Just over three weeks after Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark said talks to bring Gonzaga to the conference had died, The Messenger reported Monday that those discussions have started again.
According to the report, Gonzaga’s move to the Big 12 in all sports could come as early as 2024. The conference recently added Arizona, Arizona State, Utah and Colorado from the collapsing Pac-12 Conference.
The Big 12 was in reported talks this summer to add Gonzaga and UConn but the additions failed to materialize once the Pac-12 schools were added.
“Unfortunately, things didn’t work out only because the dream scenario unfolded for us, so those conversations are no longer,” Yormark told podcast hosts Andrew Marchand and John Ourand last month. “I’m a big admirer of both of those programs. They’re fantastic for all the right reasons but I’m focused on the transition of those four (new schools) right now.”
Gonzaga, which has grown into a national basketball power out of Spokane, Wash., has been in the West Coast Conference (formerly known as the West Coast Athletic Conference) since the 1979-80 basketball season.
The Bulldogs have advanced to every NCAA Tournament contested since 1999, making it to the championship game in 2017 and 2021.
Under current head coach Mark Few, the Bulldogs have gone 689-135 the past 24 seasons. They have won the conference tournament 19 times in that stretch.
–Field Level Media
