Arizona Wildcats leave strong Pac-12 legacy in Big 12 expansion move
The Arizona Wildcats are switching conferences for the first time in a very long time, leaving the Pac-12 for the Big 12 along with Arizona State, Utah and Colorado.
A change in conferences marks the end of an era for Arizona, which established itself as a national brand during its time in the conference and won 18 NCAA titles.
The Wildcats, along with Arizona State, joined the Pac-12 in 1978 after previously competing in the Western Athletic Conference. It was quite a process to join the conference as the schools received invitations to join the then-Pac-8 in December of 1976 before being formally announced as member institutions in the new Pac-10 in May of 1977. Both started competing in the conference in 1978.
The conference became the Pac-12 Conference with the official additions of Colorado and Utah in 2011.
USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington are leaving the Pac-12 for the Big Ten in 2024; Colorado, Utah and the Arizona schools are leaving the conference for the Big 12 that same year.
Pac-12 timeline: History of change, legacy of success for conference from 1915 to today
Top moments in Arizona's Pac-12 history
Lute Olson built the Arizona Wildcats men's basketball program into a perennial contender. The culmination of the program came in 1997, when it won the national championship with an 84-79 win over Kentucky in overtime.
Arizona's football team won its only Pac-12 title in 1993, when it went 10-2 and tied with UCLA and USC for the title. Arizona went on to beat Miami in the Fiesta Bowl. The Wildcats played in three additional Fiesta Bowls while Pac-12 members, most recently in 2014.
From 1986-87 to 1993-94 the Wildcats men's basketball team won six out of seven Pac-12 titles.
You can't tell the story of Arizona athletics in the Pac-12 without Mike Candrea and the Wildcats softball team, which won eight national championships, the last of which came in 2007.
Arizona's most recent NCAA title came in women's golf in 2018, and the baseball team won the College World Series in 2012.
Sun Devils legacy: Arizona State leaving rich Pac-12 history behind in Big 12 expansion move
Arizona's Pac-12 championships
Since joining the Pac-12 Conference, Arizona has won 62 conference titles, led by 17 in men's basketball.
Baseball: 4
Men's basketball: 17
Women's basketball: 1
Men's cross country: 7
Women's cross country: 1
Football: 1
Men's golf: 4
Women's golf: 8
Women's soccer: 1
Softball: 11
Women's swimming: 4
Men's tennis: 2
Women's volleyball: 1
Conference of Champions: List of Pac-12 teams' total national titles
Arizona's national championships in Pac-12
Arizona has won 19 NCAA team national championships, with 18 coming since the team joined the Pac-12.
Baseball: 1980, 1986, 2012
Men's basketball: 1997
Men's golf: 1992
Men's swimming: 2008
Women's golf: 1996, 2000, 2018
Softball: 1991, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2001, 2006, 2007
Women's swimming: 2008
Reach Jeremy Cluff at jeremy.cluff@arizonarepublic.com. Follow him on Twitter @Jeremy_Cluff.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Big 12 expansion: Arizona leaving Pac-12 legacy of success in move
