Pac-12 Conference

//3 2013-14 PAC-12 YEAR IN REVIEW // 3 CONFERENCE OF CHAMPIONS® OREGON STATE won its second-straight Pac-12 baseball crown and was the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament. Five teams altogether earned postseason bids with ARIZONA STATE, OREGON, STANFORD and WASHINGTON joining the Beavers in the tournament. UW made its return to the NCAA Tournament after a 10-year absence, while the Cardinal used a walk-off home run to advance to the Su- per Regionals before falling to eventual national champion Vanderbilt. The Pac-12 has, by far, won the most baseball national titles of any conference in the country, claiming 28 titles dating back to 1947, including two of the last three when the league had back-to-back champions in 2012 (Arizona) and 2013 (UCLA). Another sport in which the Pac-12 Conference has dominated is softball where league teams have claimed 23 NCAA titles in the 33-year history of the championship. Pac-12 teams captured an unprecedented nine in a row from 1988-1997, then most recently claimed six-straight from 2006-11. Five teams participated in the tournament in 2014, with OREGON earning the overall No. 1 seed and advancing to the NCAA Women's College World Series. Joining the Ducks in the tournament were third-seeded UCLA, No. 9-seed ARIZONA STATE, No. 11-seed ARIZONA and No. 12-seed WASHINGTON as the Bruins, Wildcats and Huskies went as far as the Super Regionals. The Conference has had at least three teams in the NCAA Tournament every year since the league began sponsoring the sport in 1987. Before earning the No. 1-overall seed, UO claimed its second-straight Pac-12 crown. PAC-12 CONFERENCE HISTORY The roots of the Pac-12 Conference date back 99 years to December 2, 1915, when the Paci!c 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. Paci!c 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 Paci!c 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 !rst 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 with Thomas J. Hamilton was appointed Commis- sioner of the new league. The original AAWU membership included California, Stanford, USC, UCLA and Washington. Washington State joined the member- ship in 1962, while Oregon and Oregon State joined in 1964. Under Hamilton's watch, the name Paci!c-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 Paci!c-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, and 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 of!cially became the 11th and 12th members of the Conference on July 1, 2011, the !rst additions to the league since 1978. 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. In addition to expanding to 12 teams, member institutions agreed to equal revenue sharing for the !rst time in the Conference's history, created two divisions - the North and the South, for football only and established a Foot- ball Championship Game for the !rst time ever. He also secured a landmark media rights deal that dramatically 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 Paci!c Sports Federa- tion (MPSF) in four other men's sports and three women's sports. The Pac-12 Conference of!ces are located in the heart of San Francisco in the SOMA district. 2014-15 PAC-12 CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP DATES AND SITES BASEBALL - Champion determined by three-game series round-robin play BASKETBALL (M) at MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, Nev. Wednesday-Saturday, March 11-14, 2015 » Host: Pac-12 Conference BASKETBALL (W) at KeyArena, Seattle, Wash. Thursday-Sunday, March 5-8, 2015 » Host: Pac-12 Conference CROSS COUNTRY (M&W) at Berkeley, Calif. Friday, October 31, 2014 » Host: California DIVING (M&W) at Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center, Federal Way, Wash. Wednesday-Saturday, February 25-28, 2015 » Host: Pac-12 Conference FOOTBALL at Levi's® Stadium, Santa Clara, Calif. Friday, December 5, 2014 » Host: Pac-12 Conference GOLF (M) at Palouse Ridge Golf Course, Pullman, Wash. Sunday-Tuesday, April 26-28, 2015 » Host: Washington State GOLF (W) at Boulder Country Club, Boulder, Colo. Monday-Wednesday, April 20-22, 2015 » Host: Colorado GYMNASTICS (W) at Wells Fargo Arena, Tempe, Ariz. Saturday, March 21, 2015 » Host: Arizona State ROWING (M&W) at Sacramento State Aquatics Center, Lake Natoma, Calif. Sunday, May 17, 2015 » Host: Pac-12 Conference SOCCER (M) - Champion determined by double round-robin play. SOCCER (W) - Champion determined by single round-robin play. SOFTBALL - Champion determined by three-game series round-robin play. SWIMMING (M) at Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center, Federal Way, Wash. Wednesday-Saturday, March 4-7, 2015 » Host: Pac-12 Conference SWIMMING (W) at Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center, Federal Way, Wash. Wednesday-Saturday, February 25-28, 2015 » Host: Pac-12 Conference TENNIS (M&W) at Ojai Valley Athletic Club/Libbey Park, Ojai, Calif. Tuesday-Sunday, April 22-26, 2015 » Host: Pac-12 Conference TRACK & FIELD (M&W) at Los Angeles, Calif. Multi-events: May 9-10, 2015; Championship: May 16-17, 2015 Host: UCLA VOLLEYBALL (W) - Champion determined by best 20-match conference record. WRESTLING at Gill Coliseum, Corvallis, Ore. February 28 or March 1, 2015 » Host: Oregon State

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