Pac-12 Gonzaga Feb 18, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; The Pac-12 Conference logo on the court at Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom. Utah defeated UCLA 70-69. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Conference realignment struck again on Tuesday. A massive shakeup out West has college sports fans buzzing. The Pac-12 will welcome the Gonzaga Bulldogs, the school announced.

The Gonzaga Athletics program announced the move to the conference, a move that shook everyone up this morning before the official announcement.

“The Pac-12 Conference and Gonzaga University are proud to announce their partnership, as the Bulldogs will join the conference effective July 1, 2026,” they said.

The move is the latest in a series of moves that have helped rebuild the Pac-12. Down to just two schools before the start of the year, the conference later added several Mountain West programs like Boise State and San Diego State, among others. This move is a big one to help them swell to more members, and also helps the basketball profile out quite a bit.

Gonzaga has been one of the best men’s basketball programs in the country in the last quarter-century. College basketball fans far and wide have become familiar with the small school out of Spokane. They’ve had some of the best college basketball players of the era and have done it all minus winning a National Championship.

This move had plenty of people in the sports world talking.

Time will tell to see what domino is next to fall.

[Gonzaga Athletics]

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About Chris Novak

Chris Novak has been talking and writing about sports ever since he can remember. Previously, Novak wrote for and managed sites in the SB Nation network for nearly a decade from 2013-2022