FORT COLLINS — On Sept. 12, 2024, John Weber made the rounds on the local media circuit.

Just a little over three months into his tenure as the full-time athletics director at Colorado State, Weber had a big announcement to make: the Rams were going to the Pac-12.

It was a move decades in the making. 

For as long as Weber has been affiliated with CSU, dating back to his time as a student in the late 1980s, many have thought the university and the athletic department was capable of more.

For decades, the Rams have seen old Western Athletic Conference and Mountain West rivals like BYU and Utah elevate into bigger and better circles. Now, they feel it’s their turn.

The announcement made nearly two years ago becomes official Wednesday when the new-look Pac-12 relaunches with CSU as a key member.

A hard job done? Nope, a hard job just getting started.

“It’s two years of hard work to get it to this point,” Weber said in a sitdown with The Denver Gazette. “It’s something we’re certainly extremely proud of, excited by, ready for. In a lot of respects, this is something we’ve been working on for a lot longer than that, too, with investments we’ve made into the program, investments we’ve made into facilities, like Canvas Stadium. We’ve been preparing for this opportunity and now we’re gonna go seize it.”

When Weber and university president Amy Parsons made the announcement two Septembers ago, they talked about building momentum. They knew they couldn’t wait for the move to become official. They had to win, especially in the department’s four ticketed sports (football, men’s and women’s basketball and women’s volleyball), and they had to raise money — because the seven football-playing schools they’re partnering with have one thing in common: a desire to win on the gridiron and a willingness to spend what it takes to do so.

Check and check.

The Rams have 146 wins across those four sports with the football program reaching a bowl game in 2024 and all three of men’s and women’s basketball and women’s volleyball winning a conference championship in the two seasons since the move was announced.

The only other school in the country to achieve that feat? South Florida.

Those 146 wins ranks No. 18 in the country and No. 2 among schools outside the Power Four conferences.

All four of those sports have set attendance records in the last two years, with Canvas Stadium hosting its two biggest crowds in that span.

Additionally, on the university’s annual day of giving this May, the CSU athletic department raised nearly $1.6 million. On Weber’s first day of giving as AD two years ago, that number wasn’t even $70,000.

“People are voting with their feet and they’re voting with their participation,” Weber said. “I don’t know that I’m surprised because I know the capacity has always been there and the ability has always been there.”

But why the Pac-12 and why now?

CSU was a founding member of the Mountain West in 1999 and had great success in the conference with over 60 championships and countless memorable trips to NCAA Tournaments. 

“We’re in the competitive business, right? So, we always have to continue to compete and this is just another step for us,” Weber said. “When you look at the business of collegiate athletics, at the end of the day, we’re a marketing arm for the university. We’re most effective when we’re competing on the national stage and when we’re winning on the national stage.”

The new-look Pac-12 provides a path to doing both of those things. Every Pac-12 football game will be on linear television as part of the conference’s new media rights deal with CBS, USA Sports and the CW, a level of exposure that didn’t exist in the Mountain West. Also, the Pac-12 expects its champion to be a part of the College Football Playoff every season and if the CFP expands to 24 teams in the near future, which feels likely, Weber wouldn’t be surprised to see the Pac-12 get multiple teams in the field.

“It’s no secret, the conference desires to compete at the absolute highest level and we’re gonna figure out a way to get that done,” Weber said.

This is a move that made possible the hiring of Jim Mora, too. While any on-field momentum sputtered out last football season, with Jay Norvell being fired in the midst of a 2-10 campaign, Weber believes the program is back on the right track thanks to Mora, who wanted a path to the CFP, something he didn’t have at UConn but believes he does have at CSU and in the Pac-12.

“I have been involved with the Pac since it was the Pac-8 and then the Pac-10 and then the Pac-12, at all levels, whether it was my dad as a coach, me as a player or me as a coach,” Mora said when he was hired in December. “The Pac-12 represents excellence, it always has. There may be a new community of members, but it’s still the Pac-12. And this new community of members is gonna make this Pac-12 Conference powerful once again.”

How long this new version of the Pac-12 lasts, though, is anyone’s guess. The new media rights deal lasts through 2030. It feels like that is likely when the next big shift in college athletics is coming. Whatever is and whenever it is, Weber and CSU feel this official move to the Pac-12 proves they’re ready to be a part of it.

“The one thing I’m certain of is there will continue to be change,” Weber said. “What my career has taught me is that every time there’s change, there’s always opportunity. Sometimes you have to look harder for it than others, but there’s always opportunity associated with (change).

“Do I think Colorado State is deserving of the opportunity to continue to elevate? 100%, yes.”