In a great start to the weekend. The Lady Cougs Volleyball team took down #8 BYU in 4 sets

As it should be.
I'll be there.

It's a declaratory judgment action. Which means that WSU and OSU are asking the court to enter an order interpreting the bylaws.

Nfm

WSU and Oregon State are still searching for clarity. The Pac-12 isn’t offering any.​

Jon WilnerSep. 7, 2023 at 10:24 am
Soon after Implosion Friday across the Pac-12, Washington State president Kirk Schulz identified the most immediate task: Determining which schools had voting rights and control of the conference’s assets.

“We think there will be some clarity around governance issues in the next two weeks,” he told the Hotline.

One month later, clarity has not emerged.

Stanford and Cal have fled to the ACC. Only Washington State and Oregon State remain, and they still don’t have the answers needed to take the next step, whether it’s reforming the Pac-12 or joining the Mountain West.

“I’m frustrated that we haven’t gotten the information as quickly as we had hoped,” OSU athletic director Scott Barnes told Oregonlive.com last weekend. “It is trickling in. We need to get that buttoned down.”

The Hotline sought answers from the conference office.

Why is it taking so long to determine the assets, liabilities and governing control?

The Pac-12 declined to comment.

What is the process and who’s involved?

The Pac-12 declined to comment.

When might full clarity emerge?

The Pac-12 declined to comment.

The same radio silence that defined the Pac-12’s messaging strategy throughout the media rights negotiations is at work in this endeavor. Which is fine — the conference isn’t obligated to share information with the media.

But it’s required to assist Washington State, Oregon State and the outgoing schools by any means necessary. And once again, headquarters has failed to execute at the necessary level.

“Any well-run business should, within 48 hours, have the most up-to-date profit-and-loss statement, balance sheet and liabilities and assets,” an industry source said.

“At the latest, they should have had this at the end of August, knowing the odds were pretty good Stanford and Cal were leaving.”

Are the finances so messy, the bylaws so vague, that the experts are struggling to understand the critical details?

“The conference has been so poorly managed for so long on so many levels,’’ a source said.

One possible cause for the delay: The Pac-12’s CFO, Morane Kerek, was hired in June but did not begin her duties until Aug. 9 — five days after the implosion.

She has been tasked with finding gold coins amid the rubble without a grasp of the landscape.

How much value exists in the emergency reserves? Which schools own the revenue from NCAA tournament units earned to date? Is there value in the Rose Bowl contract? In sponsorship deals? In the Pac-12 Networks? And what about the liabilities?

But responsibility cannot be left to Kerek alone. What role, if any, is commissioner George Kliavkoff playing? Are the WSU and OSU financial officers being given access to the financial records? Are their general counsels examining the bylaws?

On those matters, too, clarity is lacking.

According to the bylaws, the CEO Group (i.e., the university presidents) runs the conference:

“Except as otherwise provided by law or in the Conference Governing Documents, the business and affairs of the Conference shall be managed by or under the direction of the CEO Group. The CEO Group shall be the governing body of the Conference.”

But in the wake of the mass exodus, the makeup of the board of directors is unclear.

The bylaws indicate that any school providing a “notice of departure” relinquishes its voting rights. That seems simple enough, except the 10 outbound members have not provided the Pac-12 with formal departure notices, according to a source.

Does that mean they have retained voting rights? Or have their public actions served as de facto declarations of intent?

After all, the Big 12, Big Ten and ACC have all acknowledged the new members on social media; several schools held news conferences to address their departures; presidents and athletic directors have commented on the pending moves.

Do the announcements and public comments constitute legally binding departure notices? Could a settlement be forthcoming?

In realignment, billable hours are undefeated.

There are at least two plausible tracks for the Beavers and Cougars:

— They could enter the Mountain West next summer in a standard expansion move, just as Washington and Oregon are entering the Big Ten, and shutter the Pac-12 forever.

Sponsored​

— They could attempt to preserve the Pac-12 brand and retain the assets. In that scenario, the 12 Mountain West schools could vote to dissolve their league, thereby eliminating departure penalties, and join the Pac-12 en masse.

“No brand in the Group of Five has the value of the Pac-12 brand,’’ the industry source said. “If you have the brand, you own the history.”

The brand, the history, the assets and voting control — everything is on hold until the Pac-12 provides the Cougars and Beavers with the critical information they requested a month ago but is only “trickling in.”

What a shock. The conference office isn’t adequately serving its members.

Jon Wilner: jwilner@bayareanewsgroup.com; on Twitter: @wilnerhotline. Jon Wilner has been covering college sports for decades and is an AP top-25 football and basketball voter as well as a Heisman Trophy voter. He was named Beat Writer of the Year in 2013 by the Football Writers Association of America for his coverage of the Pac-12, won first place for feature writing in 2016 in the Associated Press Sports Editors writing contest and is a five-time APSE honoree.

"The bylaws indicate that any school providing a “notice of departure” relinquishes its voting rights. That seems simple enough, except the 10 outbound members have not provided the Pac-12 with formal departure notices, according to a source."

Or was he working mainly to get Stanford and Cal a lifeboat?

Sorry. I don’t really follow NFL.

Interesting article from Jon Wilner:

WSU/OSU might stick around?


Glad Cougar

It makes me somewhat happy we have the guy that helped orchestrate this on our team now.

Takes time....

Not surprised one bit and that’s why the apple cup should be dead.

Change is always difficult but I’ll be honest. Some of our biggest, biggest supporters said, ‘Thank you so much.’ It’s been generally very positive,” the Washington President said about how the move was perceived by fans.

It's still unclear to me when and how long we have to rebuild the conference w/ up to 8 members.

is that before the 2026 season?

if so, i can see us "renting" the MWC for 2 seasons and announcing expansion plans. The 4 teams and markets that seem obvious in the MWC are Boise, UNLV, Fresno, and SDSU. Then maybe you go east w/ CSU, Tulane, Memphis, maybe north grab Central Michigan, Northern Illinois, and another team.

I also wouldn't plan on ASU, Utah, etc., leaving to join the pac-12. Wishful thinking.

Our best shot at a "call up" is FSU and Clemson bailing from the ACC and we get invited to backfill. ACC's conference head is on record of saying regional conference are gone, we've gone national. Stan/Cal are stuck in the ACC through 2036 and would welcome some west coast competition. Maybe bringing some of the band back together in an ACC west could be an option in a few years.

Interesting article on NFL TV scheduling. What a freaking mess. No I'm not going to get apps and sign up on a bunch of different ones to see games. Same with college FB. I don't get it. No one watches the network channels anymore, their programming is crap, so Why the F don't they pay to broadcast these games and F all this streaming shit?


Oh and totally OT, but it annoys the shit out of me that workers are basically refusing to come back to the office. I mean hey, before the pandemic you came 5 days a week. Now you are balking at 3 days a week? During Covid, I came to the office every single day.

Sorry if you looked for me and I was not there. Thursday night, frisking with my dog, I think it fell out of my pocket. Dark out so I could not find the wallet and the next day I could not find that park. Of course by then I was basically on empty, with-0- cash, no credit or debit card and no drivers license, I couldn't eat for 2 days and no beer cuz I had no money and no way to get any.

My buddy was able to send some Western Union money for gas, and at the point I hightailed it for home. Bummed I missed the game. After all the gas money I spent on that 1,000 plus camper drive, I'm not going there again. Maybe OSU or (barf) BSU.

It was kind of humorous that on the trip home, I was conserving the gas cash. So I barely made it to Spokane, but we'll go to that later maybe. Anyway, I'm going about 55 in an 80 zone, Damn those Montani ones drive fast.

What a great idea lol.

This week we’re discussing our blowout win over Colorado State 50-24, all eyes the Pac-12 currently trending the best EVER, and finally, Wisconsin comes to Pullman for a BIG rematch.
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So - Oregon State AD Barnes says he's "frustrated" with the speed of clarity regarding Pac-12 assets ! !

This according to an Oregon.live article - updated Sept 5 !

And just where the HELL are WSU's leaders when it comes to the same sort of frustration ? ! ? ! I have NO sense that the Administration has even a remotely similar sense of urgency regarding the need to get the asset issue understood ! 9/10's of these "lawyers" today are nothing more than failed students of ANY other field of study ! The relevant documents are what they are written ! It's English, words have meaning and a connection of words creates a sentence that SHOULD NOT allow for "interpretation" ! Unless, of course, the document was written by a "lawyer" with intent to insure future, further employment !

**** them all and at the same time WSU's administration needs to be FLUSHED now ! !

Nothing but crickets from the Prez and AD ! AD Barnes has a pair, and intelligence - WSU ??????

Oh and for the Apple cup ?, forget about it, it is O V E R ! The left of liberal scum at dog U can go **** themselves - WSU never plays Inslee's lap dogs again !

Are you set to be a father in nine months after all the lovin this weekend in the high plains of Colorado. I heard the “swimmers” go farther in that high mountain air .

More important did Flat bring my uncle Fauci with him

Yikes.

This network is straight trash...... How difficult is it to actually have the game you're supposed to be broadcasting to show up on your sports app while the game that was being broadcast prior to our game (which was way out of hand with about 5 minutes left to go)? Incredibly frustrating that we couldn't even watch the start of the game and wasn't even on until after we scored our first TD. What was it, like 7 minutes in? I am surprised it hasn't been mentioned as of yet.

I was concerned we'd underperformed offensively yesterday. I thought 30-40 points. Happy with what we did. The TD return for the touchdown sounded a bit tainted by a hold. I didn't see most of the game, so I don't know. True? Anyway, very solid game.