Utah athletic director Mark Harlan spoke with College Sports on SiriusXM Radio Thursday to discuss how the Pac-12 has impacted his program over the years.

“This conference has been amazing for the University of Utah,” Harlan said. “We have grown in every corner of this campus because of our affiliation with this league, and I think it’s been probably the most prideful participation of this university in anything that we have ever done.”

Harlan went on to say that he knows that his coaches and student-athletes understand the pride in playing in this last season of the Pac-12’s full-membered existence.

Utah has won back-to-back Pac-12 championships in football. It is still in the hunt for a return trip to the title game this season.

Next year, Utah will begin play as a member of the Big 12 conference.

“There’s a lot of sadness about this being the last year, but also a lot of excitement to try to go out and defend last year’s title and more,” Harlan said. “There is certainly some planning going ahead, but our focus now is everything about the Pac-12 and going out in the best way possible.”