Thought about it all day. All the gloom and doom. And I've decided to come to this decision:
This is the best thing that could have happened to CAL and STANFORD.
Hear me (and my sunshine) out.
PAC12 Football was dying. It's been 20 years since USC won a BCS tittle. Only Oregon and Washington have made the playoff, and neither won a title. All the best west coast recruits (especially QBs) are heading to the SEC, ACC, and B1G. The SouthEast is the epicenter of college football and it's not even close.
The West Coast needed a reboot.
There have been a million words written about all the failures of PAC12 leadership... Larry Scott, GK, The AD's, The Presidents... and this incompetence has adversely affected Cal and Stanford the most.
Apathy in the fan bases, lack of revenue, lose of the national spotlight, programs struggling to find their footing.
We needed a reboot most of all.
Cal and Stanford to the ACC isn't just the best case scenario... it might be the rebirth both programs needed.
With Cal and Furd (and possible SMU) in the ACC, it instantly becomes the premier Academic Conference in the nation.
No one come close.
It's the best cultural fit.
We'd be proud to hang with Duke, Notre Dame, North Carolina, Georgia Tech... and they will be proud to call us their peers.
The ACC is at least tied for 2nd best pedigree in College Football.
Clemson won 2 titles in the playoff era.
Ohio St's one title came right after Florida St won it.
The Noles and The U are legendary programs in the epicenter of College Football.
And this doesn't even take into account the looming presence of Notre Dame.
We could learn a thing or two from these programs. We'd be proud to call them peers.
And when it comes to basketball, the Big12 is now the best conference, but Duke and North Carolina are still the most storied programs.
We'd be in good company.
Of course there will be a lot of work to take the travel burden off the non-revenue sports... but at least they'll exist! We'll sort it out.
Now... let's accept the DOOM SCENARIO that we get ZERO dollars in the media deal. Nothing.
Good.
Stanford has the biggest endowment in the nation and CAL has the biggest and richest alumni base in the nation.
Time to bring those alumni into the fold.
The NIL era has been eye opening. CAL ALUMNI have stepped up and we have a solid NIL program. Stanford too.
So.... let's get them to finance the entire athletic department too.
No big cheesy donors needed (cough... Phil Knight.. cough)... crowd funded like nothing we've ever seen before.
We've been embarrassed and abandoned in realignment. We're on the verge of losing MOST of our intercollegiate sports programs.
Its stings.
So let's rise from the ashes without the burden of the Pac12 and all its failures and back stabbing insecure members.
Let's be free to become the paradigms of West Coast Athletics.
This could be the moment when The University of California Alumni galvanizes and comes together and takes our national sports profile back to the 1950's when it matched our academics.
In the ACC, we'd be free of the U$C's and Oregons. Free of the baggage of the Pac12.
Who cares if we never play Washington and UC Los Angeles again. We're better than them.
We could reboot and rebrand on the national stage with schools we actually respect and align with and 10 years from we could/should be unrecognizable.
Rebrand. Reboot. Rebirth.
Go Bears.
P.S. Please excuse any typos. Bling Pig is a delicious IPA
SuperEQ: You make some interesting points and I've certainly had the same thought about both schools joining the ACC for a fresh start. Cal has managed to beat U$C exactly FOUR times in TWENTY-TWO years!!!! It took us a good twenty plus years to break the losing streak in basketball to FUCLA! I think that we have won ONE football game at Autzen and TWO at the Rose Bowl in this century! Also, let's not forget about our nine game losing streak to the 'Furd that didn't end until 2019. Let's be honest. Even if Cal is able to find the money to keep most of its athletics afloat, we have pretty much been a punching bag in football and basketball for these schools for most of this century (and much of the last one). While having a Big-10 west coast "pod" would make sense from a geographic standpoint, are we doing ourselves any favors by becoming a west coast version of Rutgers, aka, "Big-10 doormat"? I know that the Big-10 makes the most sense for many reasons, but I think that we are guaranteed at least 6-7 losses per year (maybe more) in football should we eventually be asked to join. If that happens, then no more half-measures. Cal will have to go all-in with athletics, which, by the way, doesn't mean that we have to lower academic standards. It's been said many times before but it is nevertheless true: If Michigan, Notre Dame, FUCLA, the 'Furd, etc., can win with high academic standards, then so can we.
Your projected losses are only if Cal remains status quo of our cultural attitude towards football.
At present, I am quite sure most Cal Admins would not even know how to imagine, let alone realize, Cal making a bid for playoffs, much less a national championship. The thing is, a national championship takes a concerted, sustained effort by the whole campus and alumni network. It never just happens by coincidence and never with a support network that is satisfied with middling. If we are not trying to be national champions, what is the point in even trying?
2. Everything on an ESPN network, so far better exposure than P12 Network.
The NIL collective has been making great progress and through itтАЩs not the ideal (keeping the old Pac or playing in the B1G would be better), the ACC should provide a good showcase if we can improve the revenue sports. History has shown that Cal fans will show up if they expect a good team.
Bravo. Well said, even though I feel B!G is a better eventuality, apart from your phoenix bird rebirth scenario, with which I wholeheartedly agree, there are two things that I would like to affirm or add:
1. B!G west coast pod would be PAC 2.0 with the likelihood that nothing culturally would change for us.
2. Playing east coast schools would provide some relief from PAC-12 After Dark darkness, where we are unknown to large segments of folks in Eastern and Central times.
We need to do more than compete, we need to win or die tryin.тАЩ
Read this article this morning.
Thought about it all day. All the gloom and doom. And I've decided to come to this decision:
This is the best thing that could have happened to CAL and STANFORD.
Hear me (and my sunshine) out.
PAC12 Football was dying. It's been 20 years since USC won a BCS tittle. Only Oregon and Washington have made the playoff, and neither won a title. All the best west coast recruits (especially QBs) are heading to the SEC, ACC, and B1G. The SouthEast is the epicenter of college football and it's not even close.
The West Coast needed a reboot.
There have been a million words written about all the failures of PAC12 leadership... Larry Scott, GK, The AD's, The Presidents... and this incompetence has adversely affected Cal and Stanford the most.
Apathy in the fan bases, lack of revenue, lose of the national spotlight, programs struggling to find their footing.
We needed a reboot most of all.
Cal and Stanford to the ACC isn't just the best case scenario... it might be the rebirth both programs needed.
With Cal and Furd (and possible SMU) in the ACC, it instantly becomes the premier Academic Conference in the nation.
No one come close.
It's the best cultural fit.
We'd be proud to hang with Duke, Notre Dame, North Carolina, Georgia Tech... and they will be proud to call us their peers.
The ACC is at least tied for 2nd best pedigree in College Football.
Clemson won 2 titles in the playoff era.
Ohio St's one title came right after Florida St won it.
The Noles and The U are legendary programs in the epicenter of College Football.
And this doesn't even take into account the looming presence of Notre Dame.
We could learn a thing or two from these programs. We'd be proud to call them peers.
And when it comes to basketball, the Big12 is now the best conference, but Duke and North Carolina are still the most storied programs.
We'd be in good company.
Of course there will be a lot of work to take the travel burden off the non-revenue sports... but at least they'll exist! We'll sort it out.
Now... let's accept the DOOM SCENARIO that we get ZERO dollars in the media deal. Nothing.
Good.
Stanford has the biggest endowment in the nation and CAL has the biggest and richest alumni base in the nation.
Time to bring those alumni into the fold.
The NIL era has been eye opening. CAL ALUMNI have stepped up and we have a solid NIL program. Stanford too.
So.... let's get them to finance the entire athletic department too.
No big cheesy donors needed (cough... Phil Knight.. cough)... crowd funded like nothing we've ever seen before.
We've been embarrassed and abandoned in realignment. We're on the verge of losing MOST of our intercollegiate sports programs.
Its stings.
So let's rise from the ashes without the burden of the Pac12 and all its failures and back stabbing insecure members.
Let's be free to become the paradigms of West Coast Athletics.
This could be the moment when The University of California Alumni galvanizes and comes together and takes our national sports profile back to the 1950's when it matched our academics.
In the ACC, we'd be free of the U$C's and Oregons. Free of the baggage of the Pac12.
Who cares if we never play Washington and UC Los Angeles again. We're better than them.
We could reboot and rebrand on the national stage with schools we actually respect and align with and 10 years from we could/should be unrecognizable.
Rebrand. Reboot. Rebirth.
Go Bears.
P.S. Please excuse any typos. Bling Pig is a delicious IPA
SuperEQ: You make some interesting points and I've certainly had the same thought about both schools joining the ACC for a fresh start. Cal has managed to beat U$C exactly FOUR times in TWENTY-TWO years!!!! It took us a good twenty plus years to break the losing streak in basketball to FUCLA! I think that we have won ONE football game at Autzen and TWO at the Rose Bowl in this century! Also, let's not forget about our nine game losing streak to the 'Furd that didn't end until 2019. Let's be honest. Even if Cal is able to find the money to keep most of its athletics afloat, we have pretty much been a punching bag in football and basketball for these schools for most of this century (and much of the last one). While having a Big-10 west coast "pod" would make sense from a geographic standpoint, are we doing ourselves any favors by becoming a west coast version of Rutgers, aka, "Big-10 doormat"? I know that the Big-10 makes the most sense for many reasons, but I think that we are guaranteed at least 6-7 losses per year (maybe more) in football should we eventually be asked to join. If that happens, then no more half-measures. Cal will have to go all-in with athletics, which, by the way, doesn't mean that we have to lower academic standards. It's been said many times before but it is nevertheless true: If Michigan, Notre Dame, FUCLA, the 'Furd, etc., can win with high academic standards, then so can we.
Awesome points, GoldenBear88.
Your projected losses are only if Cal remains status quo of our cultural attitude towards football.
At present, I am quite sure most Cal Admins would not even know how to imagine, let alone realize, Cal making a bid for playoffs, much less a national championship. The thing is, a national championship takes a concerted, sustained effort by the whole campus and alumni network. It never just happens by coincidence and never with a support network that is satisfied with middling. If we are not trying to be national champions, what is the point in even trying?
So, yes, indeed. we need a reboot.
"This town (university) needs an enema."
- Joker
Agree. 100%. We need a do over.
LetтАЩs leave the Pac12 mediocrity behind and go national into the number one academic conference, and play real football in the southeast
Some more positives to this:
1. Better bowl tie-ins.
2. Everything on an ESPN network, so far better exposure than P12 Network.
The NIL collective has been making great progress and through itтАЩs not the ideal (keeping the old Pac or playing in the B1G would be better), the ACC should provide a good showcase if we can improve the revenue sports. History has shown that Cal fans will show up if they expect a good team.
All true
Bravo. Well said, even though I feel B!G is a better eventuality, apart from your phoenix bird rebirth scenario, with which I wholeheartedly agree, there are two things that I would like to affirm or add:
1. B!G west coast pod would be PAC 2.0 with the likelihood that nothing culturally would change for us.
2. Playing east coast schools would provide some relief from PAC-12 After Dark darkness, where we are unknown to large segments of folks in Eastern and Central times.
We need to do more than compete, we need to win or die tryin.тАЩ
Go Bears!
Agree. But let's let all the cowards and disloyal Pac12 members go their separate ways for awhile.
Let's focus on us for 5 years.
And our 7pm kickoffs will be of interest on the east coast and get national coverage.
(Like this years Auburn Game)