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

(AP) — Basketball powerhouse Gonzaga will become the latest member of the rebuilt Pac-12 Conference, the school announced Tuesday, while the Mountain West Conference moved quickly to secure its future adding UTEP.

Gonzaga will move from the West Coast Conference where it has dominated for most of the last quarter century into 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 of its sports beginning 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 CFP purposes. Gonzaga does not have a football program.

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.”

Both conferences have been in a scramble to secure their futures outside the Power Four of college sports, but the addition of Gonzaga clearly 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 in men’s basketball and two seasons ago San Diego State reached the national championship game.

Gonzaga athletic director Chris Standiford said talks with the Pac-12 progressed “earnestly” last weekend and the school formally applied for membership Monday night — it was unanimously approved.

“We are excited to join a conference with great tradition and a commitment to innovating during this evolving time in collegiate athletics,” Standiford said.

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 men’s basketball lineup, as it did with UConn earlier this year.

The Zags have also become a perennial tournament team in women’s basketball.

“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.

UTEP was a member of the Western Athletic Conference for nearly 40 years before joining Conference 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.”