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…
