Talk about change, talk about rebuilding.
Or you could actually NOT just talk about change and rebuilding, and get started doing it.
That’s what the Pac-12 Conference – whose sole members last year were Oregon State and Washington State – is doing right now. The Pac-12 is conducting a ground-level rebuild with a completely, totally new concept: being on the left coast is not nearly a prerequisite.
And when you don’t let that stop you, then brother, you can find some new members.
Texas State University, located in San Marcos, Texas – in case you’re wondering or haven’t done the math, that’s about 2,097.3 miles, give or take a tenth of a mile, from Corvallis, Oregon – is the newest member of the Pac-12. The university, located not within shouting distance of Austin but not much farther, actually has over 40,000 students, elected to pull out of the Sun Belt Conference and head to the Pac-12, beginning with the 2026 season.
The TSU board of regents authorized a buyout from the Sun Belt, but they will remain in the Sun Belt for this season and then join their new conference next year.
So, that brings the new-look Pac-12 to this lineup, in alphabetical order: Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Gonzaga (but that’s a non-football program), Oregon State, San Diego State, Texas State, Utah State and of course, Washington State.
The addition of Texas State to that group allows the Pac-12 to meet the NCAA’s requirement of at least eight schools in a conference having football programs to form an FBS conference (and you thought the NCAA wasn’t a thing anymore). That’s really important because the conference reached, and then announced, a deal with CBS last week for rights to broadcast portions of the conference’s football and men’s basketball games, including the Pac-12 men’s basketball title game.
Texas State leadership said themselves it was a bold move.
“Joining the Pac-12 is more than an athletic move – it is a declaration of our rising national profile, our commitment to excellence, and our readiness to compete and collaborate with some of the most respected institutions in the country,” TSU President Kelly Damphousse said.
Pac-12 Commissioner Teresa Gould really should be commended for rebuilding this league that had dwindled down to two members, Oregon State and Washington State. The Big Ten raided it just a year ago for Oregon, Southern Cal, UCLA and Washington, and Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah all left for the Big 12. It’s been a rough few years for the Pac-12. But it’s been a nice couple of weeks.
“We are extremely excited to welcome Texas State as a foundational member of the new Pac-12,” Gould said in a release to media. “It is a new day in college sports and the most opportune time to launch a new league that is positioned to succeed in today’s landscape with student-athletes in mind.”
