Conference of Champions

Built on a firm foundation of academic excellence and superior athletic performance, the Pac-12 Conference renewed its undisputed claim as the Conference of Champions® in 2019-20. Beyond the courts and fields, the Pac-12’s accomplishments extend into the classrooms across 12 campuses, and outside its traditional geographic footprint into new corners around the world.

The only conference to win 500 NCAA Championships, the Pac-12 captured three of the seven national championships contested in 2019-20 before all sports competition was canceled due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic adding to a legacy that includes 193 NCAA team titles claimed since 1999-2000 and 333 since 1981-82, the start of women’s sports sponsorship, an average of over eight per year. Even more impressive has been the breadth of the Pac-12’s success with championships coming in 28 different men’s and women’s sports. The Pac-12 has led or tied the nation in NCAA Championships in 54 of the last 60 years, with the exceptions coming no lower than third.

The Pac-12 has won the most or tied for the most NCAA titles for 15-consecutive seasons, winning at least six every year from 1999-2000 to 2018-19, winning a record 14 in 1996-97. No other conference has won double-digit NCAA championships in a single year.

Spanning over a century of outstanding athletics achievements, the Pac-12 has claimed 529 NCAA Championships (305 men’s, 193 women’s, 31 combined), over 200 more than the next league.

Pac-12 members have won 305 NCAA team championships on the men’s side, 78 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, 54 tennis titles, 47 outdoor track & field crowns, and 29 baseball titles. Pac-12 members have won 25 of 49 NCAA titles in volleyball, 46 of 51 in water polo, 31 in skiing, and 25 in swimming & diving national championships.

On the women’s side, the story is much the same. Since the NCAA began conducting women’s championships 39 years ago, Pac-12 members have claimed at least four national titles in a single season on 29 occasions, including every year since 2000-01 except two (2012-13 and the 2019-20-shortened campaign). Pac-12 teams have captured 193 NCAA women’s titles, easily outdistancing the SEC, which is second with 106. Pac-12 members have dominated a number of sports, winning 24 softball titles, 24 tennis crowns, 17 volleyball titles, 19 of the last 30 trophies in golf, and 17 in swimming & diving.

Individually, the Conference has produced an impressive number of NCAA individual champions. Over 2,000 (2,379) individual crowns have been won by Pac-12 student-athletes over the years with 1,383 by male student-athletes. Pac-12 women student-athletes have captured an unmatched 808 NCAA individual crowns, an average of nearly 21 championships per season. Student-athletes have also captured 188 individual titles at combined championships (i.e., skiing and fencing).

The Pac-12’s excellence is further proven in the annual Division I Learfield IMG College Directors’ Cup competition, the prestigious award that honors the best overall collegiate athletics programs in the country. STANFORD won an unprecedented 25th-consecutive Directors’ Cup in 2018-19 to lead the Conference with at least five member institutions earning scores in the top 25 each year of the Directors’ Cup program. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Directors’ Cup was not awarded in 2019-20.