The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference, that operates in the

Western United States The Western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the meaning of the term ''the We ...

, participating in 24 sports at the

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athleti ...

level. Its

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS; formerly Division I-A), the highest level of college football in the nation. The conference's 12 members are located in the states of

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the ...

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...

, and

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

. They include each state's flagship public university, four additional public universities, and two private research universities. The modern Pac-12 conference formed after the disbanding of the

Pacific Coast Conference The Pacific Coast Conference (PCC) was a college athletic conference in the United States which existed from 1915 to 1959. Though the Pac-12 Conference claims the PCC's history as part of its own, with eight of the ten PCC members (including ...

(PCC), whose principal members 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

and

. Nicknamed the "Conference of Championships", the Pac-12 has won more NCAA national championships in team sports than any other conference in history. The top three schools with the most NCAA team championships are members of the Pac-12:

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. S ...

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the Californ ...

(UCLA) and

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

(USC), respectively. Washington's national title in women's rowing in 2017 was the 500th NCAA championship won by a Pac-12 school. On June 30, 2022, amid the broader

2021–22 NCAA conference realignment The 2021–2022 NCAA conference realignment refers to extensive changes in NCAA conference membership, primarily at the Division I level, beginning in the 2021–22 academic year. Most of these changes have involved conferences in the Football ...

, UCLA and USC announced plans to leave the Pac-12 for the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

starting in 2024.

Member schools

Full members

The Pac-12 has twelve full member institutions. Football used to be the only sport where the conference is split into two divisions, the North Division and the South Division. The Pac-12's members are spread evenly between 3 regions, with 4 schools each in

, the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Thou ...

, and the

Four Corners The Four Corners is a region of the Southwestern United States consisting of the southwestern corner of Colorado, southeastern corner of Utah, northeastern corner of Arizona, and northwestern corner of New Mexico. The Four Corners area ...

region. ;Notes:

Affiliate members

The Pac-12 has three affiliate member institutions in California and one in Arkansas. ;Notes:

Future affiliate members

The Pac-12 women's lacrosse league will add two affiliate members, both from California, in the 2024 season (2023–24 school year). San Diego State, already a men's soccer member, will add women's lacrosse to its Pac-12 membership.

Former members

No school has left the Pac-12 since its founding as the AAWU in 1959. Two members of the PCC were not invited to join the AAWU or its successors.

Former affiliate members

;Notes:

Facilities

Key personnel

''†Private institution not required to release coaching salaries'' •Salaries based on 2022–2023 academic year

Academics

Nine of the twelve member schools are members of the Association of American Universities (AAU) as of 2019, including all four California-based schools, as well as at least one university in each state that has a Pac-12 member university. This is the second-highest number of AAU universities among FBS conferences (behind only the

). *

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first ...

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant un ...

University of Colorado Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University of Colorado sy ...

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc Nike, Inc. ( or ) is a ...

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is conside ...

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seatt ...

University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...

Additionally, these member schools are also highly ranked nationally and globally by various groups, including the

Academic Ranking of World Universities The ''Academic Ranking of World Universities'' (''ARWU''), also known as the Shanghai Ranking, is one of the annual publications of world university rankings. The league table was originally compiled and issued by Shanghai Jiao Tong Universi ...

(ARWU) and

Times Higher Education World University Rankings The ''Times Higher Education World University Rankings'' (often referred to as the THE Rankings) is an annual publication of university rankings by the ''Times Higher Education'' (THE) magazine. The publisher had collaborated with Quacquarel ...

(Times).

Athletic department revenue by school

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 is updated to show institutional reporting to the Department of Education as shown on the DOE Equity in Athletics website for the 2013–14 academic year. The national ranking of revenue is based on 2075 institutions reporting to the Department of Education that year.

Apparel

History

Pacific Coast Conference

The roots of the Pac-12 Conference go back to December 2, 1915, when the

(PCC) was founded at a meeting at the Imperial Hotel in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous ...

. 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). 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 USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses ** South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

and

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Monta ...

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...

joined the Conference in 1924, and in 1928, the PCC grew to 10 members with the addition of

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

. 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

. In 1950, Montana departed to join the Mountain States Conference. The PCC continued as a nine-team league through June 1959.

AAWU (Big Five and Big Six)

Following "pay-for-play"

scandals A scandal can be broadly defined as the strong social reactions of outrage, anger, or surprise, when accusations or rumours circulate or appear for some reason, regarding a person or persons who are perceived to have transgressed in some way. Th ...

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. 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 A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It in ...

, and was the current athletic director at

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

). Nicknamed the " Airplane Conference," the five former PCC schools would have played with other major academically-oriented schools, including

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

Air Force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an ...

, Notre Dame, Pitt, Penn State, and

Syracuse Syracuse may refer to: Places Italy * Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa'' * Province of Syracuse United States *Syracuse, New York **East Syracuse, New York ** North Syracuse, New York * Syracuse, Indiana *Syracuse, Kansas *Syracuse, M ...

. The effort fell through when a

Pentagon In geometry, a pentagon (from the Greek πέντε ''pente'' meaning ''five'' and γωνία ''gonia'' meaning ''angle'') is any five-sided polygon or 5-gon. The sum of the internal angles in a simple pentagon is 540°. A pentagon may be sim ...

official vetoed the idea and the service academies backed out. On July 1, 1959, the new Athletic Association of Western Universities was launched, with California, UCLA, USC, and Washington as the four charter members. Stanford joined during the first month. Hamilton left Pittsburgh to become the first commissioner of the AAWU, and remained for twelve years. The conference also was popularly known as the Big Five from 1960 to 1962.NCAA Men's Basketball Records – Division I conference alignment history (PDF copy available at NCAA.org) When

Washington State Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a U.S. state, state in the Northwestern United States, Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first President of the United States, U.S. p ...

joined in 1962, the conference became informally known as the Big Six. 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.

Pacific-8

and Oregon State joined in the summer of 1964. With their addition, the conference was known unofficially as the Pacific Athletic and then the Pacific-8 (as there already was a major conference called the Big Eight). In

1968 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – " Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * J ...

, 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; in basketball, participation in the

National Invitation Tournament The National Invitational Tournament (NIT) is a men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Played at regional sites and traditionally at Madison Square Garden (Final Four) in New York Cit ...

(NIT) was not allowed until 1973.

was never invited to join the AAWU; the Vandals were independent for four years until the formation of the Big Sky Conference in 1963, and were independent in football until

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is sworn in for a full term ...

Pacific-10

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd government). * January 6 ...

, the conference added

and Arizona State from the

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Utah, Washington, and Texas. Due to most of t ...

, becoming the Pacific-10 Conference or Pac-10. The invitations to the schools were extended in December 1976, and the expansion formally announced in May 1977. In 1986, the Pac-10 began sponsoring women's athletics. Prior to this time members' women's teams competed with other large universities on the

Pacific coast Pacific coast may be used to reference any coastline that borders the Pacific Ocean. Geography Americas Countries on the western side of the Americas have a Pacific coast as their western or southwestern border, except for Panama, where the Pac ...

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 The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

after the collapse of the

Southwest Conference The Southwest Conference (SWC) was an NCAA Division I college athletic conference in the United States that existed from 1914 to 1996. Composed primarily of schools from Texas, at various times the conference included schools from Oklahoma ...

. Texas expressed an interest in joining a strong academic conference, but joined three fellow Southwest Conference schools ( Texas A&M,

Texas Tech Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sys ...

, and Baylor) to merge with the

Big Eight Conference The Big Eight Conference was a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)-affiliated Division I-A college athletic association that sponsored football. It was formed in January 1907 as the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Associati ...

to form the

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its ...

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 800, causing the plane to crash and killing everyone o ...

. Colorado elected to remain in the newly formed Big 12. Before the addition of Colorado and Utah in 2011, only the

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. The term ''Ivy League'' is typically used beyond the sports context to refer to the eight school ...

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. 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.

Pac-12

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 A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M Unive ...

Texas Tech University Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sy ...

, the

University of Oklahoma , mottoeng = "For the benefit of the Citizen and the State" , type = Public research university , established = , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.7billion (2021) , pr ...

Oklahoma State University Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

, and the University of Colorado. On June 10, 2010, the University of Colorado Boulder officially accepted an invitation to join the Pac-10 Conference, effective starting with the 2012–2013 academic year. 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 Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

and the

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. On June 17, 2010, the

officially accepted an invitation to join the Pac-10 Conference, effective starting July 2011. 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 The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) was a selection system that created four or five bowl game match-ups involving eight or ten of the top ranked teams in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of American college football, includi ...

" 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 The Mountain Time Zone of North America keeps time by subtracting seven hours from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) when standard time ( UTC−07:00) is in effect, and by subtracting six hours during daylight saving time ( UTC−06:00). The clo ...

and Southern California schools. On July 1, 2011, the Pac-12 assumed its current alignment when both Colorado and Utah officially joined as full members. On August 15, 2012, the conference debuted the

Pac-12 Network The Pac-12 Network (P12N; also sometimes referred to as Pac-12 Networks) is an American sports-oriented digital cable and satellite television network owned by the Pac-12 Conference. The network's studio and production facilities are headquarter ...

. It was the third college sports conference to launch a dedicated network, and the first to completely fund and own their own network outright. Since 2014, the conference has been headquartered in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

, with the conference moving to working remotely once the lease expires in June 2023. It had been based in the nearby East Bay suburb of Walnut Creek since the late 1970s.

NCAA conference realignment (2021-present)

On August 24, 2021, the Pac-12, ACC, and

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

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." The formation of this alliance between 3 of the Power Five conferences was in response to

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

and

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. On June 30, 2022, UCLA and USC announced their departure to the

beginning in the 2024–25 academic year.

Membership timeline

The Pac-12 claims the PCC's history as its own. Not only does 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. DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:1000 height:auto barincrement:20 Period = from:1915 till:2030 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:5 left:5 bottom:50 top:5 #> to display a count on left side of graph, use "left:20" to suppress the count, use "left:20"<# Colors = id:barcolor value:rgb(0.99,0.7,0.7) id:line value:black id:bg value:white id:Full value:rgb(0.742,0.727,0.852) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports id:FullxF value:rgb(0.551,0.824,0.777) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports except for football id:AssocF value:rgb(0.98,0.5,0.445) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member for football only id:AssocOS value:rgb(0.5,0.691,0.824) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in some sports, but not all (consider identifying in legend or a footnote) id:OtherC1 value:rgb(0.996,0.996,0.699) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference id:OtherC2 value:rgb(0.988,0.703,0.383) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference where OtherC1 has already been used, to distinguish the two id:Bar1 value:rgb(0.8,0.8,0.7) id:Bar2 value:rgb(0.9,0.9,0.6) PlotData= width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s bar:1 color:Full from:1915 till:end text:

(1915–present) bar:2 color:Full from:1915 till:end text:

(1915–present) bar:3 color:Full from:1915 till:1959 text:

(1915–1959, 1964–present) bar:3 color:OtherC1 from:1959 till:1964 text:Independent bar:3 color:Full from:1964 till:end bar:4 color:Full from:1915 till:1959 text: Oregon State (1915–1959, 1964–present) bar:4 color:OtherC1 from:1959 till:1964 text:Independent bar:4 color:Full from:1964 till:end bar:5 shift:(-5) color:OtherC1 from:1915 till:1917 text:Indep. bar:5 color:Full from:1917 till:1959 text:

(1917–1959, 1962–present) bar:5 color:OtherC1 from:1959 till:1962 text:Indep. bar:5 color:Full from:1962 till:end bar:6 shift:(-3) color:OtherC1 from:1915 till:1918 text:Indep. bar:6 color:Full from:1918 till:end text:

(1918–present) bar:7 color:OtherC1 from:1915 till:1922 text:Independent bar:7 color:Full from:1922 till:2024 text:

(1922–2024) bar:7 color:OtherC1 from:2024 till:end text:

bar:8 color:OtherC1 from:1915 till:1922 text:Independent bar:8 color:Full from:1922 till:1959 text:

(1922–1959) bar:8 color:OtherC1 from:1959 till:1963 text:Indep. bar:8 color:OtherC2 from:1963 till:1996 text: Big Sky bar:8 color:OtherC1 from:1996 till:2005 text: Big West bar:8 color:OtherC2 from:2005 till:2014 text: WAC bar:8 color:OtherC1 from:2014 till:end text: Big Sky bar:9 color:OtherC1 from:1915 till:1924 text:Independent bar:9 color:Full from:1924 till:1950 text:

(1924–1950) bar:9 shift:(-20) color:OtherC1 from:1950 till:1951 text:Indep. bar:9 color:OtherC2 from:1951 till:1962 text:

Skyline A skyline is the outline or shape viewed near the horizon. It can be created by a city’s overall structure, or by human intervention in a rural setting, or in nature that is formed where the sky meets buildings or the land. City skylin ...

bar:9 shift:(-20) color:OtherC1 from:1962 till:1963 text:Indep. bar:9 color:OtherC2 from:1963 till:end text: Big Sky bar:10 color:OtherC1 from:1915 till:1919 text:Indep. bar:10 color:OtherC2 from:1919 till:1928 text: SCIAC bar:10 color:Full from:1928 till:2024 text:

(1928–2024) bar:10 color:OtherC1 from:2024 till:end text:

bar:11 color:OtherC1 from:1915 till:1931 text:Independent bar:11 color:OtherC2 from:1931 till:1962 text:

Border Borders are usually defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political borders ca ...

bar:11 color:OtherC1 from:1962 till:1978 text: WAC bar:11 color:Full from:1978 till:end text:

(1978–present) bar:12 color:OtherC1 from:1915 till:1931 text:Independent bar:12 color:OtherC2 from:1931 till:1962 text:

bar:12 color:OtherC1 from:1962 till:1978 text: WAC bar:12 color:Full from:1978 till:end text: Arizona State (1978–present) bar:13 color:OtherC1 from:1915 till:1937 text: RMFAC bar:13 color:OtherC2 from:1937 till:1947 text:

bar:13 color:OtherC1 from:1947 till:1996 text: Big Eight bar:13 color:OtherC2 from:1996 till:2011 text: Big 12 bar:13 color:Full from:2011 till:end text:

(2011–present) bar:14 color:OtherC1 from:1915 till:1937 text: RMFAC bar:14 color:OtherC2 from:1937 till:1962 text:

bar:14 color:OtherC1 from:1962 till:1999 text: WAC bar:14 color:OtherC2 from:1999 till:2011 text: MWC bar:14 color:Full from:2011 till:end text:

(2011–present) bar:N color:Bar1 from:1915 till:1959 text:Pacific Coast Conference bar:N color:Bar2 from:1959 till:1968 text:AAWU bar:N color:Bar1 from:1968 till:1978 text:Pacific-8 bar:N color:Bar2 from:1978 till:2011 text:Pacific-10 bar:N color:Bar1 from:2011 till:2030 text:Pac-12 ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:5 start:1916 TextData = fontsize:L textcolor:black pos:(0,30) tabs:(400-center) text:^"Pac-12 (PCC, AAWU, Pac-8/10) membership history" # > If the chart uses more than one bar color, add a legend by selecting the appropriate fields from the following six options (use only the colors that are used in the graphic.) Leave a blank line after the end of the timeline, then add a line with the selected values from the list, separated by a space. <#

NCAA national titles

Team titles through December 5, 2022; individual titles through July 1, 2016 † Co-ed sports include fencing (since 1990), rifle, and skiing (since 1983). Team fencing championships before 1990 and team skiing championships before 1983 were awarded as men's or women's championships and are counted here as such. 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. USC claims 11 national football championships, California claims 5, Washington claims 2, Stanford claims 2, while Colorado and UCLA claim 1.

Conference champions

Football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

* Men's basketball * Women's basketball *

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* Men's soccer *

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* Women's volleyball

Football

Rivalries

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 same 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: * Arizona–Arizona State – The winner receives the Territorial Cup. * California–Stanford – Known as the Big Game, the winner receives the Stanford Axe. * Colorado–Utah – Known as the

Rumble in the Rockies The Rumble in the Rockies, or Colorado–Utah football rivalry, is an American college football rivalry between the University of Colorado Buffaloes from Boulder and the University of Utah Utes of Salt Lake City. After nearly five decades of d ...

. * Oregon–Oregon State football rivalry, Oregon–Oregon State – Though not officially recognized by the universities, the Platypus Trophy is awarded to the winning alumni association. * UCLA–USC rivalry, UCLA–USC – The winner receives the Victory Bell (UCLA–USC), Victory Bell. The two universities compete across all sports for the SoCal BMW Crosstown Cup. * Apple Cup, Washington–Washington State – Known as the Apple Cup, the winner receives Apple Cup trophy. The most frequently played rivalries in the conference are between Oregon and Oregon State (124 meetings through 2020) and Big Game (football), Big Game between Stanford and California (123 meetings). These rivalries are among the List of most played rivalries in NCAA Division I FBS, most played rivalries in college football. The two newest members, Colorado and Utah, had Rumble in the Rockies, a football rivalry that had been dormant since 1962 – both were conference rivals previously in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (now a NCAA Division II, 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 8 Conference, 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. 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

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 Oregon–Washington football rivalry, Border War. 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. USC and Notre Dame Fighting Irish football, Notre Dame have an intersectional rivalry (See Notre Dame – USC rivalry, Notre Dame–USC rivalry). The games in odd-numbered years are played in South Bend, Indiana, South Bend in mid-October, while the games in even-numbered years are played in Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, 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 Stadium, 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 Cougars football, BYU have a fierce rivalry nicknamed the Holy War (BYU–Utah), 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 National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA permanently approving 12-game schedules in college football beginning in 2006 NCAA Division I FBS football season, 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.

Divisions

On October 21, 2010, the Pac-10 announced the creation of divisions and a championship game in football, to be used when

and

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

and Los Angeles schools. 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. It was the first FBS conference to scrap its divisions as a result of this change.

Bowl games

As of the 2020 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.

Pac-12 All-Century Football Team

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. * Quarterbacks: ''John Elway, Stanford''; Marcus Mariota, Oregon; Jim Plunkett, Stanford; Andrew Luck, Stanford; Matt Leinart, USC * Running backs: Marcus Allen, USC; O. J. Simpson, USC; Charles White (American football), Charles White, USC; Reggie Bush, USC; Mike Garrett, USC * Wide receivers: Keyshawn Johnson, USC; Lynn Swann, USC; Marqise Lee, USC; J. J. Stokes, UCLA; Ken Margerum, Stanford * Tight ends: Tony Gonzalez, California; Charle Young, USC; * Offensive line: Jonathan Ogden, UCLA; Ron Yary, USC; Tony Boselli, USC; Anthony Muñoz, USC; Lincoln Kennedy, Washington; Brad Budde, USC; Randall McDaniel, Arizona State * Defensive ends: Tedy Bruschi, Arizona; Terrell Suggs, Arizona State; Willie McGinest, USC; Andre Carter, California; Jim Jeffcoat, Arizona State * Defensive tackles: Steve Emtman, Washington; Haloti Ngata, Oregon; Rob Waldrop, Arizona; Leonard Williams (American football), Leonard Williams, USC; Ed White (American football), Ed White, California * Linebackers Junior Seau, USC; Jerry Robinson (linebacker), Jerry Robinson, UCLA; Ricky Hunley, Arizona; Richard Wood (American football), Richard Wood, USC; Chris Claiborne, USC * Cornerbacks Joey Browner, USC; Mel Renfro, Oregon; Chris McAlister, Arizona; Antoine Cason, Arizona * Safeties: ''Ronnie Lott, USC'' ; Kenny Easley, UCLA; Troy Polamalu, USC; Mark Carrier (safety), Mark Carrier, USC * Kicker: Jason Hanson, Washington State * Punter: Tom Hackett, Utah * Returner: Reggie Bush, USC * Coach: ''John McKay (American football), John McKay, USC'' ''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.''

Men's basketball

Rivalries in other sports

All of the intra-conference rivalries in football are carried over into other sports. During the 1970s, UCLA and Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Notre Dame had an intense men's basketball rivalry. For several years, it was one of a small number of non-conference games 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 (now in the ACC). In baseball, there are intense rivalries between the four southern schools. Arizona, Arizona State, and USC have long and successful histories in baseball and all have won national titles in the sport. The most intense series is widely regarded to be the "Basebrawl" series between USC and Arizona State in 1990. Arizona State swept the series and in the final game a bench clearing brawl spread quickly to the stands and made national headlines. Several were injured and riot police were called to end the fracas. Washington and California have a longstanding rivalry in men's Rowing (sport), crew as the two traditionally dominant programs on the West Coast. 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 as 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. Recently, Cal Poly and UCLA has grown into a competitive Men's Soccer rivalry with Cal Poly hosting UCLA in a 0–0 tie in front of a crowd of 8,717 which at the time was the 9th largest regular season, on-campus attendance in the history of college soccer. The schools have played several times since however UCLA has not returned to San Luis Obispo for a Friday or Saturday game since tying Cal Poly in front of a record crowd. UCLA leads the series 6–2–2.

Olympians

While the PAC-12 is known as the "Conference of Champions," for having won the most collegiate Championships than any other Conference, it could also be considered the "Conference of Olympians" for having the most athletes and medal-winners of any conference in the history of the Olympic games. In a 2017 study by OlympStats, USA Olympians and the medals they won were counted and sorted by their college affiliations. Stanford lead all schools with 289 athletes, 408 games, and 282 total medals won. UCLA was second, USC was third, Cal Berkeley was 4th, Harvard was 5th 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 number of athlete in each and every Summer Olympic Games to date (as of this study in 2017).

Commissioners

Since restarting in 1959 as the AAWU, the Pac-12 has had five commissioners: {, class="wikitable sortable" , - ! Name ! Years ! Tenure ! Conference name(s) , - , Thomas J. Hamilton, , 1959–1971, , align=12 years , , AAWU / Pacific-8 , - , Wiles Hallock , , 1971–1983 , , align=12 years , , Pacific-8 / Pacific-10 , - , Thomas C. Hansen , , 1983–2009 , , align=26 years , , Pacific-10 , - , Larry Scott (sports administrator), Larry Scott , , 2009–2021 , , align=12 years , , Pacific-10 / Pac-12 , - , George Kliavkoff , , 2021–present , , align= years , , Pac-12

PCC

Commissioners of the forerunner PCC * Herb Dana (193x–40) * Edwin Atherton, Edwin N. Atherton (1940–44) * Victor O. Schmidt (1944–59)

Notes

References

External links

* {{Authority control Pac-12 Conference, Sports in the Western United States Articles which contain graphical timelines 1959 establishments in the United States Sports leagues established in 1959