An Exhaustive Guide to the College Basketball and Football Programs Changing Conferences July 1

Every Division I school switching conferences on July 1 in basketball or FBS football

Austin Peay

The Governors are leaving the Atlantic Sun for the United Athletic (a rebranded WAC) after four years. To join the Atlantic Sun, the Governors left the Ohio Valley—their home of six decades—in 2022.

Boise State

The Broncos are departing the Mountain West for the Pac-12—a reconstitution of the once-towering Western league following its 2024 implosion—after 15 years. The Broncos thrived in their old home, peaking on the gridiron with a 12–2 campaign in ’24.

California Baptist

The Lancers are leaving the WAC—the only Division I home they’ve ever known—for the Big West after eight years, and doing so on the heels of its first-ever NCAA tournament appearance.

Central Arkansas

The Bears are leaving the Atlantic Sun for the United Athletic after five years. The Bears’ winning men’s basketball season in ’26 was only their second in Division I.

Colorado State

The Rams are leaving the Mountain West for the Pac-12 after 27 years. The Rams were a charter member of the league and posted three 10-win football seasons there (2000, ‘02, ’14), and were frequent flyers in both NCAA basketball tournaments.

Denver

The Pioneers are leaving the Summit League for the West Coast Conference after 13 years. Denver, far better known for its hockey success, never made an NCAA basketball tournament in the Upper Midwest-centric conference.

Eastern Kentucky

The Colonels are leaving the Atlantic Sun for the United Athletic after five years. Like Austin Peay, EKU was a longtime member of the Ohio Valley, playing men’s basketball in that league from 1949 to 2021.

Fresno State

The Bulldogs are leaving the Mountain West for the Pac-12 after 14 years. Fresno State won 10 football games on five separate occasions in their old conference, most recently in ’22.

Gonzaga

The Bulldogs are leaving the West Coast Conference for the Pac-12 after 47 years. No move being made Wednesday is more significant, as Gonzaga transformed itself into a national men’s basketball power in the WCC—winning the league regular season title 27 times and the league tournament 23 times, while falling one win short of the national title in 2017 and `21.

Hawai’i

Hawai’i departs the Big West for the Mountain West (where it already plays football) after 14 years. The Rainbow Warriors made NCAA men’s tournaments in their old home in 2016 and ’26, upsetting a California team that starred forward Jaylen Brown in the first round of the ‘16 tournament.

Little Rock

The Trojans are leaving Ohio Valley for the United Athletic after four years. Little Rock was a bit of an awkward cultural fit for the OVC, having spent 1992 to ’22 in the Sun Belt before being caught up in the post-pandemic realignment wave.

Louisiana Tech

The Bulldogs leave Conference USA for the Sun Belt after 13 years. This move set off a protracted legal tiff over Louisiana Tech’s actual date of departure, which was only ironed out in late April.

North Alabama

The Lions are leaving the Atlantic Sun for the United Athletic after eight years. The Atlantic Sun is the only basketball league that North Alabama has competed in since jumping to Division I before the 2019 campaign.

North Dakota State

The Bison are leaving the Missouri Valley Football Conference for the Mountain West in football only after 18 years. This is a seismic move, as NDSU won a gobsmacking 10 FCS national titles under the MVFC’s jurisdiction.

Fischer: Why North Dakota State Joined the Mountain West and Made the Jump to FBS

Northern Illinois

UNI is leaving the MAC for the Mountain West in football and the Horizon League in most sports after 29 years. This is not a wholly unfamiliar move for the Huskies, who’ve been highly successful on the gridiron in the MAC: they played football in the Big West for three years in the 1990s, and three years in the Midwestern Collegiate Conference (now the Horizon League) in the same decade.

Oregon State

The Beavers are leaving the West Coast Conference for the new-look Pac-12 after two years. There are special circumstances at play here—Oregon State played two years in the WCC and two years as de facto football independents after the implosion of the old Pac-12 before the ’24 football season.

Sacramento State

Sac State is leaving the Big Sky for the MAC in football and the Big West in most sports after 20 years. The Hornets are making a major bet on their NIL infrastructure, seemingly hoping it will mask the fact they’ve won just two FCS playoff games since moving up from Division II in 1993.

Saint Francis

SFU is leaving the Northeast Conference for the Presidents’ Athletic Conference in Division III after 45 years. The Red Wolves (rebranded from the Red Flash ahead of their move down in divisions), battered by college sports’ age of above-board commercialism, are bowing out of Division I altogether—taking with them 14 NCAA basketball tournament appearances (12 from their women, two from their men).

San Diego State

The Aztecs are leaving the Mountain West for the Pac-12 after 27 years. Like Colorado State, SDSU was a charter member of the conference, and they may have provided its signature moment (guard Lamont Butler’s game-winning shot against Florida Atlantic in the 2023 men’s Final Four).

Southern Utah

SUU is leaving the WAC for the Big Sky after four years away from the conference. The Thunderbirds previously played basketball in the Big Sky from 2013 to ’22.

Tennessee Tech

The Golden Eagles are leaving the Ohio Valley for the Southern Conference after 78 years, giving the the school the distinction of being the longest-tenured conference member to switch leagues this offseason. The move will make Morehead State the sole member of the OVC to have joined that conference before the 1980s.

Texas State

The Bobcats are leaving the Sun Belt for the Pac-12 after 13 years. The distance between San Marcos, Texas and (say) San Diego is about 1,300 miles.

UC Davis

UCD is leaving the Big West for the Mountain West in all sports but football after 19 years. The Aggies will continue to play football in the Big Sky, which they’ve called home since 2012.

Utah State

The Aggies are leaving the Mountain West for the Pac-12 after 13 years. USU has been a consistent men’s basketball winner in the conference for the better part of the decade, making six of the last eight NCAA tournaments.

Utah Tech

Utah Tech is leaving the WAC for the Big Sky after six years. The Trailblazers are still relatively new to Division I, having registered their first men’s basketball winning season at the top level in ’26 after winning women’s seasons in ’23 and ’24.

Utah Valley

Utah Valley is leaving the WAC for the Big West after 13 years. This one you may have heard of, because the WAC was so insistent it collect the Wolverines’ exit fees it briefly attempted to ban Utah Valley from both basketball tournaments.

UTEP

UTEP is leaving Conference USA for the Mountain West after 21 years. The Miners played in the WAC for 37 years before that, so this is a bit of a cultural homecoming for a program whose compass has pointed westward historically.

Washington State

Wazzu is leaving the West Coast Conference for the Pac-12 after two years, with the same circumstances as Oregon State. The Cougars have remained competitive on the gridiron, making a bowl game in ’24 and winning one in ’25.

West Florida

UWF departs the Gulf South Conference in Division II for the Atlantic Sun after 22 years. The Argonauts are moving up in the world amid a spectacular 10-year rise to power in football, which saw them go 13–2 and win the Division II national title four years into their existence.

West Georgia

UWG is leaving the Atlantic Sun for the United Athletic after two years. The Wolves, just two seasons into their Division I journey, posted their first basketball winning season on the women’s side in `26.

---

More College Sports From Sports Illustrated

Listen to SI’s college sports podcast, Others Receiving Votes, below or on Apple and Spotify. Watch the show on SI’s College YouTube channel.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow