Even the bluebloods aren't immune to the madness...

Sorry I don't have a Pat Chun Q&A for you. I thought that by sharing an OSU Q&A done a day or two ago would give you some idea of what's going on with the PAC-2.

Scott Barnes interview... words were spoken

Wish I had something on George Kliavkoff, like why hasn't he been fired yet, but don't have it.

I dont like how college football is today with the NIL and TV controlling conferences and the transfer portal. So I was wondering what you thought was the best decade of college football. My initial thought was the 1990s. Before you read on understand there are things that may cloud my judgement. I graduated in 92 and went to a boat load of games in the 1990s, even non-WSU games. Furthermore, I am making arguments not based on data but simple recognition as I type this. I am open to changing my opinion.

Here is my reasoning. The 90s seemed more egalitarian. You had programs who were historically bad rise up and do well in the 90s. Northwestern went to a Rose Bowl and Oregon State went to a NYD bowl game. Both of those schools were horrible in the 80s. A school like Kanasas State rose to prominence from generally not being that good to a solid program. The Pac 10 had several new teams go to the Rose Bowl in the 90s: ASU 96, WSU 97, Oregon 94. A team like Wisconsin went to 2 RBs in the 90s. Not a bad program but not great for the previous 2 decades. They set themselves up for success for many years after. Virginia Tech played in a title game. National Champs seemed to Traditional powers seemed to still do well such as Michigan and Nebraska. National championships were won by the Big 8, Big 10, Big East, Pac 10, and SEC.

I'm guessing the reduction of scholarships and prop 48 helped lesser schools challenge the Bluebloods with more success.

Pac-12 commissioner blames schools for lacking patience, takes credit for football success​

Jon WilnerJan. 3, 2024 at 2:20 pm
In his first public comments in months, Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff did not express sorrow over the downfall of the conference or accept responsibility for his role in the collapse of a century-old college sports institution.

Instead, Kliavkoff appeared to take credit for the Pac-12’s successful football season and blame the schools for the failed media rights negotiations.

Who does Kliavkoff think he is, Larry Scott?

Approached by reporters in the Superdome on Monday night, following Washington’s playoff victory over Texas, Kliavkoff offered several brief comments.

He told Yahoo:

“Happy for the kids. They don’t deserve all the nonsense going on around them. We were focused on rebuilding football. Took 2 1/2 years. I wish it would have happened quicker. If some of our schools would have been a little more patient, it would have paid off.”

Seconds later, in a subsequent interview, he told 247Sports:

“Surreal. It’s surreal. It’s upsetting that some of our schools weren’t more patient because if they saw what we were building it would have paid off.”

First, let’s hit the easy target:

Blaming the schools for not being “more patient” epitomizes the complete disconnect between Kliavkoff and his campuses that ultimately doomed the negotiations and fractured the conference.

University presidents and athletic directors aren’t built to wait 13 months for a media rights deal, especially when the process is delayed repeatedly and the final offer isn’t what they anticipated.

In an alternate universe, sure, the Pac-12 could have bet on itself in the fall of 2023 and signed a lucrative deal this winter. But in the real world, with risk-averse presidents and athletic directors facing daily pressures on the front lines, the strategy was all wrong.

(Kliavkoff didn’t have the requisite urgency last winter and, apparently, hasn’t learned from the mistake.)

Before we plunge into the legitimacy of his view on the football “rebuilding” process, understand the circumstances under which Kliavkoff offered his comments.

It was not a formal session with the media. It was impromptu and brief and not the place for Kliavkoff to provide a detailed assessment of any topic.

Could Kliavkoff have declined to comment? Sure. But he’s an affable guy who probably didn’t want to snub familiar reporters.

Also, Kliavkoff absolutely believes what he said.

The Hotline has engaged in enough conversations over the years with Kliavkoff and various Pac-12 and campus officials to be fairly certain that he’s convinced of his own role in the conference’s on-field success — and wants credit for it.

Two years ago this week, in fact, we reported the following:

New commissioner George Kliavkoff hopes to change that state of affairs by making the case to the university presidents and chancellors that investing in football can provide returns that benefit not only cash-strapped athletic departments but entire campuses.

“Historically, I don’t think we’ve made a great case for the ROI of footbalI,’’ Kliavkoff told the Hotline. “I’m not going to take the opportunity to speak to my 12 bosses without talking about it. It’s going to be a constant topic. They are going to get tired of hearing it from me.’’

And let’s not forget that on the day he was hired, back in May 2021, Kliavkoff declared his priorities to be winning national championships in football and men’s basketball:

“We know where our bread is buttered. We’re focused on the revenue sports and winning in football and men’s basketball.”

Forget the subsequent ash and ruin. The conference is on the brink of a football championship — its first since USC in 2004 — and the opportunity comes on Kliavkoff’s watch.

Does he deserve any credit?

Not in our view.

Why? Because Oregon and Washington were primarily responsible for the Pac-12’s success this season, and neither situation fits neatly into Kliavkoff’s narrative.

The Ducks have been spending on football for years. Phil Knight, of all people, needs no convincing.

Meanwhile, the Huskies didn’t step far outside their standard resource range in order to reach the championship game.

They hired Kalen DeBoer two years ago for $3.1 million a year, then gave him a whopping raise last season all the way to … $4.2 million per year!

According to USA Today’s salary database, 43 major college coaches were better compensated than DeBoer this season — and that doesn’t include those at private schools.

Sure, the Huskies will have to spend top dollar to keep DeBoer, but the path to 14-0 was hardly lined with gold.

On the other hand, USC poured immense resources into the Lincoln Riley regime in the fall of 2021. But that decision had nothing to do with Kliavkoff’s case “for the ROI of football” and everything to do with one of the sport’s blue bloods paying market rate for an elite coach in order to reclaim its place of prominence.

As best we can tell, only one school reset its football spending and (potentially) did so in response to Kliavkoff’s case for more football resources.

That school, Colorado, finished last.

Jon Wilner: jwilner@bayareanewsgroup.com; on Twitter: @wilnerhotline.

There is a cute article on Brand X about Mateer partnering with a local BBQ vendor. Not much money in it, but a great story. I love that guy, Wonder if he would marry me? Now this what NIL should look like.

The Supreme Court ruling is long and confusing to this layman. Maybe some bored attorney can read this and opine.


But it appears to open the door to NIL and leave it up to the NCAA to modify rules to allow it. So, the NCAA responded by apparently just leaving it up to the individual school to do whatever the F they wanted. Thus the Collectives were born, which bear little resemblance to compensation for actual NIL payments that I believe the Supreme Court envisioned as agreements like Mateer's.

So what now that the horse is out of the barn and roaming free? Two thoughts, both ridiculous but all I have. 1, The poor schools with not much NIL $ (WSU for example), could band together and go to court arguing that Collectives violate the spirit of the Supreme Court ruling. 2. The worthless chickenshit NCAA, apparently still able to make rules on NIL, could say whoa - if an individual athlete strikes a deal with company X to get paid for actual NIL activity (Mateer thing) fine. But providing trucks to a whole team, or paying a million dollars for doing nothing but play ball, NO.

Feel free to ridicule these suggestions.

Edit: And the Cam Ward thing - north of $1,000,000 to play one season? How the F do you justify that? Brock Purdy and I are just shaking our collective heads.

Pac-12 will either finish first or tied for second. Biggest takeaway is the Sun Belt had 12 teams in bowls.

if Michigan gets pressure, I think they will, they might beat them by 14+

We ended the conference after its best season in decades. What league was better than UW, Oregon, and Arizona this season?

Was watching a commercial during a football game and they were highlighting some guy from Texas and they had "Tusk" playing in the background of the commercial. I've never head of "Tusk" really being associated with any school other than USC. I think Alabama briefly tried to claim it around 8 years ago or so...but I've never heard of it being associated with Texas.

According to ESPN just now.

No offense to FSU...but given the ass-kicking that is being administered today, they had no business being invited to the playoff and they should just shut the hell up for the time being and strongly reconsider if they should be in a different conference.

Has so far been linked to:

Oregon
Wisconsin
Ohio State
UW
USC

Source

Fair to say if we had made the Sun Bowl, we might lose to Notre Dame by about 28?

Love WSU. F*ck the Huskies.

If we always put that first and foremost, the world would be a better place.

May 2024 be a better/best year for everyone and that our Cougs and we as Cougar Nation keep having the stories and experiences to pass on to those who have yet to live and learn!

Go Cougs!

9-0 run to end the game. Really interesting rotations in the second half with Watts getting quality minutes, while having a tough outing.

ESPN predictor says 23.7% chance of victory.

Rubber/Road here we go!

The one thing that stands out is how incredibly stupid they were for hiring Kliavkoff. Every little piece I hear about this guy, how he led the conference, just underscores what a terrible hire he was.

Why they still have him on the payroll is also a huge mystery. Should have been fired FOR CAUSE and the Pac-2 need to start leading.

What a turnaround for that program. They won out after beating our asses. They are gonna be a handful for the B12, I’d say an early fav with Utah.

Germans bomb Pearl Harbor.

Just kidding. Brand X has a pretty good article about the state of financial affairs in the Pac 2. No idea where the numbers come from, but overall, it sounds promising.

Also in sports news, Trump grabs pussy and bones porn stars, Biden inappropriately kisses women, Gaetz lures in underage women, and Boebert makes out and vapes in a theater.

So we lost Greeny We lost our asst coach. We currently have 4 players on the roster WTF.

Very, very hard to believe our team (who handed them and OSU a solid defeat) went on that losing streak.

Looks like we'll need to replace our top-3 WRs and starting QB.

You gave us a lot of laughs.......