Conference realignment, hype video and AD rumors: Where does WSU go from here?

PULLMAN – Washington State finds itself in a tricky spot, trying to find a balance between putting on a brave face and showing the world why it shouldn’t need to.

By now, we know the basics: The Cougars are one of the four remaining schools in the Pac-12, which is set to play one more football season before ceasing to exist as we know it. Along with Stanford, Cal and Oregon State, WSU must find a new conference home – and try to cushion whatever financial blows might come as a result.

The Cougars’ three options on that front, university president Kirk Schulz said in a new video, are as follows: Rebuild the Pac-12, join the Mountain West or join the American Athletic Conference.

Much of that has been well-documented in the media, and besides, it makes sense. Regionally, Washington State fits in well with the Mountain West, whose schools all reside in the western part of the country. That might not apply as much to WSU’s potential membership in the AAC, a conference whose membership stretches from Texas to Florida to Pennsylvania.

The other one, Schulz said, is to rebuild the Pac-12 – “the Pac-X,” in his words. For several reasons, this might add up to the most challenging task: To do so, the Pac-12 would likely need to poach schools from the Mountain West, whose schools would face pricey exit fees to participate in the 2024 season – somewhere in the $30 million range, according to multiple reports. To make this work, the conferences would likely need to work out some type of merger to avoid exit fees of that nature.

For whichever situation comes to fruition, Washington State on Thursday released a hype video, showing off a few TV numbers to boost its stock in the eyes of the powers that be, and to rally fans.

“Always the underdog. Never in the spotlight,” the narrator says at one point, describing WSU players and fans. “And nobody’s watching. You sure about that?”

The video went on to highlight several notable alumni, such as current Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompson and Super Bowl champion Drew Bledsoe, who played 14 seasons in the NFL. Also spotlighted are the Cougars’ 2022-23 women’s basketball team, which won the Pac-12 championship, and NFL quarterback Gardner Minshew, the quarterback who captured the attention of the nation with an electric 2018 season.

Not to be lost in this whole situation is the future of Washington State athletic director Pat Chun, who is rumored to be a candidate for the same job at Ohio State, where he spent a decade in the athletic department from 2002 to 2012. The Buckeyes’ current AD, Gene Smith, is set to retire in July 2024.

Or, could Chun be offered the job at Washington? Columnist Jon Wilner believes so. Upon the news that surfaced Monday that UW athletic director Jen Cohen is leaving for the same role at USC, Wilner listed Chun as a potential candidate for the Huskies’ AD role.

Back on Aug. 9, when Chun hosted a Zoom media availability to discuss the Cougars’ place in conference realignment, he used one word to describe his conversation with Cohen when she told him UW would be leaving the Pac-12: “Brief.”