Ominous Article From 2011 Resurfaces Showing The Rapid Downfall Of The Pac-12

The Pac-12 is dead. Long live the Pac-12.

Well, it’s not officially dead.

But it sure is trending that way after a disastrous day that saw powerhouse programs Oregon and Washington follow USC and UCLA out the door to the Big Ten. Meanwhile, Arizona, Arizona State, Utah and others appear bound for the Big 12.

That leaves the Pac-12 with just Cal, Colorado, Oregon State, Stanford and Washington state as members in the coming years. Colorado has already been linked with a move to the Big 12, and Stanford and Cal look to be hot commodities given their success in non-revenue sports.

But it wasn’t always like this.

In fact, the Pac-12 was once the most stable of all the Power Five conference, and it wasn’t all that long ago. ESPN’s Kyle Bonagura dug up an article from 2011 where then Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott shot down the idea of adding Texas and Oklahoma to the conference.

The two blue blood schools are now set to leave the Big 12 for the SEC in 2024. The SEC, like the Big Ten, has established itself as one of the two emerging “super conference.”

Bill Moos, who was the athletic director at Washington State at the time, told ESPN’s Ted Miller that he felt the Pac-12 was an attractive destination.

I don’t see any of our schools wanting to leave,” Moos said. “We’ve established the Pac-12 as a destination. I would guess there will be overtures down the road of institutions inquiring about membership.”

Scott, meanwhile, said he didn’t want to add teams and damage the conference’s “culture.”

“An opportunity was turned down that could have generated more money for the schools but potentially could have torn apart the fabric of the culture of the conference,” he said.

Now, 12 years later, the Pac-12 is on the brink of extinction. And it’s hard to imagine that would be the case has Oklahoma and Texas been brought aboard.