Conference Will Still Be Known as Pac-12 With Two Schools
It’s still the Pac-12.
That was one of the messages of new Pac-12 commissioner Teresa Gould in an interview session that featured her and Washington State president Kirk Schulz during a zoom webinar on Thursday.
(A video of the entire interview is available at the end of this article.)
Not a lot of new ground was covered in the session, but a few things are worth noting.
---Gould is committed to representing Washington State and Oregon State as Pac-12 commissioner for two years. She made it clear she is representing those two schools while being an advocate for this new Pac-12. (Oregon, Washington, UCLA and USC will be in the Big Ten next fall; Arizona, Arizona State, Utah and Colorado will be members of the Big 12 starting in the fall of 2024; and Cal and Stanford will join the ACC starting in the 2024-25 school year.)
NCAA rules give a conference a two-year grace period in which it can exist without at least seven members, the minimum required for a Division I conference. The Pac-12's grace period will start with the 2024-25 academic year. That is why Gould was given a two-year contract.
"I think we all felt that that was an important commitment that I commit to stay through the NCAA grace period and through those two agreements [with the West Coast Conference for basketball and Mountain West Conference for football] to make sure that we're collaborating and seeing this work through," Gould said.
---The conference containing Washington State and Oregon State will continue to be known as the Pac-12 conference after July 1, which is when the 10 departing schools are no longer part of the Pac-12. The current Pac-12 logos and Pac-12 identification will continue to be used for Washington State and Oregon State sports for at least the 2024-25 academic year.
---The Pac-12 Network will continue to operate at least through the 2024-25 academic year. Gould acknowledged that programming to fill the air time will have to be found.
---Pac-12 record books will continue to include sports accomplishments of Washington State and Oregon State for at least the 2024-25 academic year.
---The proposed conversations about a possible merger between the Pac-12 and the Mountain West Conference have not begun, according to Gould. She said the Pac-12 will continue to be “open-minded” about all options.
---The question of whether the Pac-12 might be reconstituted at some future date with some or all of the departing 10 members returning to form a new Pac-12 conference was not posed. Cal football coach Justin Wilcox said recently he believed that was a possibility, although he also noted that almost anything is possible when it comes to future conference restructuring.
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