Canzano: Four new schools -- what's next for the Pac-12?
Canzano: Four new schools -- what's next for the Pac-12?
1-on-1 with Commissioner Teresa Gould.
Pac-12 Commissioner Teresa Gould has a small orchard in the backyard of her home in Northern California. The property is just under an acre and has trees with oranges, lemons, persimmons, cherries, and peaches on them.
She calls it: “My happy place.”
Gould planted the seeds for another happy place on Thursday when her embattled conference punched back by adding four new schools. The six-member Pac-12 (six pack?) is now in a full-blown rebuild. The conference has until July 1, 2026 to reach the NCAA minimum of eight schools.
I spoke with Gould in a 1-on-1 conversation on Thursday. She told me that she didn’t sleep much on Wednesday night. The Pac-12 was poised to announce the additions of San Diego State, Boise State, Fresno State, and Colorado State early the following morning. There were details to be ironed out, strategy to be discussed, and a joint 6 a.m. announcement planned.
The Pac-12 learned something from the mistakes of the last regime. There was too much waiting, hoping, and passive-watching by prior regimes. Moving slowly (and arrogantly) cost the conference dearly. The presidents of the old-world Pac-12 fashioned their CEO group as a circle of trust, then smiled at each other, cocked their guns, and pointed them at each other under the tables.
Gould’s Pac-12 conference didn’t want to sit and wait. It had to move. The sides had been talking, but the deal was formally glued together in an intense 48-hour period this week. The news was leaking. A plan was set for the new members to make their announcements at 6:01 a.m. Thursday and the Pac-12 would follow a few minutes later.
A source at Air Force told me that the academy, and the other Mountain West members about to be left behind, were blindsided by it.
“Nobody knew,” the source said.