There is no panic in Pat Chun’s voice, but there is worry.
Washington State’s athletic director knows the fate of his football program — er, the entire athletic department — is as precarious as it’s ever been.
The exodus of 10 schools previously in the Pac-12 has left WSU and Oregon State scrambling to survive. That has resulted in a lawsuit in which Washington State and OSU are trying to take control of the Pac-12 board of directors and the hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue and assets that come with it.
Chun knows his university needs this legal victory. The Cougs need every possible safety measure to stay afloat.
Perhaps that’s why Chun’s first burst of humor during a Seattle Times interview Tuesday came when he was asked when he’d like to see the schedule for the Football Team of the Year next.
“Hopefully last week,” he said.
The real answer is who the hell knows? considering all the moving parts surrounding Washington State. But with the transfer portal opening and signing day on the horizon for the football team, Chun insisted the school needed clarity as quickly as possible.
As it stands, Washington State only has five teams on its schedule for next season: San Jose State, San Diego State, Portland State, Washington State and Oregon State. Chun said “Plan A” is for Oregon State and Washington State — which will essentially represent the Pac-2 next season — to partner with the Mountain West and have the schools in this conference fills the rest of the unscheduled games. But he didn’t specify what plan B or C would be, only joking that “plan D” would be to play Oregon State six times.
This highlighted a sense of hopelessness that Chun likely feels, if not outright expresses. But alongside the frustration and anger over what happened at his conference in recent years was a sense of optimism for the future.
Some highlights from the Q&A:
On the five-year extension of the Apple Cup
Chun said last summer that he heard from a contingent of Coug fans who were so upset about Washington leaving the Pac-12 that they wanted the Apple Cup to disappear forever. But Chun also recognizes the importance of rivalry games and the century-old tradition between WSU and UW. That doesn’t mean it has to be a friendly rivalry, though.
“The majority of Cougs have very strong opinions about what a Husky is, and I suspect for many of them what happened this summer reaffirmed what they think about Huskies,” said Chun.
Side note: Chun said on KJR earlier today that next year’s Big Ten champion won’t come from the Pacific Northwest.
On the state of college sports
This wasn’t on the initial list of questions, but Chun made a relatively shocking remark early in the interview.
“College athletics is beyond repair,” he said.
The statement stemmed from a number of issues, but the main one was how NIL (name, image and likeness) became a paid model, detached from the good intentions from which it initially came. Washington State coach Jake Dickert lamented that fact earlier in the month, saying NIL was preventing WSU from entering the transfer portal.
On all the uncertainty that pushed a potential record number of WSU players into the portal
Cougs cornerback Javan Robinson announced on Twitter last week that he was considering making such an entry despite two games remaining on the schedule. What’s stopping dozens of others from doing the same?
“This is not a new concern. We have these concerns every year,” Chun said. “I would just say we owe it to our athletes and our coaches to provide some clarity for next year.”
On Washington State playing the long game
Right after that statement of clarity, Chun highlighted how WSU A) is working on its scheduling partnership and B) has a two-year grace period from the NCAA that allows it and the state of Oregon, to have access to future assets of the Pac-12. The idea – leave that aside, the hope – is that this will keep Washington State as relevant as possible in the short term to prepare it for the future.
“Realignment is going to continue to happen, and the state of Washington just needs to make sure that we’re properly positioned as realignment continues to happen,” Chun said.
Tuesday’s interview lasted about 25 minutes and covered a range of other topics. Chun called out the Pac-12’s leadership over the years, particularly its failure to learn from its mistakes. He said last week’s court ruling supporting Washington State and Oregon State in their bid to take control of the Pac-12 board — a move that has since been put on hold – “confirmed the functioning of the conference”. He did not say whether he was interested in the open Ohio State AD position, but made it clear that the dissolution of the Pac-12 had everything to do with the failure of the Pac-12 and had nothing to do with it. see with other conferences.
So yes, a lot of worry, but also a little hope – especially with the College Football Playoff adding eight teams next season.
“The best part of the realignment is that this sport is going to change significantly because of the 12-team playoffs,” Chun said. “Now it’s going to open up a little bit, and hopefully we can get into position – that’s going to be the goal. And the good thing is that we scored a goal.
