Pac-12 officially adds Texas State as ninth member

The Pac-12 officially added Texas State to its membership, cementing the revamped league’s status as a Football Bowl Subdivision conference.

The addition of the Bobcats has been in the works for quite a while and it crossed the finish line just in time Monday when the Texas State University System Board of Regents authorized the school’s $5 million exit fee to the Sun Belt Conference. The exit fee would have climbed to $10 million on Tuesday.

Texas State will play one final season in the Sun Belt before moving to the Pac-12 on July 1, 2026. Texas State is expected to receive a partial share of the Pac-12’s annual payout (estimates are in the $7-11 million range) in 2026 with gradual increases before reaching a full share by 2031, according to the Austin Sports Journal.

The Bobcats will become the Pac-12’s eighth all-sports, football-playing member, meeting the FBS conference minimum requirement. Gonzaga, which is leaving the West Coast Conference for the Pac-12 next season, doesn’t compete in football.

The Bobcats will join GU, Pac-12 holdovers Washington State and Oregon State and San Diego State, Boise State, Fresno State, Utah State and Colorado State from the Mountain West.

“Under great leadership from (President) Kelly Damphousse, (athletic director) Don Coryell and excellent head coaches, Texas State has shown a commitment to competing and winning at the highest level as well as to providing student-athletes with a well-rounded college experience academically, athletically and socially,” Pac-12 commissioner Theresa Gould said. “We look forward to seeing the Bobcats’ future trajectory continue to shine big and bright.”

The Pac-12 will extend its imprint into the Southwest and fertile recruiting grounds in Texas. The conference will span three time zones: Pacific, Mountain and the Central with Texas State, located in San Marcos, roughly 50 miles from San Antonio and 30 from Austin.

Texas State football has taken major strides recently after moving up from the Football Championship Subdivision level in 2012.

The Bobcats are just 56-102 in 13 years with three winning seasons, but two of those were in 2023 and 2024. Texas State posted consecutive 8-5 records and recorded the program’s only two bowl wins in the last two years.

Texas State landed the largest stadium naming rights deal in Group of Five history in 2024 with a $23 million agreement with University Federal Credit Union .

The Bobcats recently opened a $37 million football performance center.

Head coach GJ Kinne, a quarterback at Tulsa from 2009-11, has guided Texas State’s emergence. He was rewarded with a seven-year contract last November worth $2 million annually, making him one of the highest paid coaches outside of the SEC, Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC.

Boise State’s Spencer Danielson, who led Boise State to a No. 3 seed in last year’s College Football Playoffs in his first full season as head coach, is expected to earn $2.2 million per year with a new five-year deal.

First-year Washington State coach Jimmy Rogers will reportedly make $1.57 million annually over the next five seasons.

Five of the Pac-12’s future eight football programs – Boise State, Washington State, Fresno State, Colorado State and Texas State – played in bowl games last year.

Texas State doesn’t move the needle as much in basketball, but the Bobcats did have three 20-win seasons in four years prior to going 16-19, 17-18 and 16-16 over the last three seasons.

The Bobcats have won five conference championships and are 0-2 in two NCAA Tournament appearances in 42 seasons. They finished seventh in the 14-team Sun Belt last season and were No. 198 in the NET rankings.

Gonzaga, which has played in every NCAA Tournament since 1999, and San Diego State figure to anchor what projects as a strong basketball conference.

Texas State competes in 16 Division I sports and has captured the Vic Bubas Cup, which honors the Sun Belt’s best all-sports program, three of the last four years. The Bobcats have an additional $50 million in planned improvements to support athlete revenue sharing and performance centers across several sports.

“We are not joining the Pac-12 to simply participate; we are joining to compete, contribute and win championships,” Damphousse said. “The Pac-12 has a proud and storied tradition of excellence and TXST is honored to be a foundational member university helping to write the next chapter.”