Gonzaga is leaving the West Coast Conference for the Pac-12.

Gonzaga and the Pac-12 announced on Tuesday that the Bulldogs will join the conference as its eighth member beginning July 1, 2026.

"Following discussions with Pac-12 member presidents, I believe membership will represent an opportunity to participate in building a conference that imagines new, forward-thinking ways to support student-athletes in a rapidly changing collegiate sports landscape," Gonzaga University President Thayne McCulloh said.

"Partnerships with a new group of universities can also assist in our student recruitment and enrollment efforts, create opportunities for academic collaboration with new faculty colleagues, and attract more students who value an excellent education distinctively rooted in our Jesuit identity and tradition. I am particularly excited about the opportunities partnering with this group of institutions can offer our students, faculty, and staff for multi-institutional collaboration."

Brett McMurphy of Action Network reported last week that Gonzaga was Pac-12-bound and would receive a "full conference revenue share" despite not having a football program, but Gonzaga athletic director Chris Standiford told Jim Meehan of the Spokesman-Review at the time that it was "not accurate reporting."

Ten of 12 Pac-12 member schools have departed over the past year, leaving only Oregon State and Washington State behind.

The Pac-12 got creative by negotiating a scheduling agreement with the Mountain West Conference for Oregon State and Washington State in football this season while making the schools associate members of the West Coast Conference in basketball.

While not a power conference, the WCC has been a power in basketball thanks largely to the presence of Gonzaga, although Saint Mary's, San Francisco and some other programs have had success as well.

Gonzaga has been the class of the conference, though, and it has been among the elite programs in men's college basketball for years, reaching the NCAA tournament each of the past 25 times it has been held.

That run has not yielded a national championship, but the Bulldogs have twice finished as the national runner-up.

Gonzaga will become the eighth Pac-12 member school once it is officially added, as the Pac-12 has been hard at work in recent weeks when it comes to rebuilding the conference.

The Pac-12 has also secured commitments from Boise State, San Diego State, Colorado State, Fresno State and Utah State to leave the Mountain West Conference, giving the Pac-12 seven member schools in football.

While Gonzaga will be the eighth member school overall, the Pac-12 still needs at least one more member school in football to be recognized by the FBS as an official conference that is eligible for the College Football Playoff.

The Pac-12 figures to reach that threshold in the near future as it continues to add schools, but the addition of Gonzaga ensures that it will be a significant conference in basketball regardless.

Gonzaga reached the national championship game in 2021 and San Diego State did the same in 2023, meaning the Pac-12 will have two high-end basketball schools capable of contending for a national title.

That means the Pac-12 may be viewed as more of a basketball conference than a football conference moving forward, although Boise State has long been an elite Group of Five football team that could become a legitimate contender in a bigger conference.

Gonzaga will bring some instant credibility to the Pac-12 in basketball, while the West Coast Conference will be dealt a major blow with Saint Mary's likely ascending to the top of the conference in the Zags' place.