1. You can watch things happen,
2. You can make things happen,
3. or you can wonder what the **** just happened.

Obviously we were in the #3 category. We should have been making things happen. Hopefully we learn from that failure.

I honestly think he did this, (today) to be PC. There was so much noise that there's been zero communications or updates this past week. Nothing in this presser you really need to watch, it's just checking a box of communicating to the press.

He's vague on 90% of the questions.

Login to view embedded media

Feels the way thing are potentially headed, is no time (or energy) for a reboot.

I still think you have a pretty good conference to be had w/ the Pac-12 left overs and the best of the G5 schools

WSU, OSU, Boise, UNLV, Fresno, SDSU all are a strong west coast brands.

SMU, Memphis, Tulane, Liberty, Rice, S. Florida could be your east coast teams.

If we try and cobble something together now, it's blowing up the MWC, bringing over 8 schools, which from a media value perspective, don't get me too excited.

I know some folks were worried the new $27M IPF would be held up by the Pac-12 situation, but DKS cleared the air today with ESPN's Pete Thamel.

"Once you get through the next week or two, people will take a deep breath and a little sanity comes into play," Schulz said. "We have a groundbreaking for a new indoor practice facility at the Wisconsin game. We're playing football. There's positive momentum, we're investing in facilities. It doesn't mean it all goes away."

👍 👍 👍

Hope DKS and A.D. Chung invite a few Big 12 bigwigs to watch the ground-breaking ceremony and catch the atmosphere and excitement for that game.

Shit I was nostalgically going through the Gameday videos from 2018 (I am so thankful that I made the trip to be there) and ran across the Popcorn Guy segment that played that day on the show. Holy shit Pullman! Who all on this board was there? It was nuts. Somewhere I've got a pic with me and Jack Thompson.

So f-ing hilarious. I mean who is this guy? He's fricking famous.


Gawd I could watch this a million times and it is so G-damn funny. I can't believe no one has been able to identify Popcorn guy.

Assume I’d have the money to buy WSU’s way into any conference or rebuild the PAC and pay anyone’s exit fee from their existing G5 conference. Where would you want to go?

PS - this isn’t my typical lottery fantasy. H&B all the way!

As one long-time college administrator told me on Monday, “It’s survive and advance right now for OSU and WSU. The Beavers and Cougars need to think about surviving, finding a home for the next two years, and then figure out what to do in the next cycle of expansion.”

Apparently attempted to engineer a coup to poach the top MWC and AAC schools to join the Pac-4, in an effort to create a new power 5 level conference. It failed, but you have to love the balls. It is the proactiveness and ingenuity we need going forward. Imagine an AD that comes to work daily thinking of ways to get WSU ahead....! Sticking with Chun and Schultz just means wallowing in the bacon grease, hoping things just fry up right.

Regents -- it time to do some house cleaning! Its that or the Big Sky in about 10 years as we get out maneuver at every turn.

That last tweet was depressing, they've basically give up. Nothing in it suggests they are in "push the women and children out of the life boat" mode, like we all had hoped.

Gawd could we have picked two worse ADs in Moos (pie in the sky) and Chun (do mothing), and Presidents in Schulz (do nothing) and Floyd (pie in the sky). One duo to put us in a big hole, the other duo to just let us dwell there.

You & the Beavers would already be @ the B12. Cal & the Tree should be @ the B10. We went thru this same awful nightmare in June of '10 when we (almost) lost the B12 conference. So we understand what you & Benny Beaver are experiencing right now.

But right now you all need to be proactive. (All of) you should be calling on Prez Schulz & AD Chun to ask the B12 commish & all the B12 CEO's for you & the Beavers to join the B12 (@ a reduced rate if necessary) & don't stop e mailing AD & Prez until you get a response from them. Organize a protest rally if you have to. The Beavers need to do the same & must be encouraged to do the same (better chance).

I wish I could do more for you but you cannot sit on your hands. You need to be PROACTIVE👍

I would like to assume that staying mostly west of the Rockies is a strong consideration in the decision making going on right now, and I'd have to agree that it should be at least a top 3 consideration. While getting into another P5 conference as a hanger on has immediate financial benefits, they are diminished and fleeting and set WSU up for failure.

In addition, as Oregon and UW will find out, travelling east is a competitive advantage for the home team. No doubt they acknowledge that fact, but they are about to REALLY find out. For WSU the disadvantage would be even greater.

Outside of a guaranteed spot in the playoff in a P5, I'm failing to see the benefits of conceding both TV revenues and competitive advantage to be in a P5 conference.

Thoughts?

Sounds like the lawyers are officially assessing how much of current money we can keep.

Kuria Pounds breaks down the Cougars' offense:

I think watson can have a monster year. Looks like he dropped 15 lbs or so, looks more explosive and still a formidable blitz stuffer. Everyone was excited about the freshman last year but I could see Watson going for 1500 APY this year. My 2C.

Login to view embedded media

Many here on this board have been to West Maui. If you have, you certainly know Lahaina town. This is just tragic. In addition, there are two other fires on the Island.

It’s so sad about historic Lahaina town. Fire crews are overwhelmed and no way can contain it, or the surrounding town, neighborhoods, homes and condos. This could spread big time. They are not equipped to put out a fire of this magnitude.

Been to Lahaina many, many times. Really puts everything into perspective. This is truly devastation for all the shops, the restaurants, (yeah Mic Fleetwood's), art galleries, jewelry stores, retail shops, tourist places, the historic Banyan Tree, condos and single family homes in the area. Just wiped out, and they can't stop it.

Login to view embedded media

Many of you have expressed dissatisfaction with our AD and President. Not only were you right, but we were caught off guard and sleeping.

We've realized how essential, critical and imperative it is to have the right skillset for an executive leader, president, or chancellor to successfully negotiate a complex, once in a lifetime media deal.

Just because someone has a title, or your boss is at the top of the Org Chart, doesn't mean he has a natural or competency skillset at negotiating a complex media deal.

Hindsight: Chun should've hired a competent skilled proactive negotiator, consultant for WSU. To expect a Power 5 President of a university to have this skillset, or an executive from Las Vegas, with no college football or media deal background, was truly a grave and serious mistake.

And now we're seeing the consequences.

Granted, nobody wants us except a MWC or an AAC. But, look at Colorado, who was 1-11 last year. 6 days after the Pac 12 Media Conference by GK, Colorado signed deal with the Big 12. Yes, they have Deion, but they moved quickly. We were sleeping, probably thinking...."we'll eventually be okay. Everything will work itself out".

Your thoughts?

JUst released a few minutes ago, with a little bit more from behind the curtain:

Dear Cougar Nation,
The last few weeks have been tumultuous for Washington State University and the Pac 12 Conference. The decision by the University of Washington and the University of Oregon to accept offers to join the Big 10 Conference sealed the fate of the Pac 12. By the end of the day on Friday, only four members of the Pac 12 remained — Washington State, Oregon State, Cal Berkeley, and Stanford.
The Pac 12 Board of Directors is composed of all the sitting Presidents and Chancellors of the current member institutions, and we met 30 times over the past 12 months in an attempt to work out a future media rights deal that all conference members found suitable. During this time, we had multiple media partners spend months discussing media deals only to drop out at the last minute, mostly due to the rapidly changing sports media environment.
On Tuesday, Commissioner George Kliavkoff presented the Board of Directors with an innovative and forward-looking partnership proposal with Apple. The approach proposed by Apple was a subscription-based model that would utilize Apple TV for streaming athletic contests. This model carried with it an opportunity to significantly grow the revenue coming into each school over the next several years. As an Apple user and enthusiast, I looked forward to seeing how we could integrate Pac 12 sports into the Apple environment — similar to what they have successfully achieved with Major League Soccer.
The guaranteed annual money from this proposal was not at the current level of support that all schools receive, but there was a general acknowledgment that streaming Pac 12 media was clearly the direction media consumption was going. After several board meetings and robust discussion among all nine schools, we finished our board meeting on Thursday evening with a strong feeling of staying together, pursuing a new partnership with Apple, and moving forward with conference expansion.
On Friday morning, we were shocked when the University of Washington and the University of Oregon announced they had accepted Big 10 invitations. I genuinely felt that on Friday morning we would sign the needed paperwork, finalize the deal with Apple, and move the Pac 12 toward a new and brighter future.
Immediately after the decision, Pat Chun and I started reaching out to colleagues around the nation to start working on options for Cougar Athletics. We talked with multiple conference commissioners, presidents and chancellors, athletic directors, and other leaders in college athletics. These efforts continued through the weekend — and will continue until we find a suitable home for Washington State athletics. I am in regular contact with the leaders from the remaining Pac 12 schools and will continue to do so moving forward.
Because these conversations are often confidential, we are not able to provide updates on whom we are talking to and when. At this point, we are pursuing every possible opportunity to ensure that we have multiple options moving forward.
I will be standing up a small group of faculty, staff, athletic administrators, and student leaders to provide feedback on conference options for WSU as our pathway forward becomes more clear in the days and weeks ahead. This group will be announced to the Cougar community by the end of the week.
I know many of you are angry and upset by the situation WSU finds itself in — and it is tempting to lash out. As President of WSU, my responsibility at this time is to work with Pat Chun on as many options as possible for Cougar Athletics moving forward — taking into account things like institutional fit, geography and travel costs, competitiveness, and financial security.
What can you do to help?
• Regardless of our future conference affiliation, I ask that you continue to support our 600+ WSU student-athletes, other fans, and our coaches.
• Embrace our new future as college athletics continues to go through significant and unprecedented changes.
• Be patient as we explore our next conference affiliation — and know that we want to take the time to find the right place for Cougar Athletics.

Whatever solution we come up with, it will be different moving forward. Washington State has been a member of the same athletic conference since 1917, which has served us very well over the past 106 years. I ask for your support over the coming days, weeks, and months as we work diligently to find the right home for Cougar Athletics.

Geezus Christ. WSU has one path, and one path only. Either join the Mtn West, or cobble some sort of PAC-west conference together to stay a Power 5 conference. Why is this not such a no brainer? I mean c'mon. We are so f-ed. Stanford and Cal can do what they must. Kliaovfkoff has to go - now. Shulz and Chun need to go - now. This is f-ing ridiculous. I worked at WSU under Sam Smith (totally under appreciated, I loved that guy), V. Lane Rawlins (barf) and Elson Floyd. Should have gotten his colonoscopy like I've had twice. Or is it 3 times now?

reduced share w/ San Diego St. Turns out this can get worse. We may simply end up unable to build a new conference or join another.

University of Arizona president roasts George Kliavkoff over Apple TV deal

I'm honestly shocked since the NCAA is so eager to become NFL-lite that they didn't think TNF being on Amazon was worth noticing. You know, because streaming services is like selling candy bars for little league...

Agree with them...if we can get schools quickly, we likley can retain p5 status.

Media deal would suck, but we have the Pac-12 networks which could produce the content.

Cal and Stanford aren't heading to the ACC - yet.

ESPN's Pete Thamel is reporting that the ACC held an exploratory call this morning regarding the two Pac-12 programs. No vote was taken, however, Thamel suggests that was "expected."

"The league is 'still evaluating' the potential decision," the college football insider said.

Maybe this week, maybe NOT !

I'm with Lou....

Login to view embedded media