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National Wrestling Coaches Association 10/1/2025 1:09:00 PM Courtesy of the Pac-12

NIU Wrestling to Join Pac-12 Conference as Affiliate Member

Affiliate membership for Northern Illinois in the sport of wrestling to begin with the new Pac-12’s launch for the 2026-27 season

By: Pac-12 Conference

The Pac-12 Conference and Northern Illinois University (NIU) today jointly announced that the Huskies will join as an affiliate member in the sport of wrestling beginning with the 2026-27 season, coinciding with the new Pac-12's launch year. Northern Illinois will join Oregon State and fellow affiliate members Cal Poly, Cal State Bakersfield and Little Rock as members of Pac-12 Wrestling.

With today's announcement, the Pac-12 currently has five future members in the sport of wrestling for the 2026-27 season with Oregon State and four affiliate members in Cal Poly, Cal State Bakersfield, Little Rock and Northern Illinois. As an NCAA sport with an automatic qualifier, the Pac-12 will need to add at least one more wrestling program to meet minimum requirements of six members for the sport in order to retain NCAA automatic qualification for its annual league champion.

Prior to completing membership with the five future members in place, the new Pac-12 will continue to see wrestling be a prominent sport for the league.

NIU Huskies Recent Highlights

With today's news, the Pac-12 welcomes an affiliate member in the sport of wrestling with a strong recent and long-term history and track record of success, including such highlights as:

NIU wrestling has compiled a 20-5 team record in dual matches over the past two seasons, which includes a 12-1 mark at home. The Huskies claimed the MAC West Division dual title in 2023-24 after going 10-0 at home, the program's first undefeated dual match home season in 43 years.
NIU wrestling had a pair of qualifiers for the 2025 NCAA Championships as Blake West and Landen Johnson each earned bids to the championship. The inclusion of the Huskie duo at the competition extended NIU's streak to 54-straight years of sending at least one wrestler to the NCAA Championships.
NIU wrestling has earned 18 All-America honors during its storied history, with Izzak Olejnik becoming the most recent Huskie All-American at 165 points in 2023.
In 93 seasons of NIU wrestling, the Huskies have won more than 603 dual matches. NIU head coach Ryan Ludwig is one of three coaches in program history to record more than 100 dual match victories.

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