Gordon Monson: The Pac12, because of previous decisions made by league leaders, could not be saved.
University of Utah president Taylor Randall, left, and athletic director Mark Harlan hold a news conference at Rice-Eccles Stadium after announcing the school’s entrance to the Big 12 Conference, Monday, Aug. 7, 2023.That’s what had to be done byThe music in their heads was thunderous and rhythmic for one primary reason: It had to be.
It even got to the point where Harlan described the locations of Big 12 schools as “incredible cities.” Um. Have you been to Lubbock? Stillwater? Ames? Lawrence and Manhattan? Waco?This is an example of the back-and-forth. Harlan said the following, sending compliments to the rear and up ahead: Randall said it like this: “We expended every energy to figure out how this [media rights] deal could move forward. … Each [Pac-12] university was plugging in the numbers and kind of making their own decision. The outcome is where we are today.”
“Every president, including Washington and Oregon, was trying to hold this thing together,” Randall insisted. Until they weren’t.In the run-up to that, the prez said: “We explored a lot of options.” Some question the notion, the prudence, of universities aligning with other universities that are geographically far-flung. That not only interferes with regional rivalries, it sometimes throws a burden on the aforementioned student-athletes, who now have farther distances to travel in order to play conference foes.
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