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    • Pac-12 Poaching at Mountain West Schools Is an Exercise in Futility
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    Pac-12 Poaching at Mountain West Schools Is an Exercise in Futility

    Vaseline Posted on

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    In the annals of absurdity, financial mismanagement and ego-driven decision-making that have long been the hallmarks of conference realignment, Thursday’s announcement of a rebuilt Pac-12 sets a new standard for futility in college sports.

    Oregon State and Washington State were left for dead a year ago when the rest of their league went to the wind, but they’ve convinced Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State and San Diego State to leave the Mountain West and join them under the Pac-12 banner in 2026. There will surely be more additions to come — you’d think UNLV, Air Force and maybe New Mexico would be starting points depending on how big they want to get — but the bottom line is so inconsequential that you have to wonder if it’s worth it.

    By breaking away from the Mountain West, the Disloyal Four have essentially just joined a new league with an old name that will look… almost exactly like the Mountain West.

    And what are the costs of that step?

    There are more than $100 million in exit fees and penalties tied to the scheduling agreement Oregon State and Washington State struck with the Mountain West last year. The agreement was written explicitly to discourage this scenario, in which the remaining Pac-12 schools would destroy the conference that temporarily provided them with a football home.

    A significant portion of that money will almost certainly come from the Pac-12 war chest, which is made up of a ton of conference revenue that the other 10 schools gave up when they left for the Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC. And in turn, the Mountain West will use that money to shore up its remaining membership and add members to ensure its own survival. Given how shallow the pool becomes at that end of conference expansion, the Mountain West will likely have to either shore up a few Football Championship Subdivision schools or dip into Conference USA, which had to do exactly the same thing last year.

    The cycle continues.

    And for what? How can you convince any rational person that this level of conference realignment — again, with more than $100 million being shifted from one group of mid-sized schools to another — is anything more than a low-level Ponzi scheme?

    If you look closely, you can imagine how schools like Boise State, Colorado State and San Diego State, which have some national notoriety, could convince themselves that it would be better to formally affiliate with Oregon State and Washington State while leaving the baggage of the Mountain West behind.

    After all, the new Pac-12 can now negotiate its own media rights deal, and the six schools can choose how many other partners — and which ones — will bring the most value. For a college president, filling a spreadsheet with those hypotheses is like catnip. They can’t resist.

    But in reality, all they’ve done is leave a conference that was competing with American to be the fifth best conference, and… join a league that is competing with American to be the fifth best conference.

    Which means the difference in TV money will likely be marginal. There will be no difference in access to the College Football Playoff, because no one with any real power in the sport will consider the Pac-12 a major conference. Ultimately, Boise State and the rest will be playing largely the same opponents they’ve been playing for years, just with a different conference logo on the field.

    And in the end, when you leave all the nonsense behind, that’s what really matters.

    Athletic directors and college presidents speak only one language when it comes to league realignment: They either feel like they’re one of the cool kids or they’re not.

    Just look at the landscape of the past few years and there is no other logical reason that has influenced these decisions than ego, and even more so than money.

    Why did Texas begin the process of ditching the Big 12 for the SEC? Because their football program had hired a string of terrible coaches and they blamed their subsequent recruiting failures on being in a mediocre conference.

    Why did Southern Cal jailbreak the Pac-12 for the Big Ten? Because their program had reached a stalemate and there was a perception among USC administrators that the Pac-12 wasn’t doing enough to help them become nationally relevant again.

    Why are Florida State and Clemson taking the ACC to court in an attempt to become free agents, even though it will cost a fortune and there’s no guarantee of a more lucrative landing spot? It’s because they fear they’ll end up on the wrong side of a divide between elite and commoners that once included six top-tier conferences and now includes just four.

    This situation has left college administrators feeling somewhat helpless. They are merely passengers as the NCAA model is reshaped by lawsuits and threats that schools in the Big Ten and SEC will turn their backs and do their own thing if they are not given the freedom they need to make rules and spend money that no one else has.

    So the sole focus for everyone is to get as close to that dividing line as possible, regardless of the travel logistics, the exit costs and who gets screwed.

    A year ago, Washington State and Oregon State were lovable because no one wanted them. Now they’re predators sinking their teeth into the carcass-strewn Mountain West.

    And what exactly do those who join them get? Oh, they’re throwing a big party this week in Boise and San Diego and Fort Collins. They finally made it!

    But they turned it into a knock-off Pac-12, whose resurrection is less impressive than a Journey reunion tour without Steve Perry as lead singer.

    Sure, Oregon State and Washington State get to keep the name and branding, but no one is fooled. What they put together is more Parody Pac than Pac-12, but in college sports, it’s just business as usual these days, unfortunately.

    Vaseline
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