Conference realignment is nothing new for Diana Sabau.
The second-year Utah State athletic director was formerly the deputy commissioner at the Big Ten, where she led the integration committee for USC and UCLA’s move from the the Pac-12 a few summers ago.
Now, she finds herself leading USU into its first conference move since 2013. Utah State received and accepted an invitation into the Pac-12 on Monday afternoon, becoming the fifth and latest Mountain West program to defect to the rebuilt conference this month.
The Aggies will join Washington State, Oregon State, San Diego State, Boise State, Colorado State and Fresno State in the new-look league in 2026. In an interview with The Salt Lake Tribune, Sabau said the move is about “future-proofing” Utah State’s athletic programs both competitively and financially.
“This is monumental,” Sabau said. “My job as an athletic director is to determine our value and to ensure the future and really weigh the future against the present. For Utah State, we wanted to be with like institutions. We wanted to be with land grants. We wanted to compete at the highest level. We want to make sure that we’re in a league that provides multiple bids in the postseason.
“Utah State hasn’t been most successful when conference realignment has happened in the past, but I’m never going to be flat-footed, and we want to make sure that we’re doing what’s best for our student athletes.”
In the last week, reports surfaced that the Pac-12 had reported interest in moving its conference east, with potential suitors being Tulane, Memphis, South Florida and the University of Texas at San Antonio. Those programs decided to publicly commit to the American Athletic Conference, causing the Pac-12 to shift its focus back to the West.
That’s when Utah State entered the picture. Now, with the Aggies commitment, the Pac-12 is up to seven members, one short of being recognized as an FBS conference. That means future moves are inevitable, and the Pac-12 will continue to be at the negotiating table.
Sabau would not comment on how Utah State’s negotiations with the conference unfolded but says “being prepared” was the key, as the Pac-12 looks to establish itself as the fifth-best football conference in the NCAA.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah State interim head coach Nate Dreiling as Utah State hosts the University of Utah during the first half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024, in Logan, Utah.
“I will just say that being prepared in life is the key to success,” Sabau said. “And because our new conference — the Pac-12— is still finalizing its membership, I don’t want to negotiate against ourselves or to share the secret sauce yet.”
While the move, by both Sabau and USU President Elizabeth Cantwell’s accounts, is expected to pay future dividends, Utah State will lose money in the short term. Mountain West exit fees could potentially reach up to an estimated figure of $18 million, per reports.
Alongside that, the Mountain West is now in an antitrust battle with the Pac-12 after the latter was assessed a $55 million poaching fee — a clause in the conferences’ previous two-year scheduling agreement — for taking five Mountain West member institutions.
The Pac-12, in turn, sued the Mountain West to avoid paying the fees. Sabau says she is “thankful” that a number of state-wide donors have helped pledge funds to pay USU’s Mountain West exit fees.
Sabau would also not indicate how much that exit fee will be nor how much Utah State will get from an annual agreement once it joins the Pac-12.
“Obviously, with transition into a new conference, there is a financial component,” Sabau said. “Until all the membership is secure, we won’t know the total amount. I will say that we are very pleased with the offer that we got from the Pac-12, or we would not be sitting in this position.
“I will reserve comment on that, saying that we’re really excited and thankful for the Pac-12 offer, and we were strategic in how we approached it and how we accepted it. Because of future litigation and because the Pac-12 does not have a complete membership yet, I just want to be respectful to both sides in that process.”
Sabau did indicate, however, that the funding for Utah State’s $125 million, five-year “Reach and Rise” campaign will not be used to pay for the Mountain West exit fee. So far, the five-year campaign has reached a $22.7 million total with more donations expected to be added on from the summer since it launched in June.
The amount is a good sign for the Aggies, especially after some donors told The Tribune they were were hesitant to give to the program after a Title IX investigation led to the firings of former USU head coach Blake Anderson and associate athletic directors Jerry Bovee and Amy Crosbie in July.
“We’re on a great trajectory right now,” Sabau said. “We have some gifts coming in that aren’t added to that (five-year total) yet.
“Someone’s money is the hardest thing they could work for. We can’t tell them where it should go. They’re going to tell us where they want it to go. So it’ll be two separate funds, but it’ll be up to that individual investor, donor, community member or Aggie that wants to contribute. They’ll tell us how they want to contribute.”
For now, as the Pac-12 and Mountain West look to complete their new-look conferences with an eighth member, Sabau is happy to have a seat at the table. The chance to have an expanded television audience, an increased media-rights revenue share and more was too good not to turn down.
The fan reaction has been positive, too. Sabau says that several local Logan businesses have reached out to Learfield’s Aggie Sports Properties in an effort to sponsor Utah State since the news broke.
“Our immediate fan response, right now, is that they are so excited to be a part of the the Pac-12 Conference,” Sabau said. “That immediate reaction is really a forecast and an indicator, to me, that we will continue to reach and rise, and will continue to grow with our collective and our NIL fund.”
And, as all things in conference realignment revolve around football, her focus remains on rebuilding USU’s football program.
“We’ve got to figure out football,” Sabau said. “We’ve got to get it right, and we’ve got to make sure that it’s not only good for our student athletes, but it’s really good for our community. That’s really important to us moving forward. So, we’re working through that right now.”
