Another P12 Black Eye

[CougSinceBirth]

Do the university presidents and ADs truly care about the conference? An absolutely horrible look for the conference and the LA Times.

https://www.oregonlive.com/sports/j...und-news-coverage-from-los-angeles-times.html

Canzano and Wilner aren't everyone's cup of tea, but those two guys have been absolutely calling Leisure Suit Larry and the conference to the carpet. University presidents and ADs may say "we don't have the money to make a move!" and I'll counter argue that the conference cannot afford to NOT make a change of conference leadership (preaching to the choir here). The college athletics landscape will change completely because of COVID, but if the P12 wants to keep any heartbeat alive, they have to move NOW.

 

[cr8zyncalif]

What, you don't like the idea of the PAC paying for PR? Or is it just the under the table advertising payment for PR that is intended to look like objective reporting that bothers you? (note; make sure sarcasm sensor is calibrated...)
Clearly there were no adults with any sort of judgment in the room when this idea was hatched.
If this doesn't finish Larry, it is not clear to me what will actually drive the final stake. This crosses all sorts of lines.

 

[FnuLnu]

The local congressional delegation arranging for the Seattle Times to get a federal $9.9 million "loan" seems to have worked out well for them but probably not the taxpayers who read the Seattle Times.

The two leaders of the Pac 12 conference are based out of LA, keeping their league Presidents full of "happy thoughts" about Pac 12 athletics probably isn't a bad expenditure. And $100,000 doesn't buy a starter at the UW or UO these days.

That said, the Daily Evergreen deserves the money more than Seattle Times or LA Times

 

[cr8zyncalif]

"And $100,000 doesn't buy a starter at the UW or UO these days."

Fnu, I loved it! LOL! Unfortunately I was drinking when I read it, and the result was messy, but congrats on an "instant classic" observation.

 

[95coug]

What, you don't like the idea of the PAC paying for PR? Or is it just the under the table advertising payment for PR that is intended to look like objective reporting that bothers you? (note; make sure sarcasm sensor is calibrated...)
Clearly there were no adults with any sort of judgment in the room when this idea was hatched.
If this doesn't finish Larry, it is not clear to me what will actually drive the final stake. This crosses all sorts of lines.

I think the bad real estate moves, the back door marketing deals, and the quarter mil lunch deals with his pals should have finished him years ago. Hopefully now the presidents will wise up, when their own budgets are already stretched.

 

[Cougsocal]

The worst conference in big time football used to be the old Southwest Conference. When they broke up, it became the Big East, When they broke up, football-wise, they were and have been replaced by the Pac-12. With the way things are going, is it the Pac-12's time to go? What came first, the bad commish or the bad football? Larry is/was a con man, who sold the conference snake oil, no doubt. But the conference presidents and ADs bought in, not because things were going well, but because they thought it could be an easy fix for a conference in steep decline.

Like it or not we aren't the conference that owned the Rose Bowl anymore. We used to be the SEC of football, believe it or not. The conference that had the best bowl win percentage and the most player in the pros, by a healthy margin. Between 1970 and 1992, the conference went 19-4 in the Rose Bowl, between 1970 and 1987, we were 16-2. We rolled tOSU and Michigan like cigarette paper. Bo and Woody couldn't buy Rose Bowl wins. Bo's Rose Bowl record was 2-8, Woody's was 1-4 (after 1968). The conference didn't have an image or lack of general or press interest problem back then. Winning created it for us.

Larry is mere a symptom, not the root cause of this disease.

 

[Suudy]

Larry is mere a symptom, not the root cause of this disease.

I agree 100%. So, what IS the root cause?

 

[earldacoug]

I agree 100%. So, what IS the root cause?

Can’t say it’s the root cause, but none of the cities on the I-5 corridor are what they used to be. Things look unmaintained and also dirty in many places and also aren’t as safe as they used to be. Maybe many of the best players are escaping to greener pastures so to speak.

 

[FnuLnu]

The worst conference in big time football used to be the old Southwest Conference. When they broke up, it became the Big East, When they broke up, football-wise, they were and have been replaced by the Pac-12. With the way things are going, is it the Pac-12's time to go? What came first, the bad commish or the bad football? Larry is/was a con man, who sold the conference snake oil, no doubt. But the conference presidents and ADs bought in, not because things were going well, but because they thought it could be an easy fix for a conference in steep decline.

Like it or not we aren't the conference that owned the Rose Bowl anymore. We used to be the SEC of football, believe it or not. The conference that had the best bowl win percentage and the most player in the pros, by a healthy margin. Between 1970 and 1992, the conference went 19-4 in the Rose Bowl, between 1970 and 1987, we were 16-2. We rolled tOSU and Michigan like cigarette paper. Bo and Woody couldn't buy Rose Bowl wins. Bo's Rose Bowl record was 2-8, Woody's was 1-4 (after 1968). The conference didn't have an image or lack of general or press interest problem back then. Winning created it for us.

Larry is mere a symptom, not the root cause of this disease.

Some of the Pac 12 "glory years" were fed by the kids bred by immigrants from the south and Texas in 30s-40s-50s in California, and 40s-50s in Washington (including eastern Washington). That was football playing families taken away from SEC land. And this was partly enhanced by massive federal spending by FDR and the defense industry post FDR. (Oregon got quite a bit less and one reason they struggled until Phil Knight)

That source has been shut off for good. Now the population growth from out of state is from nonfootball playing nations, soyboy techbros who read comic books and played Ultimate in high school and people who invest more time discussing pronouns than sports.

 

[Cougsocal]

I agree 100%. So, what IS the root cause?

Well if I didn't make it clear, the Pac-12 plays as close to mid-major level of any power five conference, and has fan and press interest commensurate. With low interest comes low revenues. Throw in that Pac-12 went facilities heavy and coach lite under the new contract. And we are F___D.

The conference would have been far better served had USC, its flagship school, started a coach salary race by hiring someone like Nick Saban after Carroll left. Instead, they went cheap with Kiffin, Sark and Helton. Then the conference, en masse, decided to build "monuments" and hire bargain basement coaches. WSU being the lone exception. We screwed up by grossly over spending on facilities and not saving enough to retain both Leach and a quality staff long term.

 

[fingerdisco]

Well if I didn't make it clear, the Pac-12 plays as close to mid-major level of any power five conference, and has fan and press interest commensurate. With low interest comes low revenues. Throw in that Pac-12 went facilities heavy and coach lite under the new contract. And we are F___D.

The conference would have been far better served had USC, its flagship school, started a coach salary race by hiring someone like Nick Saban after Carroll left. Instead, they went cheap with Kiffin, Sark and Helton. Then the conference, en masse, decided to build "monuments" and hire bargain basement coaches. WSU being the lone exception. We screwed up by grossly over spending on facilities and not saving enough to retain both Leach and a quality staff long term.

This says you are wrong: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.li...llege-football-facilities-in-the-country/?amp

 

[COUGinNCW]

I agree 100%. So, what IS the root cause?

Alabama had an all white roster until 1971. Once they integrated that changed college football in a big way.

 

[Cougsocal]

Some of the Pac 12 "glory years" were fed by the kids bred by immigrants from the south and Texas in 30s-40s-50s in California, and 40s-50s in Washington (including eastern Washington). That was football playing families taken away from SEC land. And this was partly enhanced by massive federal spending by FDR and the defense industry post FDR. (Oregon got quite a bit less and one reason they struggled until Phil Knight)

That source has been shut off for good. Now the population growth from out of state is from nonfootball playing nations, soyboy techbros who read comic books and played Ultimate in high school and people who invest more time discussing pronouns than sports.

I agree with your premise, but not your underline analysis. It had everything to do with escaping the overt racism in the South. Let us not forget black kids could not play major college football in the South, including Texas, until the 70s. Elite level football is a black majority sport. While whites moved west to follow federal jobs during the depression, blacks did not because those jobs were not available to them, generally. Federal segregation practices did not and until Truman came into office. Did you know that Cougar legend Rueben Mayes’ family was from Texas, but they decided to move to Canada for a better life.

California has been the hotbed of West Coast recruiting, but the cost of living has driven working-class black families, upon which elite level college football is dependent, out of California. For example, did you know that Compton, a traditionally black neighborhood in LA, is now 62% Latino. Also a “starter” home in a community with good public schools in California runs you anywhere from $600,000-$1 million.

 

[Observer11]

Lot of black families from the south were recruited to military and manufacturing facilities in the west coast during WWII

Kaiser set up housing developments for aluminum production, for instance. Another good chunk were stationed up and down the west coast. Oregon was essentially a white only state until war broke out.

Cant even count how many of my ethnic friends settled in Spokane because of either dad serving at Fairchild or settling here because of internment in the case of the Japanese.

 

[Cougsocal]

This says you are wrong: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.lineups.com/articles/top-10-best-college-football-facilities-in-the-country/?amp

Did I ever say we had the best football facilities? Hell no! I said we spent our new TV contract money on monuments while going cheap on coaches. The Pac-12 has never had the budgets of the mid-west and southern blue blood schools. You step on campus at a Big-10 school, your first impression is "wow." While Oregon has great facilities, that is because of a multi-billionaire sugar daddy, not because the school is rolling in dough from football revenues.

 

[fingerdisco]

Did I ever say we had the best football facilities? Hell no! I said we spent our new TV contract money on monuments while going cheap on coaches. The Pac-12 has never had the budgets of the mid-west and southern blue blood schools. You step on campus at a Big-10 school, your first impression is "wow." While Oregon has great facilities, that is because of a multi-billionaire sugar daddy, not because the school is rolling in dough from football revenues.

So it’s coincidence the most successful teams in the country are on that list?

 

[cr8zyncalif]

I also have to think that having relatively high and relatively uniform academic standards has not helped us since prop 48 went away.