Commentary on Pac-12 developments off the field …
Rising: Pac-12 basketball initiative
Earlier this week, the conference announced a basketball alliance with the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC), a group of Historically Black Colleges and Universities that includes Grambling, Southern, Bethune-Cookman and Alcorn State.
Described as an “educational and scheduling partnership,” the arrangement calls for every team (men and women) to participate in a home-and-home series beginning with the 2022-23 season.
For example, the Arizona men will host Southern in Nov. ’22, then play at Southern in ’23.
As part of the series, players will “participate in social justice and anti-racism educational components as part of the games,” according to the Pac-12.
SWAC commissioner Charles McClelland framed the partnership in this manner:
“This is a game changer and the opportunity for a collaboration of this significant magnitude has never occurred in the history of HBCU Athletics. We applaud the Pac-12 and its leadership for having the foresight and vision to put this historical initiative together.”
The cultural and education components mirror what the Pac-12 does with the annual basketball game in China, except this isn’t in China.
We think the SWAC partnership is stupendous.
And we think the Pac-12 should attempt something similar in football.
As many readers are no doubt aware, the Hotline has no shortage of ideas for the conference — some of which don’t actually stink.
We first considered a Pac-12 football partnership with HBCU teams last winter, after UCLA announced dates with Alabama State (2022) and North Carolina Central (2023).
Granted, everything about a sweeping football arrangement with HBCUs would be vastly more complicated than a basketball series — let’s acknowledge that up front.
In our rough outline, two or three teams would face HBCU opponents each season, until all 12 participated.
(USC is the only program that has never played, or scheduled a game against, an FCS opponent.)
The Hotline’s vision for the series includes road games for Pac-12 teams on HBCU campuses, or proximal neutral sites, which could create a massive ticket-selling opportunity for the HBCUs.
And in theory, TV partners would see the value in broadcasting the games.
But that’s not all.
The Hotline also envisions Pac-12 road teams attending classes or lectures on the HBCU campuses.
The presidents and athletic directors are willing to send basketball teams halfway across the world for a week to see the Great Wall and experience Chinese culture.
Seems like they should have zero problem offering football players — the majority of whom are Black — the chance to experience life on HBCU campuses.
Our guess is that many players would jump at the chance to spend a few days at Grambling, eating in the dining halls, walking the campus, attending a lecture or two.
And, of course, watching band practice.
Falling: Pac-12 recruiting I
We’re three months from the early-signing window, and the outlook is hardly bright for the conference as a whole.
A few developments:
— Only two teams are in the top 25 (Oregon and Stanford), while only two of the top 10 players in California are currently committed to Pac-12 schools.
— Cal just lost a four-star quarterback (Justyn Martin) and four-star tailback (Jadyn Ott) in a one-week span.
— Arizona State is losing prospects because of the NCAA investigation, the latest being four-star receiver Larry Turner-Gooden.
— USC’s class is No. 30.
— Washington’s class is ranked in the 50s.
— Utah, Washington State and ASU are all in the 70s (or lower) in the 247Sports composite rankings.
Yes, there is enough time to reclaim the lost ground.
And that’s important, because the Pac-12 has a lot of ground to reclaim.
We’ll assess the situation again in the middle of next month and then again in November. The topic is more than worthy of monthly updates.
Rising: Pac-12 playoff position
The conference wanted a pause in the CFP expansion process, and got it.
It wants an eight-team model to receive serious consideration, and got it.
It wants a deeper assessment into the health and safety impact on the athletes, and got it.
It wants the media rights to be made available to entities not named ESPN, and just might get it.
The conclusion reached by conference commissioners on Wednesday in Dallas — that a vote on expansion should not take place next week, after all — was the best-case scenario for the Pac-12.
The conference wasn’t part of the subcommittee that crafted the 12-team model currently on the table, and it hasn’t had time to fully assess the implications or the options.
What happens next?
We expect many months of vetting, pondering and maneuvering, all of it leading to a final vote on expansion this winter or sometime in the first half of 2022.
The odds still favor 12 teams.
The SEC and Notre Dame won’t approve an eight-team format with automatic bids (too limiting), and the Group of Five conferences won’t approve eight teams without automatic bids (too exclusive).
But the momentum has clearly stalled as conferences stake out their territory, either individually or via alliances.
The CFP might need to settle this in the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Falling: Pac-12 recruiting II (temporarily?)
The line has been drawn in one specific but important aspect of the recruiting universe.
The SEC announced Thursday that each school “now has the discretion to determine criteria and methods to provide education-related benefits and academic achievement awards to their student-athletes, consistent with the (Supreme) Court’s recent decision” in Alston vs. the NCAA.
What that means in real dollars:
The SCOTUS ruling (from late June) allows school to provide:
1. Items such as computers and science equipment, and
2. Payments of direct financial support to the athletes totaling up to $5,980 annually (the legal maximum).
Now, the Pac-12 (and other conferences) must match the SEC’s move or risk a competitive disadvantage on the recruiting trail.
But there’s a catch: The Alston case allows conferences to set limits on what can be offered, but the SEC “elected not to place additional constraints on Conference members in determining how to provide this new support to their student-athletes.”
Of course it did.
No one should be surprised that the SEC made the first move of the Alston era and gave schools the freedom to maneuver.
But if Mississippi coach Lane Kiffin shows up at homes across Southern California with the promise of $5,980 checks (once recruits are enrolled), his Pac-12 peers must be able to respond with their own offers of support.
Which means the Pac-12 presidents, perhaps against their better judgment, must be comfortable not placing “additional constraints” on the coaches.
We’ll see how this goes.
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