Washington State President Offers Ominous Realingment Warning After Cougars Were Left Out
The college football realignment wars are just getting started. At least, according to the president of one of the universities most affected by it.
The Washington State Cougars were one of the two schools left behind after the stunning collapse of the Pac-12 conference in 2023.
And the school's president, Kirk Schulz, has some words of warning for the rest of the schools fighting for relevance in the new era of conference realignment: it can happen to anyone. Schulz, according to the Mercury News, recently discussed how discussions on the playoff committee have shown him how much change is yet to come. Likely as a result of the SEC and Big Ten starting to flex their significantly expanded muscles when it comes to revenue distribution and automatic bids.
"The leagues have become tiered," Schulz said, according to the Mercury News story, "and two of them" — the SEC and Big Ten — "are more resourced than everybody else. And some of the highly-resourced schools have a different format in mind, which would give them more automatic qualifiers."
Even though WSU and Oregon State have seen their influence fall dramatically in the Pac-2 era, Schulz said they still hope to have a voice in future playoff discussions.
"Several presidents are committed to Washington State and Oregon State being an integrated part of the (CFP) conversations going forward," Schulz said. "But what does that really mean? The situation could change." And he believes it will continue to change.
Jan 9, 2024; Houston, TX, USA; College Football Playoff executive director Bill Hancock speaks during the CFP National Championship Host Committee press conference at JW Marriot Houston by the Galleria. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Realignment And Playoff Changes Still Coming, According To WSU President
Schulz also said that he's heard from other presidents across the sport that they commiserate with his situation, realizing that they could easily have shared the same fate.
"There is a profound sense of regret about the situation we’re in," Schulz said. "A lot of presidents have told me, ‘That could have been us’ or ‘That could be us.’"
And even more ominously, he believes that major changes are nowhere close to being finished. "Realignment isn’t done," he warned.
Schulz is almost certainly correct; further consolidation is a near certainty. The NCAA continues to lose court cases, NIL is set to become a free for all, and media rights money is concentrated on conferences with the most to offer. At some point, it feels inevitable that there will be structural changes to the entire model. Whether that results in two super-conferences or no conferences at all and a smaller FBS is yet to be determined.
The realignment topic is just warming up.