San Diego State to Join the Pac-12 Conference

SAN DIEGO -- San Diego State has accepted an invitation to join the Pac-12 Conference, the school announced Thursday morning. The Aztecs will officially become a member of the Pac-12 on July 1, 2026. 

SDSU joins league stalwarts Oregon State and Washington State, along with Boise State, Colorado State and Fresno State as the newest members of the league.

“We are ecstatic to be joining the Pac-12 Conference,” San Diego State director of athletics John David Wicker said. “While we are grateful to be a founding member of the Mountain West with 26 years of success in the conference, we are excited at what lies ahead with these new opportunities. We will continue to compete for conference championships on the field and to graduate leaders in the community."

“The move to the Pac-12 is a transformative moment for our entire university," SDSU President Adela de la Torre said. “Joining the Pac-12 opens the door to exciting partnerships and financial growth, all of which will contribute to the success of our student-athletes and the vitality of our university community. This is just the beginning -- we are poised to attract even more top-tier talent, compete at the highest national level and identify new opportunities that will benefit our One SDSU community and the San Diego region.”

Oregon State and Washington State are currently operating as members of the Pac-12 Conference as part of an NCAA two-year grace period and will continue to do so for the 2025-26 academic season before the four new members officially join. The collective six universities will collaboratively chart additional membership and other future conference considerations.

“For over a century, the Pac-12 Conference has been recognized as a leading brand in intercollegiate athletics,” Commissioner Teresa Gould stated. “We will continue to pursue bold cutting-edge opportunities for growth and progress, to best serve our member institutions and student-athletes. I am thankful to our board for their efforts to welcome Boise State University, Colorado State University, California State University, Fresno, and San Diego State University to the conference. An exciting new era for the Pac-12 Conference begins today.”

The Aztecs have won a Mountain West record 96 league titles (only includes sports SDSU competes in), including the most championships in each of the last three years. In the 2023-24 campaign alone, San Diego State captured six MW championships, including women’s soccer (regular season), swimming & diving, men’s golf, women’s tennis (tournament) and softball (regular season and tournament). The Aztecs also had four conference players of the year - Mac Barbara (softball, co-player), Yasmine Kabbaj (women’s tennis), Denise Castro (women’s soccer, offensive) and Alex Roberts (swimmer) - and three conference coaches of the year - Stacey Nuveman Deniz (softball), Mike Shrader (swimming) and Roland McDonald (diving).

SDSU has also been a power on the national stage as its combined .727 winning percentage in football and men’s basketball since the fall of 2010 ranks first in the country, just ahead of Ohio State (.726), Oregon (.713), Duke (.706) and Alabama (.693). San Diego State has also excelled in the professional ranks. Most recently, former Aztec men’s golfer Xander Schauffele won two of the four major championships in 2024, while former NCAA track & field champion Shanieka Ricketts (Thomas) won the silver medal in the triple jump at the Paris Olympics this summer.

In the classroom, 366 San Diego State student-athletes were recognized as scholar-athletes in April for achieving a semester GPA of 3.20 or higher or maintaining a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher. Additionally, 38 student-athletes earned Malik Award distinction for posting a 4.0 grade-point average.