Saint Mary’s President on potential Pac-12 move: ‘We are certainly keeping all of our options open’

President Roger J. Thompson values rivalry with future Pac-12 member Gonzaga

The Saint Mary's Gaels. | Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

With Gonzaga leaving the West Coast Conference for the Pac-12 in 2026, Saint Mary’s is set up to be the WCC’s dominant men’s basketball program moving forward. 

But in a recent radio interview, Saint Mary’s President Roger J. Thompson sounded quite interested in making the jump to the Pac-12 alongside the Bulldogs. 

“I love the WCC. It’s a great conference. We’re proud members,” Thompson said on Thursday’s Joe Beaver Show, which airs on KEJO in Corvallis, Oregon. “But we certainly are keeping all of our options open.”

The Gaels (26-4, 16-1 WCC) have already clinched their second straight outright WCC regular-season title entering Saturday’s matchup with Oregon State (20-10, 10-7). Saint Mary is 2-0 against archrival Gonzaga (22-8, 13-4), including a 74-67 victory in Spokane last weekend. 

“I think the Saint Mary’s-Gonzaga rivalry is one of the best on the West Coast,” Thompson said. “I should get the TV numbers (soon), but I suspect it was a little over 1.2 million (viewers). That’s a big number on television.”

The Gaels have been a consistent winner under head coach Randy Bennett, who took over the program in 2001. Saint Mary’s is set to make its 11th NCAA Tournament appearance — and fourth consecutive — with Bennett at the helm. 

“If you put Saint Mary’s in the new Pac-12, we’d have the second-highest NET Ranking over the last 15 years of any school in the league, only behind Gonzaga,” Thompson said. “And we’d have more NCAA units than anyone other than Gonzaga.”

The Pac-12 has eight schools signed up for the 2026-27 athletics season: Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Gonzaga, Oregon State, San Diego State, Washington State and Utah State. 

Of the eight schools, only Washington State (No. 112) and Fresno State (No. 280) are outside of the top 80 in the NCAA NET Rankings. Gonzaga, San Diego State and Utah State are all expected to make the NCAA Tournament while Boise State is on the bubble. 

Gonzaga has the highest NET Ranking of the bunch at No. 8. With a NET Ranking of No. 17, Saint Mary’s comes in well above Utah State (No. 33), Boise State (No. 43) and San Diego State (No. 49). 

“You’d have arguably one of the strongest basketball conferences in the whole country in my view,” Thompson said. “I think we’re an interesting thought in that regard.”

The Pac-12 must add at least one more football-playing member before 2026 to reach the NCAA’s eight-team minimum to qualify as an FBS conference. Gonzaga, like Saint Mary’s, does not compete in football.

Thompson noted that only Fresno State, Gonzaga, Oregon State, San Diego State and Washington State field baseball teams, leaving the Pac-12 one member short of receiving an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The NCAA requires six teams for a conference auto-bid. 

Oregon State is a three-time College World Series champion (2006-07, 2018) while Fresno State captured the 2008 national title. The Gaels are a rising baseball program under head coach Eric Valenzuela, who is in his second year of his second stint at Saint Mary’s. 

“The Pac has good baseball teams; Oregon State would be at the top of that,” Thompson said. “But at the moment, they don’t have the number that they would need for an automatic qualifier to the (NCAA Tournament). So I think we could help in that area, too.

“It’ll be interesting to see how conference alignment shakes out. We certainly don’t want to lose the rivalry we have with Gonzaga.”

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