Pac-12 Conference

bids in 2013. It was the second year in a row for the Conference to have eight teams participate in the postseason. ARIZONA STATE and WASHINGTON both punched their tickets to the NCAA Women's College World Series, the 27th consecutive year the Conference has sent two teams to the WCWS. Pac-12 members have won 309 NCAA team championships on the men's side, 88 more than the next closest conference. Men's NCAA crowns have come at a phenomenal rate for the Pac-12 - 16 basketball titles by six schools (more than any other conference), 53 tennis titles, 45 outdoor track & field crowns, and 28 baseball titles. Pac-12 members have won 25 of 44 NCAA titles in volleyball, 39 of 43 in water polo, 28 in skiing, and 23 in swimming & diving national championships. Individually, the Conference has produced an impressive number of NCAA individual champions. Over 2,000 (2,123) individual crowns have been won by Pac-12 student-athletes over the years with 1,459 by male student-athletes. On the women's side, the story is much the same. Since the NCAA be- gan conducting women's championships 32 years ago, Pac-12 members have claimed at least four national titles in a single season on 23 occasions, includ- ing 13-consecutive years from 2000-2013. Overall, the Pac-12 has captured 150 NCAA women's titles, easily outdistancing the SEC, which is second, with 90. Pac-12 members have dominated a number of sports, winning 23 softball titles, 20 tennis crowns, 14 volleyball titles, 15 of the last 24 trophies in golf, and 13 in swimming & diving. Pac-12 women student-athletes shine nationally on an individual basis, as well, having captured an unmatched 664 NCAA individual crowns, an average of nearly 21 championships per season. PAC-12 CONFERENCE HISTORY The roots of the Pac-12 Conference date back 98 years to December 2, 1915, when the Pacific Coast Conference (PCC) was founded at a meeting at the Oregon Hotel in Portland, Ore. The original membership consisted of four schools - the University of California at Berkeley, the University of Washington, the University of Oregon, and Oregon State College (now Oregon State Univer- sity). All still are charter members of the Conference. Pacific Coast Conference play began in 1916 and, one year later, Wash- ington State College (now Washington State University) was accepted into the league, with Stanford University following in 1918. In 1922, the PCC expanded to eight teams with the admission of the Uni- versity of Southern California (USC) and the University of Idaho. In 1924, the University of Montana joined the league roster, and in 1928, the PCC grew to 10 members with the addition of UCLA. The Pacific Coast Conference competed as a 10-member league until 1950, with the exception of 1943-45 when World War II curtailed intercollegiate ath- letic competition to a minimum. During that time, the league's first commis- sioner was named. Edwin N. Atherton was Commissioner in 1940 and was succeeded by Victor O. Schmidt in 1944. In 1950, Montana resigned from the Conference and the PCC continued as a nine-team Conference through 1958. In 1959, the PCC was dissolved and the Athletic Association of Western Uni- versities (AAWU) was formed and Thomas J. Hamilton was appointed Commis- sioner of the new league. The original AAWU membership included California, Stanford, Southern California, UCLA and Washington. Washington State joined the membership in 1962, while Oregon and Oregon State joined in 1964. Un- der Hamilton's watch, the name Pacific-8 Conference was adopted in 1968. In 1971, Wiles Hallock took over as Commissioner of the Pac-8. Ten years later, on July 1, 1978, the University of Arizona and Arizona State University were admitted to the league and the Pacific-10 Conference became a reality. In 1986-87, the league took on a new look, expanding to include 10 women's sports. Since then, the Conference has been considered the premiere league in women's athletics, securing the most NCAA titles in women's sports of any conference nearly every year. Thomas C. Hansen was named the Commissioner of the Pac-10 in 1983, a role he would hold for 26 years until 2009. Hansen was succeeded by current Commissioner Larry Scott, who took on the new role in July 2009. During the 2010-11 academic year, the University of Colorado accepted its invitation to join the Pac-12 on June 11, 2010, and on June 17, 2010, the Uni- versity of Utah agreed to join the Conference. The Buffaloes and Utes officially became the 11th and 12th members of the Conference on July 1, 2011, the first additions to the league since 1978. Since 1978, member schools have won 274 NCAA titles, including 139 women's and 135 men's. It was during that 2010-11 academic year that Scott helped deliver mon- umental changes that transformed the Conference into a modern 12-team league. The Conference expanded to add two more teams, agreed to equal revenue sharing for the first time in Conference history, created two divisions - the North and the South, for football only, established a Football Championship Game for the first time ever, secured a landmark media rights deal that dramati- cally increased national exposure and revenue for each school, establishing the Pac-12 Networks and Pac-12 Digital Network that guaranteed enhanced exposure across all sports. Currently, the Pac-12 sponsors 11 men's sports and 11 women's sports. Ad- ditionally, the Conference is a member of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federa- tion (MPSF) in four other men's sports and three women's sports. The Pac-12 Conference offices are located 25 miles east of San Francisco in Walnut Creek, Calif. CONFERENCE OF CHAMPIONS //5 2014 PAC-12 OUTDOOR TRACK & FIELD // 5

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