Gonzaga to join Pac-12 in 2026 as conference’s remake continues

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

Gonzaga, as a non-football school, won’t be a full Pac-12 member, meaning the conference still has seven full members. But for the Pac-12, it’s an addition of a men’s basketball program that reached the national championship game in 2017 and 2021 and has made 25 consecutive NCAA Tournaments. Gonzaga’s women’s basketball program also has 15 tournament appearances since 2007 and made the Sweet 16 in 2024.

Gonzaga, located in Spokane, Wash., is joining the Pac-12 from the West Coast Conference, where 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 said in a statement. “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.”

The Pac-12, which was down to Oregon State and Washington State after losing 10 schools to the Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC, added Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State and San Diego State last month. All are also set to join in 2026. After an attempt to add schools from the American Athletic Conference fell short, the Pac-12 then added Utah State as the seventh full member.

Its attempt to add UNLV fell short, as the six remaining full Mountain West members, along with football-only member Hawaii, opted to stay together and sign a binding agreement. The Mountain West is expected to add UTEP from Conference USA, a person briefed on the discussions said Tuesday.

The Pac-12 as it is now has enough members to qualify for automatic qualification for NCAA championships, such as the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments. The conference needs one more football member to reach Football Bowl Subdivision status, which for NCAA purposes is related to voting and committee representation.

More importantly, it needs to be at eight football schools to meet the College Football Playoff’s requirement for access to the five bids that go to conference champions.

With Gonzaga, the Pac-12 is creating a formidable men’s basketball conference. Along with the Zags’ history of success, San Diego State played in the 2023 national championship game and has reached the NCAA Tournament 11 times since 2010, including the last four years. Utah State has reached four of the last five tournaments, and Boise State has reached the tournament in each of the last three years. Gonzaga, coached by Mark Few since 2000, has made nine consecutive Sweet 16s.

In the rebuilt Pac-12, College Football Playoff and NCAA men’s and women’s tournament unit money will be shared on a performance basis, according to an agreement signed on Sept. 11 by six schools and obtained by The Athletic. Schools will retain 50 percent of the money earned by their appearance, with the remaining 50 percent shared equally among the rest of the schools. The league will split tournament expenses equally.

This story will be updated.

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(Photo: Sean M. Haffey / Getty Images)