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If they're looking to have a decent football conference, what would be the point of adding Gonzaga? Honestly, Montana and Montana St would make more sense...
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There obviously is value in adding one of the top basketball schools. Won't the conference get $ from when Gonzaga advances in the tournament each year?
UNLV would be a great addition. I don't really see the point of Utah State but if it's just to get to an 8th member then whatever - that's fine.Utah State is in.
And now is sounds like because of Utah State leaving for the PAC, UNLV has changed its mind about staying in the MWC and is looking at its options again.
Knowing what we know now yes it was probably better to have not signed the deal. Was total chaos at the time with huge pressure to get opponents scheduled. Also a lot has changed such as breakdown of other MWC negotiations that was not known back then. Also didnt even know there would be any pac12 settlement.Actually, maybe the best option was to NOT have signed that scheduling deal with the MWC that contained such heavily punitive clauses for stealing MWC teams
Knowing what we know now yes it was probably better to have not signed the deal. Was total chaos at the time with huge pressure to get opponents scheduled. Also a lot has changed such as breakdown of other MWC negotiations that was not known back then. Also didnt even know there would be any pac12 settlement.
Really don't think OSU or WSU has made many bad moves the last few years, most of their situation is just the reality of being the smaller rural school in two smaller states.
Yeah, I was going to say, OSU and WSU have been doing a great job building the conference.the chaos was the collapse of the Pac-12 was in the first week of August, 2023. It was 4 months later when the scheduling agreement was made. Obviously, there was a little bit of urgency at that time, but the 2024 season was 9 months away. They had those 4 months to consider options and plan for the best way forward. And frankly, the MWC was about the only viable option. There was plenty of talk about the terms of that scheduling agreement at the time it was announced. Primarily about how the Pac-2 had painted themselves into a very expensive corner if they wanted to keep the Pac-12 brand alive. A 25-30M exit fee for MWC teams was widely viewed as insanely excessive, especially considering that the MWC only had ONE season left on the media deal after the one year scheduling agreement
as far as 'bad moves', the 3 biggest supporters of Larry Scott were the presidents of ASU, OSU, WSU....and he was the Typhoid Larry for the Pac-12. I'd also point at OSU's decision to renovate Reser, the result being a reduction in capacity from 45,700 to 35,600. Reducing stadium capacity by 10,000 is the wrong direction for a program wanting to join a Power-4 conference
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something else as well: 23 years ago, in 2001, Oregon made a commitment to expanding their brand. And this was before Phil Knight's money started to flow into facilities. That was the year of the Joey Harrington billboard in NYC. That was a few years before Oregon started having dozens of uniform combinations. The Oregon AD made the conscious decision to ramp up branding and raise the UofO's profile. I mean, is there a more recognizable mascot than the Oregon Duck?
and at the time, and for 15-20 years afterward, OSU fans and officials, and sometimes even the coaches, ridiculed Oregon's branding efforts. That dismissal was parroted by Dwight Jaynes and Canzano. "Style over substance" was the refrain coming out of Corvallis and the printing presses at the Oregonian. The criticism was coming hot and heavy. Over and over and over. Oregon was all "flash" while OSU did things "the right way".
maybe, just maybe, if OSU had spent a lot less time pissing on Oregon's branding efforts, and more time working on their own, they wouldn't be in the situation they are
I'm still not totally convinced something like this won't happen sometime in the future.It's too bad that Cal and Stanford decided 30% shares in the ACC would be better than full shares in a rebuilt PAC. Add them back to OSU/WSU and the 4 MWC schools, and you'd have a solid little conference.
You can go through every university in the old Pac12 and create a huge list of mistakes as in your post that they made. Sure if the Beavers didn't make mistakes they would've been better. USC, Cal Berkley, UCLA, Arizona State, etc just can make far more mistakes and still have a lot of success. The Beavers and Cougars don't have those advantages and were always trying to do more with less. They had extremely little margin for error in order to succeed.the chaos was the collapse of the Pac-12 was in the first week of August, 2023. It was 4 months later when the scheduling agreement was made. Obviously, there was a little bit of urgency at that time, but the 2024 season was 9 months away. They had those 4 months to consider options and plan for the best way forward. And frankly, the MWC was about the only viable option. There was plenty of talk about the terms of that scheduling agreement at the time it was announced. Primarily about how the Pac-2 had painted themselves into a very expensive corner if they wanted to keep the Pac-12 brand alive. A 25-30M exit fee for MWC teams was widely viewed as insanely excessive, especially considering that the MWC only had ONE season left on the media deal after the one year scheduling agreement
as far as 'bad moves', the 3 biggest supporters of Larry Scott were the presidents of ASU, OSU, WSU....and he was the Typhoid Larry for the Pac-12. I'd also point at OSU's decision to renovate Reser, the result being a reduction in capacity from 45,700 to 35,600. Reducing stadium capacity by 10,000 is the wrong direction for a program wanting to join a Power-4 conference
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something else as well: 23 years ago, in 2001, Oregon made a commitment to expanding their brand. And this was before Phil Knight's money started to flow into facilities. That was the year of the Joey Harrington billboard in NYC. That was a few years before Oregon started having dozens of uniform combinations. The Oregon AD made the conscious decision to ramp up branding and raise the UofO's profile. I mean, is there a more recognizable mascot than the Oregon Duck?
and at the time, and for 15-20 years afterward, OSU fans and officials, and sometimes even the coaches, ridiculed Oregon's branding efforts. That dismissal was parroted by Dwight Jaynes and Canzano. "Style over substance" was the refrain coming out of Corvallis and the printing presses at the Oregonian. The criticism was coming hot and heavy. Over and over and over. Oregon was all "flash" while OSU did things "the right way".
maybe, just maybe, if OSU had spent a lot less time pissing on Oregon's branding efforts, and more time working on their own, they wouldn't be in the situation they are
Yeah I think there could be a chance of it, thats why I just want to see UNLV added and the conference stay at 8 teams at this time.I'm still not totally convinced something like this won't happen sometime in the future.
It's too bad that Cal and Stanford decided 30% shares in the ACC would be better than full shares in a rebuilt PAC. Add them back to OSU/WSU and the 4 MWC schools, and you'd have a solid little conference.
I'm sure it did--though myopia is a pretty sad excuse for poor decision making. They also would presumably have kept a portion of the Pac12 money that went to OSU/WSU. I don't think there's a way, looking at it holistically, that they come out ahead with their current deal until their ACC share increases in 7 years--and that's only assuming the ACC media money significantly outpaces whatever the PAC is able to cobble together.yeah, that could have been a better option...although a guaranteed 8-10M/year probably looked a lot better, at the time, than a speculative share of whatever a hybrid Pac-X/MWC share would be. That's especially true considering that guaranteed money started in August whereas the speculative payout won't start to 2026
Yes Phil Knight was not the only reason for Oregon's success - but he was the single biggest reason the last 4 decades. Go back prior to his time and UO/OSU had similar success for more decades prior.
if you go back to the 70's and 80's, sure, both programs sucked...and that's being kind. (I'm forever grateful I was in Alaska in 1983 and didn't have to watch the Toilet Bowl)
BUT....dollar one of Phil Knight's money didn't kick in (the Moshovsky practice facility) till late in 1998.
in the 10 years prior, 1989-1998, Oregon went to 7 bowl games. OSU went to 0. Oregon only had 2 losing seasons out of 10; OSU had 10 losing seasons out of 10. The Ducks had turned their program into a winner a decade before Phil Knight joined the party. That's not meant to discount the impact of PK's money. Just meant to demonstrate that Oregon was well down the path to becoming a top-tier program prior to Knight's involvement. The foundation was already in place in Eugene. Not the case in Corvallis
the Beavers didn't have a Phil Knight, but they have just as many wealthy alums as the UofO. But apparently those alums don't care about sports...for the most part
another thing the Ducks had going for them that the Beavers didn't: Mike Bellotti. As a long time Duck fan and alum I think Bellotti's impact on Oregon is significantly underrated. He brought stability to the program. Yeah, Rich Brooks elevated Oregon from the toilet to mediocre-->average. But Bellotti only had one losing season out of 14 as HC and that was a 5-6 season. He won 68% of his games; had the first four 10-11 win seasons in school history; and took his teams to 12 bowl games in 14 years. He was the one who decided that Oregon needed to go to the spread offense and brought in Chip Kelley to implement the spread. It was Bellotti and Steve Greatwood who developed the templates Oregon used to create some of the best OLines in the country. Something else: when Bellotti was head coach, Oregon recruited great defenders and almost always had rugged, solid defenses. Too bad Oregon could have combined a Bellotti defense with a Chip offense. They'd have 2 or 3 national championships
Beavers are the flagsheep college program!And don't forget that the Ducks are the flagship college program for Nike and have been since at least the early 90's and probably even before that.
I'm sure it did--though myopia is a pretty sad excuse for poor decision making. They also would presumably have kept a portion of the Pac12 money that went to OSU/WSU. I don't think there's a way, looking at it holistically, that they come out ahead with their current deal until their ACC share increases in 7 years--and that's only assuming the ACC media money significantly outpaces whatever the PAC is able to cobble together.
The bolded part is false. Phil Knight started donating to the U of O in the late 80's.
I don’t know why it wouldn’t. People are forgetting that 95% of WSU/OSU teams are playing in the WCC. They will return to the PAC X in 2 years if they can land enough teams.I'm still not totally convinced something like this won't happen sometime in the future.
how much? and to what? I was talking about the football program by the way
Jensen Huang is worth about three times what Phil Knight is worth...It doesn't matter. The fact he donated means more money was available for the football program that would have otherwise went to scholastic endeavors.
If the Beavs try to field a competitive e-sports team, well yeah maybe NVidia helps.Jensen Huang is worth about three times what Phil Knight is worth...
If the Beavs try to field a competitive e-sports team, well yeah maybe NVidia helps.
In regards to Football and athletics - the Nike connection was probably more critical to Ducks success than Phil's cash.