In Reply to: OT: Montana coach quit posted by lafong on February 05, 2026 at 10:03:15
WAY back, before there was a Pac-8, a Pac-10 or a Pac-12...or even the current "Pac-2", the conference was called the Pacific Coast Conference....and, in fact, that was the name of the conference until 1959.
The members were:
University of California, Berkeley (1915–1959)
University of Oregon (1915–1959)
Oregon State College (1915–1959)
University of Washington (1915–1959)
Washington State College (1917–1959)
Stanford University (1918–1959)
University of Idaho (1922–1959)
University of Southern California (1922–1959, suspended in 1924)
University of Montana (1924–1950)
University of California, Los Angeles (1928–1959)
Yes, University of Montana was a member...
So, when UCLA applied to join the conference in 1928, there was already a "Grizzlies" in the conference...so UCLA was forced to choose a new team name...hence, the choice of "Bruins".