Pac-12 Conference

CONFERENCE OF CHAMPIONS® // 3 2014-15 PAC-12 YEAR IN REVIEW that far. With 15-straight years of at least six Conference teams earning NCAA bids, the Pac-12 has dominated the sport, winning a record 14 NCAA volleyball titles since 1982, including 12 in the last 24 years. In baseball, UCLA won its third regular-season title in !ve years and were the No. 1 overall seed at the 64-team NCAA Tournament. Five additional teams earned bids: OREGON STATE, USC, CALIFORNIA, ARIZONA STATE and OREGON. The Trojans, Bruins and Bears each reached the NCAA Regional !nals. UCLA was ranked No. 7 by Baseball America in its !nal poll, one of three Pac-12 teams in the publication's !nal top-25, joining No. 20 USC and No. 22 California. 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 four 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 34-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. Seven teams participated in the tournament in 2015, marking the 19th-straight season the Pac-21 has had !ve or more teams advance to the postseason, and has had at least three berths every year since the league began sponsoring the sport in 1987. Pac-12 Champion OREGON and UCLA advanced to the NCAA Women's College World Series, while ARIZONA advanced as far as the Super Regional. PAC-12 CONFERENCE HISTORY The roots of the Pac-12 Conference date back nearly 100 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 12 women's sports, with beach volleyball added in 2015-16. Additionally, the Conference is a member of the Mountain Paci!c Sports Federation (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. 2015-16 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 9-12, 2016 » Host: Pac-12 Conference BASKETBALL (W) at KeyArena, Seattle, Wash. Thursday-Sunday, March 3-6, 2016 » Host: Pac-12 Conference BEACH VOLLEYBALL at Merle Norman Stadium, Los Angeles, Calif. TBD » Host: USC CROSS COUNTRY (M&W) at Colfax Golf and Country Club, Colfax, Wash. Friday, October 30, 2015 » Host: Washington State DIVING (M&W) at Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center, Federal Way, Wash. Wednesday-Saturday, February 24-27, 2016 » Host: Pac-12 Conference FOOTBALL at Levi's® Stadium, Santa Clara, Calif. Friday, December 5, 2015 » Host: Pac-12 Conference GOLF (M) at Salt Lake Country Club, Salt Lake City, Utah Friday-Sunday, April 29-May 1, 2016 » Host: Utah GOLF (W) at Ruby Hill Golf Club, Pleasanton, Calif. Monday-Wednesday, April 18-20, 2016 » Host: California GYMNASTICS (W) at Alaska Airlines Arena, Seattle, Wash. Saturday, March 19, 2016 » Host: Washington ROWING (M&W) at Sacramento State Aquatics Center, Lake Natoma, Calif. Sunday, May 15, 2016 » 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 2-5, 2016 » Host: Pac-12 Conference SWIMMING (W) at Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center, Federal Way, Wash. Wednesday-Saturday, February 24-27, 2016 » Host: Pac-12 Conference TENNIS (M&W) at Ojai Valley Athletic Club/Libbey Park, Ojai, Calif. Tuesday-Sunday, April 20-24, 2016 » Host: Pac-12 Conference TRACK & FIELD (M&W) at Husky Track, Seattle, Wash. Multi-events: May 7-8, 2016; Championship: May 14-15, 2016 Host: Washington VOLLEYBALL (W) - Champion determined by best 20-match conference record. WRESTLING at Wells Fargo Arena, Tempe, Ariz. Saturday, February 27, 2016 » Host: Arizona State

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