NCAA Conference Realignment Summary: A Lot Has Changed

by Mark Wild 27

August 30th, 2024 ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, College, News, Pac-12, SEC

It’s that time of the year again. SwimSwam will be previewing the top 12 men’s and women’s teams (and then some) from the 2024 NCAA Championships. Follow along with the College Swimming Preview Channel. (Also, a big shout out to Anya Pelshaw for helping making the maps)

Well, it’s not quite yet that time, but with September right around the corner and NCAA D I programs already in the swing of things, consider this a preamble to our college previews.

The Moves

Not since the formation of the Big 12 Athletic Conference back in 1996 has there been so much movement in the NCAA Swimming & Diving world, and perhaps the changes announced over the past three years trump that.

Texas, along with Oklahoma (which doesn’t sponsor swimming), announced back in 2021 their intentions to leave the Big 12 and join the SEC. The move would see Texas join one of the premier swimming conferences and leave a massive hole in the Big 12, as the Texas Men were undefeated at Conference Championships and the Women had won 20 times from 1996 to 2021.

A year later, in June of 2022 PAC-12 programs USC and UCLA (women’s swimming) both announced their jump to the Big Ten, a move that set off tizzy of moves and spelt the death knell of the PAC-12 as a power conference.

Oregon and Washington, which don’t support swimming, joined their southern rivals in the Big Ten. Arizona and Arizona State jumped into the void left by Texas and Oklahoma in the Big 12, as did Colorado and Utah. California, Stanford, Oregon State, and Washington State were the only programs remaining by the summer of 2023. However, Cal and Stanford were gobbled up by the ACC, which was the only conference to not yet add new programs. Yet, it was not an easy process for Cal and Stanford (as well as SMU) as all three schools will have to deal with decreased media rights revenue for the coming nine years.

When the dust settled, 10 of the 12 PAC-12 programs had flown the coop by August of 2023, leaving just Oregon State and Washington State, which a few months later announced their move to the West Coast Conference as an affiliate member, with WSU set to swim in Mountain West Conference.

Where it Stands

With the demise of the PAC-12, there are now just four Power Conferences, and for swimming, this means vast changes to programs, especially as some West Coast teams will have to travel cross-country for meets.

The Changes

Old Conference New Conference W. NCAA Finish M. NCAA Finish
Arizona PAC-12 Big 12 28th
Arizona State PAC-12 Big 12 24th 1st
California PAC-12 ACC 11th 2nd
SMU AAC ACC 18th
Stanford PAC-12 ACC 5th 8th
Texas Big 12 SEC 2nd 7th
UCLA PAC-12 Big Ten 22nd N/A
USC PAC-12 Big Ten 8th 22nd
Utah PAC-12 Big 12 25th 36th
Washington State PAC-12 Mountain West 40th N/A

Select StorylinesΒ 

With the dissolution of the PAC-12, conference meetings, which were once a mixed bag of taper and not so, have certainly changed and with every conference adding teams from a P5 conference.

  • Texas, which used to be able to rest its men at conference, will now face off against much stronger competition in the SEC, including 2024 #3 place finisher Florida and #6 place finisher Tennesse. The Women, runner-ups at NCAA, join a very strong SEC that includes NCAA 3rd and 4th place finishers Florida and Tennesse.
  • ASU, which won back PAC-12 titles on the men’s side against tough competition Cal, now finds itself likely atop the Big 12, with little competition to threaten their streak of conference titles.
  • The Big 10 adds the 8th place NCAA Women’s team, USC, which finished just 6 points behind Indiana at the NCAA Championships and just one place ahead of Ohio State, albeit by 38 points.
  • The ACC sees powerhouse Cal threaten NC State’s run of three straight conference titles on the men’s side, and both the Cal and Stanford women could make things a little less comfortable for the Virginia Women.

ACC Membership in 2024-25

  • Boston College †*
  • Cal †*
  • Clemson
  • Duke †*
  • FloridaΒ State †*
  • Georgia Tech †*
  • Louisville †*
  • MiamiΒ *
  • North Carolina †*
  • NC State †*
  • Notre Dame †*
  • Pitt †*
  • SMU †*
  • Stanford †*
  • Syracuse
  • Virginia †*
  • Virginia Tech †*
  • Wake Forest
* – sponsors women’s swimming (15 schools) † – sponsors men’s swimming (14 schools)

Big Ten Membership in 2024-25

  • IllinoisΒ *
  • Indiana †*
  • Iowa *
  • Maryland
  • Michigan †*
  • Michigan State
  • Minnesota †*
  • Nebraska *
  • Northwestern †*
  • Ohio State †*
  • OregonΒ 
  • Penn State †*
  • Purdue †*
  • Rutgers *
  • UCLA *
  • USC †*
  • Washington
  • Wisconsin †*
  • * – sponsors women’s swimming (14 schools)
  • † – sponsors men’s swimming (9 schools)

 

Big 12 Membership in 2024-25

  • Arizona †*
  • Arizona State †*
  • Baylor
  • BYU †*
  • Cincinnati †*
  • Colorado
  • Houston *
  • Iowa State *
  • Kansas *
  • Kansas State
  • Oklahoma State
  • TCU †*
  • Texas Tech
  • UCF
  • Utah †*
  • West Virginia †*
  • * – sponsors women’s swimming (10 schools)
  • † – sponsors men’s swimming (7 schools)


SEC Membership in 2024-25

  • Alabama †*
  • Arkansas *
  • Auburn †*
  • Florida †*
  • Georgia †*
  • Kentucky †*
  • LSU †*
  • Ole Miss
  • Mississippi State
  • Missouri †*
  • Oklahoma
  • South Carolina †*
  • Tennessee †*
  • Texas †*
  • Texas A&M †*
  • Vanderbilt *
  • * – sponsors women’s swimming (13 schools)
  • † – sponsors men’s swimming (11 schools)

 

 

 

 

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SwimCoachDad
1 month ago

Anyone from the original schools knows there are 10 schools in the Big Ten. The other 8 are interlopers.

Lil Swimmy Jr.
1 month ago

Anyone think it’s weird that NCAAs are at Federal Way, WA this year with the death of the PAC-12

Admin
Reply to  Lil Swimmy Jr.
1 month ago

Yeah. but it’s a great pool.

Last NCAAs in Federal Way didn’t sell super well if I recall. But it’s a huge facility with seating on two sides. After a few meets in recent years where the public was almost locked out of the meet, the big seating capacity is a plus.

Wahooswimfan
1 month ago

Greensboro, NC will be the place to be come February 2025!

Jeff Olsen
1 month ago

The NCAA needs to take over every sport other than football and basketball and assign teams to geographically based regions for the equivalent of regular-season and conference championships.
It’s not as bad in swimming as it is in other sports like volleyball and baseball/softball with constant cross-country travel, but the status quo is detrimental to both academic and athletic performance.

Wahooswimfan
Reply to  Jeff Olsen
1 month ago

Look at the dual meet schedules – notwithstanding conference, most teams are only doing 2-4 dual meets, and only traveling for 1-2, then going to a fall invitational or two, conference champs and for the top teams, NCAAs (and maybe a World cup/i ternational meet for the top tier).

MIKE IN DALLAS
1 month ago

With Texas now swimming In the SEC it’s going to be quite interesting at conference time And see how they approach the whole thing with Bowman leading the program.

Boknows34
1 month ago

ACC should be renamed PACC for both coasts.

This Guy
Reply to  Boknows34
1 month ago

Or just keep the same acronym and call it the All Coasts Conference (ACC)

jeff
Reply to  This Guy
1 month ago

or A for American πŸ¦…πŸ¦…πŸ¦…

Kevin
1 month ago

If anyone is curious about the full conference maps and not just the Swimming landscape (which was quite nice to have broken out like it was instead of trying to blank out conference schools that don’t have programs) this site has them all, and more like specific tournaments. https://sportleaguemaps.com/ncaa/

Reid
1 month ago

Another storyline will be how the PAC 12 teams adjust to a new taper schedule with a longer period between conference and NCAAs