Requiem for the Pac-12

In a way, it's strangely fitting that Oregon State was the last Pac-12 team standing.  It was Oregon State, one of two schools hoping to keep the conference alive in some way, there for the final moments.  The last gasp of the Pac-12 as we knew it.  But, alas, with the Beavers' 3-2 loss to Kentucky in the baseball Super Regionals on Sunday night, the Pac-8/10/12 is officially no more, a casualty of conference realignment.

Technically, the Pac-12 schools are still together for another few weeks.  The departures to the Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC won't be official until August.  But, for all intents and purposes, the Pac-12 is no more.  The Conference of Champions will always be a part of history, but it will never be the same again.  And what a glorious history it was!

The "Conference of Champions" moniker wasn't just a boast.  It was true!  Pac-12 schools have won a combined 561 NCAA titles, 260 more than the next-closest conference.  The conference has led the NCAA in National Championships 19 years in a row.  During the 2023-24 season, six different Pac-12 members combined to win eight National Championships.  Stanford women's golf will go down as the Pac-12's last National Champion, at least in its current incarnation.

Stanford, UCLA and USC rank first, second and third among all Division I schools in overall National Championships.  They're the only three schools with more than 100.  Not all of those were claimed in the Pac-8/10/12, of course, but a vast majority of them were.  And we're only talking about team titles here.  Pac-8/10/12 student-athletes have numerous individual NCAA Championships, as well.  So, like I said, "Conference of Champions" isn't boasting.  It's accurate!

Next season, that number will drop to six.  Oregon State baseball is responsible for half of those.  The Beavers' other National title was in men's cross country in 1961.  Washington State, meanwhile, has just two National Championships (1937 boxing, which isn't even an NCAA sport anymore, and 1977 men's indoor track & field).  All 207 of the conference's women's championships are departing.

It didn't have to be this way.  The Pac-12 was done in as much by its own mismanagement as anything else.  If former Commissioner George Klivakoff had been proactive as soon as UCLA and USC announced they were leaving for the Big Ten, this might not have happened.  In fact, I'd venture to say it probably wouldn't have.  Instead, Klivakoff chose to wait until the conference's TV deal was done.  Except the TV deal that he negotiated sucked and most of the league bolted for the millions in extra football revenue that they'll receive in their new conferences.

While it's impossible to say what would've happened if the Pac-12 actually had competent leadership, the whole thing seems like it was totally avoidable.  This didn't have to happen to the Pac-12.  Or maybe it did.  Maybe it was inevitable that the Power 5 would turn into the Power 4.  Maybe the allure of football money from the bigger/richer leagues would eventually become too much to pass up.

Oregon State and Washington State still own the Pac-12 brand and will continue using the conference's name for the next two seasons while effectively being associate members of the Mountain West (in football) and West Coast Conference (everything else).  They have two years to figure something out.  Two years to find a way to keep the "Pac-12" alive.  It's a name that still means something, so there's realistic hope that they can revive the league in some form, whether it's through a reverse merger with the Mountain West or some other way.  I hope they succeed.

We've seen a conference rise from the ashes before, so we know it can be done.  It was about a decade ago when the Big East was gutted for its football teams and everybody that was left got split in two.  The basketball-focused members kept the Big East name, kept Madison Square Garden and reloaded with Butler, Xavier and Creighton.  Two straight UConn National titles later, the Big East is stronger than ever!

Can the same thing happen in a rebuilt Pac-12?  Sure!  Unlikely as it might be, it's still theoretically possible.  Especially with a school like San Diego State (which the Pac-12 should've immediately added the second UCLA & USC announced they were leaving) potentially in the mix.  But still, even if Oregon State and Washington State are able to keep the Pac-12 alive, the conference will never be the same.

And that's the saddest part of the entire situation.  For the longest time, the Pac-12 was the one conference that seemed immune to realignment.  Its membership was consistent from the time the Arizona schools joined in 1978 until the addition of Colorado and Utah in 2011.  Thirteen years later, the Pac-12 is relegated a part of history.

What a glorious history it was, though!  The UCLA men's basketball dynasty is something the sport has never seen before or since and produced legendary names like Lew Alcindor and Bill Walton, playing for the one and only John Wooden.  Ditto with USC football and all its Heisman Trophy winners.  Oregon track & field.  Stanford swimming & diving.  Arizona State baseball.

On the women's side, no conference compares to the Pac-12.  It's not even close!  UCLA and Arizona were the first two powerhouses in softball.  USC and UCLA have won every National Championship in beach volleyball (and faced each other in five of the eight finals), and every women's water polo National Championship Game except one has featured two Pac-12 schools.

That will all change in 2024-25.  Ten of the 12 Pac-12 members are off to bigger and better, leaving just Oregon State and Washington State.  Which is why it's fitting that Oregon State was the last Pac-12 team standing in 2023-24.  Because the Beavers will still be carrying that Pac-12 banner next season.  So, while this is the end of the Pac-12 as we know it, this isn't the end of the Pac-12 entirely.  The Pac-12 will live on, even if it's only as a part of history.