Goodbye Pac-12. College sports are a mess | Opinion

As a 12-year-old in Kennewick, I’d race home on my purple Stingray bicycle to grab the afternoon Tri-City Herald and study the box scores of every sport.

Years later, that love of sports is still there. I can tell you who won the 1971 World Series (Pittsburgh Pirates) or the Super Bowl in 1973 (Miami Dolphins).

My wife says my head is full of useless information, mainly because I can’t remember to take out the garbage.

As that 12-year-old, I got to attend the Washington State University men’s basketball game in Pullman — the Cougars against UCLA. I marveled at UCLA’s Bill Walton, standing next to diminutive Bruins coach John Wooden, and Steve Puidokas, who at 6-foot, 11 inches, could shoot from anywhere.

I fell in love with WSU sports, and over the years often went with friends to watch Cougars football. I spent my freshman year there, attending every sporting event I could.

A year later, I transferred to Eastern Washington University, but I still loved Pac-10 sports (it didn’t become the Pac-12 until Colorado and Utah joined the conference in 2010), and I’d get to Pullman from Cheney as often as I could.

In 1985, I joined the Herald as a sports writer, then became sports editor in 1996. I spent a lot of Cougar Saturdays enjoying work at Martin Stadium, and even since I retired from the business in 2015, I watch the Cougs.

So I can honestly say it’s heartbreaking to see how the Pac-12 Conference has imploded over the last 18 months.

I’ve been asked by the Columbia Basin Badger Club to speak on this in an online forum at noon on Jan. 18, for a program called “Big Time Sports: what about Wazzu?” Joining me will be WSU kicker Dean Janikowski, who will discuss what this is like for a Division I athlete.

You can register for this event, which will include a Q&A session, at columbiabasinbadgers.com to receive a confirmation and links to join the Zoom forum and a half-hour “Table Talk” op-mic session afterward. The cost is $5 for nonmembers, while club members can join for free.

I don’t know what it’s been like for Dean, but for me it’s been like a slow-motion car wreck. I feel WSU has been robbed of some of its future. Will athletes now shy away from WSU?

The whole mess started with USC and UCLA announcing in June 2022 that they were moving to the Big Ten Conference. They wanted more money than they were getting from the Pac-12 — which shared revenues equally with all members but didn’t have a good television contract.

Over the next year, Colorado bolted back to the Big 12, followed by Arizona, Arizona State and Utah. Last summer, Oregon and Washington left for the Big Ten, then Stanford and Cal said they were joining the Atlantic Coast Conference.

That’s left Washington State and Oregon State with no conference invites to join the big kids’ table. Only recently have the schools settled their legal issues.

The breaking stories have become fast and furious.

On Dec. 1, it was announced that both WSU and OSU have an agreement with the Mountain West Conference to play football for at least the 2024 season, probably also 2025.

WSU and OSU have also become affiliated members of the West Coast Conference for likely the next two years, and they’ll play all sports — outside of football and baseball — in the WCC.

Baseball teams for OSU and WSU have until the end of this month to decide what they will do starting in spring 2025. OSU may try to play as an independent, Baseball America has reported. No word about what WSU will do.

WSU just lost women’s volleyball coach Jen Greeny, who is headed to West Virginia University. She consistently led her team to the NCAA tournament, but she admitted the uncertainly of WSU’s situation factored in her going to West Virginia.

Changes in college sports have been mind-boggling:

▪ The development of super conferences.

Four conferences — the Southeastern Conference, Big Ten, Big 12 and the Atlantic Coast Conference — will have a combined 68 schools in their membership beginning later this calendar year. And there has been talk about a possible super conference with the most elite football programs.

▪ Money is running this ship.

ESPN, Fox/FS1, CBS, NBC and conference networks have invested billions of dollars to show college football and basketball games.

The Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) situation means athletes now can get paid by companies for promoting their products. (If you’re a Gonzaga basketball fan, think about all of those Northern Quest Casino commercials last season with Drew Timme.)

▪ The transfer portal.

Athletes now can leave their current school, be signed by a new school, and allowed to play immediately rather than sit out a year as the old rules stated. And the NCAA recently announced an athlete can enter the transfer portal a second time.

Here’s the problem: at least 30 percent of athletes who jump into the transfer portal never get selected by a new school, and never play again.

Who knows what it will be like a year from now?

At times, all of this has made me lose interest in college sports.

But one thing for sure has happened — I now remember to take out the garbage.

Jeff Morrow, sports pundit and former Tri-City Herald sports editor, continues to write regular columns for the Herald.