Texas State Joins the Pac-12: An Emerging New Era

By Ben Cameron

SAN MARCOS – Texas State has officially accepted the Pac-12’s invite to join the conference in July 2026. Next year will be the final season of the Sun Belt era in San Marcos that began 12 years ago.  

Texas State has won three of the last four Bubas Cups, an award given to the top-performing athletic school in the Sun Belt. It is clear however, that the Bobcats emerging football program was what caught the attention of the Pac-12. The conference needed an eighth football school to remain an NCAA conference, and a program with back-to-back bowl seasons led by emerging head coach G.J. Kinne felt like the perfect target. 

That is not to say the Bobcats’ success in winning the Bubas Cup wasn’t amusing to the Pac-12. Texas State claimed the championship trophy (regular season or tournament) in women’s indoor and outdoor track and field, men’s outdoor track and field, volleyball and softball. Women’s soccer, women’s tennis, men’s indoor track and field and football all put together top four conference placements. 

Texas State now makes nine universities in the newly rebuilt Pac-12. The Bobcats new conference rivals (in 2026) will be Washington State, Oregon State, Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State, Utah State, and Gonzaga (non-football). 

With this lineup, the conference hopes to continue having national championship contenders in all sports like it did before its collapse, and Texas State is a promising addition. The Bobcats will have strong competition across all sports though, with cemented powerhouse programs in Gonzaga basketball and Oregon State baseball. As well as Boise State’s newfound football program who made the college football playoffs last season.  

Texas State teams will be finishing off their time in the Sun Belt next season, the  new conference will bring much change to the sports of San Marcos and the university as a whole.