 Following "pay-for-play" scandals at California, USC, UCLA, and Washington, the PCC disbanded in June 1959.Ten months earlier in August 1958, these four schools agreed to form a new conference that would take effect the following summer.When the four schools and Stanford began discussions for a new conference in 1959, retired Admiral Thomas J. Hamilton interceded and suggested the schools consider creating a national "power conference" (Hamilton had been a key player, head coach, and athletic director at Navy, and was the current athletic director at Pittsburgh).