Realignment Blues

Pac-12 Media Day felt largely like a referendum on the future of the conference.

Nobody at The Novo theater in downtown Los Angeles could hide from the subject. On Friday, July 29, Pac-12 Media Day featured plenty of discussion about actual football. However, it felt like the majority of coach and player participants were asked to address the planned defection of UCLA and USC beginning with the 2024 season. Here’s a summary of some speeches as well as reactions to reporter questions regarding the composition and viability of the conference going forward.

Adaptability

Herm Edwards (Head coach, Arizona State): I can remember growing up on the West Coast, and it was the big five, big six. That was, what, in 1959 till 1964. Then it became the Pac-8, a conference that I played in at Cal Berkeley, right? There in '78 it switched over and became the Pac-10. Lo and behold in 2011, whatever it was, it became the Pac-12.

I think sometimes we sit here and we just realize the era that we're in, that's what we remember, right? So if you're in this new era, this is what it is. Well, it's changing.

I say this, and I say this in a humbled way. Change is about growth sometimes and opportunity. According to what and how you believe it and how you sit, it affects people different.

I look at myself. Without change, I'm not sitting here. I don't sit in this seat. So I don't look at it like, Well, this is going to mess up college football. It's going to change college football, no doubt about that.

The funny part is this. Everyone is trying to figure out what is it going to look like. We don't know. It might change again next week. No one knows. But eventually it will change.

Fatalism

Kyle Whittingham (Head coach, Washington): Yeah, well, the future is really anybody's best guess. I think from my own perspective, super conferences are on their way, already starting to form. A full-blown Playoff, 12, 16-team Playoff, that's around the corner as well. The landscape is changing rapidly. I don't think we're ever going to see anything close to what we've been used to the last 50 years in college football. It's all changing. You add NIL on top of that, it's a completely different world.

Frustration

George Kliavkoff (Commissioner): As a conference, we are of course very disappointed by the decisions by USC and UCLA to leave the Pac-12 and a century of tradition and rivalries after 2024. That said, USC and UCLA have been proud members of the Pac-12 for almost a century. Despite their decision, we cherish our relationship with their student-athletes, coaches, staff, faculty, alumni and fans.

For that reason I personally have instructed everyone at our conference to make sure that USC and UCLA student-athletes are given every opportunity to compete and succeed for as long as they remain in the Pac-12.

Moving ahead we are bullish about the Pac-12's future and our opportunities for long-term growth, stability and success. Our conference boasts 10 of the most iconic and innovative brands in all of sports, all-around excellence in academics and athletics, and a half dozen of the most valuable markets in this country.

Indifference

Christian Young (Safety, Arizona): This is my last year. [Realignment] doesn't really affect me.

Jacob Cowing (Wide receiver. Arizona): Best of luck to [USC and UCLA]. I hope they win [future Big Ten] championships.

Confidence

Chip Kelly (Head coach, UCLA): I think guys that are here today, like Blay and Jon Gaines and Dorian and Zach, they won't be here in two years. I think when I got the news that this was going to happen, that was my first question: When? Then when we found out it's two yours, I think that puts a little bit different spin on it.

Our sole focus and attention is making the 2022 season as memorable as it possibly can be for our players. I talked to Merton Hanks after it happened. Between Merton and George, they both assured me the Pac-12 is supportive of everything we're doing. If we're members for the next two years, they're going to do everything they can to support us as a member.

Dan Lanning (Head coach, Oregon): I trust our leadership to be positioned for success. Oregon has been always a premier team in college football. I think we'll continue to be. 

Our fans are extremely passionate. Being a top-10 team when it comes to views in homes this last year, the ability to compete for championships year in and year out with coaching changes and different things. That's still allowed Oregon to be at the forefront of competition.

Resolve

Justin Wilcox (Head coach, California): Yeah, I mean, I think anymore not much surprises me. Was it big news? Yeah, it was. But I'm very bullish on our program, our institution, what we can offer a young man who wants to come get a great education, get coached well, get treated really well.

We will continue to recruit California very hard. That won't change one bit. But I understand that especially for the traditionalists in all of us, when things like that happen, it feels a bit uneasy. There's just change in college athletics right now. There's change in college football. We've got to adapt and adjust with it.

Kalen DeBoer (Head coach, Washington): Yeah, I think in today's world of college athletics, college football in particular, you expect the unexpected. I think probably everyone has a little bit surprised, right? But you also know and expect that things are going to change and they're going to continue to change. You take it in stride and you make the most of the situation we're in. I feel like we're in a great spot at U-Dub, part of a conference that has a lot of things still going for it. Those again are decisions that are kind of out of my control at this point. I'm just worried about 2022 football season.

Reverence

David Shaw (Head coach, Stanford): As far as all the college football stuff going on, hey, realignment is realignment. It's been happening for a couple years now. Surprised about the news in our conference. But my hope is, as I've been saying all year, our relationship with USC and UCLA doesn't change, that we continue to play each other even if they're out-of-conference games. These are long-standing rivalries that I hope that we maintain. I'm still a firm believer that over time these things will self-correct, whether that's 10, 15, 20 years down the road, whether it is at some point completely reforming the conferences by region or becoming super conferences, whatever, who knows.

But for right now we love being in the Pac-12, and we hope to maintain those Pac-12 relationships with the other 10 institutions and continue to play high-level football. Still an incredibly deep conference with a lot of good coaches and players that we're really excited about.

Respect

Jake Dickert (Head coach, Washington State): I just want to start out by thanking all the media. I think you guys play a vital role in sharing the stories and experiences of all of our student-athletes. I think that's one thing that isn't brought up enough.