[OutsiderFan]

Now y'all know why I was so adamant the Pac-12 never had a prayer to catch up to the SEC and Big Ten. So tired of the Larry Scott bashing. As if anyone else in charge of the conference would have led to a different outcome. And since we're bashing commissioners, how about Scott's replacement?  Did you see the humiliating statement that came out of the conference office in reaction to losing two essential members without even knowing it was happening? I won't even post it was so embarrassingly bad. At least when Texas and Oklahoma left the Big 12, it took a few weeks before it was finalized. Kliavkoff is so incompetent the day it became public USC and UCLA would leave, it was a done deal. 

I must admit I didn't expect UCLA to bolt, but USC was no surprise. What is surprising is to learn the UC Regents don't make Cal and UCLA a package deal in these kinds of situations. Just really a terrible look IMO, for a UC school to basically partner with a private school. Really, really bad.

This earthquake is also why I have been so exasperated with Stanford and Cal's indifference and lack of urgency to win in Football and MBB. And Stanford, my gawd, they even had the fortune to have risen from the ashes of irrelevance in football, to potentially become a consistent nationally relevant program (something near impossible to do) and they pissed it all away in deference to David Shaw, a head coach who didn't have the urgency or motivation to keep Stanford on top if doing so made him uncomfortable.

Now, Stanford may not have wanted to go to the Big Ten and be a sports whore like USC and UCLA, but at least had they acted with urgency on the Football and MBB programs, they would have at least been an attractive option to be poached and brought some media value.

Stanford, and especially Cal, do not have the cultures or people in place to navigate this moment in any way other than to be passed by. That may be by choice, but I see Cal much less capable of surviving the fallout of being in a smaller conference than Stanford.

[OutsiderFan]

Now y'all know why I was so adamant the Pac-12 never had a prayer to catch up to the SEC and Big Ten. So tired of the Larry Scott bashing. As if anyone else in charge of the conference would have led to a different outcome. And since we're bashing commissioners, how about Scott's replacement?  Did you see the humiliating statement that came out of the conference office in reaction to losing two essential members without even knowing it was happening? I won't even post it was so embarrassingly bad. At least when Texas and Oklahoma left the Big 12, it took a few weeks before it was finalized. Kliavkoff is so incompetent the day it became public USC and UCLA would leave, it was a done deal. 

I must admit I didn't expect UCLA to bolt, but USC was no surprise. What is surprising is to learn the UC Regents don't make Cal and UCLA a package deal in these kinds of situations. Just really a terrible look IMO, for a UC school to basically partner with a private school. Really, really bad.

This earthquake is also why I have been so exasperated with Stanford and Cal's indifference and lack of urgency to win in Football and MBB. And Stanford, my gawd, they even had the fortune to have risen from the ashes of irrelevance in football, to potentially become a consistent nationally relevant program (something near impossible to do) and they pissed it all away in deference to David Shaw, a head coach who didn't have the urgency or motivation to keep Stanford on top if doing so made him uncomfortable.

Now, Stanford may not have wanted to go to the Big Ten and be a sports whore like USC and UCLA, but at least had they acted with urgency on the Football and MBB programs, they would have at least been an attractive option to be poached and brought some media value.

Stanford, and especially Cal, do not have the cultures or people in place to navigate this moment in any way other than to be passed by. That may be by choice, but I see Cal much less capable of surviving the fallout of being in a smaller conference than Stanford.