Getty Image / David Madison
With conference realignment hitting the Pac-12 particularly hard right now, there are a number of teams getting ready to leave the conference for greener pastures.
However, that doesn’t seem to be the case for a couple of the conference’s schools.
The president and athletic director of one of those school released a statement day expressing their disappointment with their peers.
That statement came from Washington State president Kirk Schulz and AD Pat Chun.
Statement from Washington State’s president and athletic director:
“We are disappointed with the recent decisions by some of our Pac-12 peers. While we had hoped that our membership would remain together, this outcome was always a possibility” pic.twitter.com/zm2s8HsBW4
— Chris Vannini (@ChrisVannini) August 4, 2023
“We are disappointed with the recent decisions by some of our Pac-12 peers. While we had hoped that our membership would remain together, this outcome was always a possibility, and we have been working diligently to determine what is next for Washington State Athletics. With exceptional student-athletes, a strong Cougar tradition and incredible support from our fans, donors and alumni, we will chart the best path forward together.”
It’s not much of a surprise that Washington State is pretty unhappy about everything going on around the Pac-12 right now.
While many of the schools in the conference are jumping ship for bigger conferences with better media deals, Washington State is pretty much stuck.
Them and Oregon State are the only programs in the Pac-12 that haven’t at least been linked with a move to a bigger conference.
Unfortunately, that’s just the reality of being a school without a particularly good basketball or football program in a very small market.
They should land on their feet in a mid-major conference that will most likely be the Mountain West. Still, that might not be enough to soften the blow of dropping out of the Power 5.