and to shape the direction of the conference,” Gonzaga President Thayne McCulloh said.
On the court
Both conferences have been in a scramble to secure their futures outside the Power Four of college sports, but the addition of Gonzaga gives the Pac-12 the advantage on the basketball court.
Last year, Washington State, Boise State, San Diego State, Colorado State, Utah State and Gonzaga all reached the NCAA Tournament, and two seasons ago San Diego State reached the national championship game.
Standiford said talks with the Pac-12 progressed “earnestly” last weekend and the school applied for membership Monday night. The application was approved unanimously.
Standiford declined to get into specifics of the financials for Gonzaga, but said, “this is a better situation for us financially without question.”
“It is an opportunity for us to invest more directly in our student-athletes and create a more robust experience for them, and potentially for more of them,” he added.
The Pac-12 began to restock for a 2026 relaunch last month by nabbing the five schools from the Mountain West to join Washington State and Oregon State, the only two Pac-12 schools left after a dramatic round of realignment took effect this summer.
The Bulldogs have thrived in the WCC, reaching the NCAA Tournament every year it has been played since 1998, with two Final Four appearances and eight seasons of at least 30 victories.
The school has in the past talked to the Big East about conference affiliation, and the Big 12 had discussed adding Gonzaga to its strong basketball lineup, as it did with UConn earlier this year.
The Zags have also become a perennial tournament team in women’s basketball.
Rebuilding the Mountain
The Mountain West is in the same position of still needing to add one more football-playing member even with the addition of UTEP. The Miners will leave Conference USA beginning in 2026.
“The addition of UTEP restores historic rivalries with several of our member institutions within the geographic footprint and provides valuable exposure in the great state of Texas,” Mountain West Commissioner Gloria Nevarez said in a statement. “We welcome and look forward to competing against the student-athletes of UTEP.”
UTEP was a member of the Western Athletic Conference for nearly 40 years before joining C-USA in 2005. Joining the Mountain West will reunite the Miners with previous conference foes like Nevada, San Jose State, New Mexico and Wyoming.
“There’s no doubt this will be better for our student-athletes, our fans, and for El Paso,” UTEP President Heather Wilson said. “We look forward to rekindling former rivalries and welcoming teams and their fans to El Paso.”
Meanwhile, Texas State athletic director Don Coryell said in a statement Tuesday night that the school would remain in the Sun Belt Conference “after preliminary discussions with an interested conference,” which multiple media outlets reported was the Mountain West.
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