Pac-12 Conference

5 2016 PAC-12 TRACK & FIELD MEDIA GUIDE CONFERENCE OF CHAMPIONS brief four-year history and was played at the new Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. The Wildcats went on to play in the VIZIO Fiesta Bowl. Also joining Oregon and UA in the postseason were UTAH (Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl), ARIZONA STATE (Hyundai Bowl), USC (National University Holiday Bowl), STANFORD (Foster Farms Bowl), UCLA (Valero Alamo Bowl) and WASHINGTON (TicketC- ity Cactus Bowl). Six Pac-12 teams appeared in the final Associated Press poll marking the second time in league history that six teams were in the final rank- ing. The teams in the top 25 were: Oregon (2), UCLA (10), Arizona State (12), Arizona (19), USC (20) and Utah (21). Seven Pac-12 men's basketball teams participated in the postseason with ARIZONA earning the Conference's automatic bid after winning the tournament title at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, the team's first tournament title since 2002. The Wildcats also captured their 14th regular-season crown. OREGON, UCLA and UTAH were also selected to play in the NCAA Tourna- ment. The Bruins and Utes reached the Sweet Sixteen while the Wildcats ad- vanced to the Elite Eight for the second straight year. For the second-straight year, Pac-12 teams had eight NCAA Tournament wins. ARIZONA STATE and STANFORD participated in the NIT, and the Cardinal swept through the post- season and won its third NIT crown and second in four seasons. COLORADO was a participant in the CBI. The Pac-12 women's basketball season also produced historic moments, including OREGON STATE capturing the program's first-ever Pac-12 regular- season title also claiming the No. 1 seed in the Pac-12 Tournament at KeyAre- na in Seattle, Wash. It was the first time in the history of the event STANFORD was not the top seed. However, the Cardinal still went on to win its 11th Confer- ence title as the No. 3 seed overall. Five league squads earned NCAA Tourna- ment berths for the second-consecutive year, while two more participated in the WNIT with UCLA claiming its first-ever WNIT crown. ARIZONA STATE reached the Sweet Sixteen and CALIFORNIA and WASHINGTON also participated in the Big Dance. Four teams appeared in the final top-25 of the Associated Press poll: ASU (9), OSU (10), Stanford (14) and Cal (24). It marked the first time the Beavers were in the final poll since 1995-96. WASHINGTON STATE also made its second-straight postseason appearance, joining the Bruins in the WNIT. Pac-12 volleyball also had an unprecedented season with a league-record 10 teams earning NCAA Tournament berths, a year after a then-league best nine teams advanced to the tournament in 2013. Five teams received a top-16 seed as STANFORD nabbed the top seed, while all 10 won their first-round match. The Pac-12 also set a new league record for most teams ranked in the final poll with nine teams appearing in the final AVCA top 25. The Cardinal won its 16th Pac-12 crown and advanced to the national semifinal for the first time since 2008 marking the 15th time in 17 years a Pac-12 team has advanced 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 five 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 OR- EGON. The Trojans, Bruins and Bears each reached the NCAA Regional finals. UCLA was ranked No. 7 by Baseball America in its final poll, one of three Pac-12 teams in the publication's final 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 five 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 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 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 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, 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 officially became the 11th and 12th members of the Conference on July 1, 2011, the first 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 first 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 first 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 Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) in four other men's sports and three women's sports. The Pac-12 Conference offices are located in the heart of San Francisco in the SOMA district.

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