Andy Staples Predicts The Next Major Move For Conference Realignment In College Athletics
On today's Pardon My Take... ANDY STAPLES! The college football writer for The Athletic joined Mr. Cat and Mr. Commenter on today's show to discuss all things realignment in college athletics, the next step for Notre Dame, and the Mount Rushmore of College Football Traditions. Realignment has obviously been the talk of the summer in the sports world, and there are no signs of it stopping any time soon. So now, the big question - what's next? Staples and the crew talked out some of those possibilities on today's show. Take a look:
Mr. Commenter: So, what do you think is the next shoe to drop? If you were to place a bet, what school do you think is going to announce a shift in conference? Who's going to be the next one up?
Andy Staples: It's either somebody going to the Big 12 from the Pac-12 or somebody going to the Pac-12 from the Big 12. And I keep coming back to the Big 12 presidents, athletic directors, all those people, they have been through every possible scenario in realignment, like, they've been about to implode. The Big 12 has been clinically dead at a couple of different points along the way. And then they've had their schools stolen, and then they've added schools. So like, they've been through everything.
Andy Staples: The Pac-12 people up until about a week and a half ago were like, "Well, this will never happen to us." So, I got to trust the people with some reps to get some stuff done. So, Bog 12 has their media days this week, they have a new commissioner named Brett Yormark, who was at Roc Nation, Jay-Z's company. He was the CEO of the Brooklyn Nets for a while. He hasn't done anything public yet. I can imagine during his big speech at Big 12 media days, they just start playing some music and Kyle Whittingham [Utah Coach] runs in like... "WE GOT UTAH!"
You heard it here first: the next big move will involve the Pac-12 and/or Big 12. What will the specifics of that be? That is to be determined. The real answer is this - nobody really knows what is next. After UCLA and USC left for the B1G, I really wouldn't be surprised by anything at this point.