Gonzaga set to join rebuilt Pac-12, while UTEP goes to Mountain West

Basketball powerhouse Gonzaga will turn out to be the most recent member of the rebuilt Pac-12 Convention, the college introduced Tuesday, whereas the Mountain West Convention moved shortly to safe its future including UTEP.

Gonzaga will transfer from the West Coast Convention the place it has dominated for a lot of the final quarter century right into a convention that was being rebuilt round soccer, however ought to be fairly stout on the basketball courtroom. Gonzaga will turn out to be the eighth Pac-12 member together 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 be part of the convention in all of its sports activities starting July 1, 2026, because the Pac-12’s solely personal school up thus far.

“In the present day represents an thrilling milestone for the Pac-12 as we welcome one other excellent establishment with a wealthy historical past of success into our league,” Pac-12 Commissioner Teresa Gould stated.

Including Gonzaga nonetheless leaves the Pac-12 in want of one other football-playing member for CFP functions. Gonzaga doesn’t have a soccer program.

The Mountain West is in the identical place of nonetheless needing so as to add another football-playing member even with the addition of UTEP. The Miners will depart Convention USA starting in 2026.

“The addition of UTEP restores historic rivalries with a number of of our member establishments throughout the geographic footprint and gives helpful publicity within the nice State of Texas,” Mountain West Commissioner Gloria Nevarez stated in a press release. “We welcome and look ahead to competing towards the student-athletes of UTEP.”

Each conferences have been in a scramble to safe their futures exterior the Energy 4 of school sports activities, however the addition of Gonzaga clearly offers the Pac-12 the benefit on the basketball courtroom.

Final 12 months, Washington State, Boise State, San Diego State, Colorado State, Utah State and Gonzaga all reached the NCAA Match in males’s basketball and two seasons in the past San Diego State reached the nationwide championship sport.

Gonzaga athletic director Chris Standiford stated talks with the Pac-12 progressed “earnestly” final weekend and the college formally utilized for membership Monday night time — it was unanimously authorised.

“We’re excited to affix a convention with nice custom and a dedication to innovating throughout this evolving time in collegiate athletics,” Standiford stated.

The Pac-12 started to restock for a 2026 relaunch final month by nabbing the 5 colleges from the Mountain West to affix Washington State and Oregon State, the one two Pac-12 colleges left after a dramatic spherical of realignment took impact this summer time.

The Bulldogs have thrived within the WCC, reaching the NCAA Match yearly it has been performed since 1998, with two Last 4 appearances and eight seasons of not less than 30 victories.

The college has up to now talked to the Huge East about convention affiliation, and the Huge 12 had mentioned including Gonzaga to its robust males’s basketball lineup, because it did with UConn earlier this 12 months.

The Zags have additionally turn out to be a perennial event workforce in ladies’s basketball.

“Following discussions with Pac-12 member presidents, I imagine membership will signify a chance to take part in constructing a convention that imagines new, forward-thinking methods to assist student-athletes in a quickly altering collegiate sports activities panorama,” Gonzaga President Thayne McCulloh stated.

UTEP was a member of the Western Athletic Convention for almost 40 years earlier than becoming a member of Convention USA in 2005. Becoming a member of the Mountain West will reunite the Miners with earlier convention foes like Nevada, San Jose State, New Mexico and Wyoming.

“There’s little doubt this can be higher for our student-athletes, our followers, and for El Paso,” UTEP President Heather Wilson stated. “We look ahead to rekindling former rivalries and welcoming groups and their followers to El Paso.”

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