On Nov. 23 the Oregon State Beavers upset the Washington State Cougars 41-38 to win the 2024 Pac 2 football conference. As a long time Beaver Believer (OSU Class of ‘66) this should have been cause for celebration.
But instead, it signals a sad time and the end of golden era, for the fact the headline says the “Pac 2 Football Conference” is no typo.
Ten of the 12 schools in the Pac 12 conference have bailed out in search of more lucrative pastures via TV revenue. Farewell Oregon, Washington, Cal, UCLA, USC, Stanford, Utah, Arizona, Arizona State and Colorado.
No conference wanted OSU or WSU because they don’t draw enough viewers, and hence, advertising revenue. They are left scrambling to create some sort of new Pac 12 conference next year and beyond.
If that isn’t sad enough, a whole new jargon has emerged amid the chaos of what was once called amateur athletics. “NIL” and “transfer portal” have become the keys to winning in this crass race for supremacy.
NIL is the acronym for “Name, Image and Likeness,” and basically means any player can sell those qualities at any price for use in advertising or endorsements, and the bidding starts at whatever boosters are willing to give, all under the table.
Basically it’s the Wild West of sports, with absolutely no restrictions.
Need a new quarterback? The coaches will scout out who they want, and then contact a cartel of rich boosters to make sure that star ends up at that $$$$ U.
Now toss in the “transfer portal” – a period of time in which a player can put his name up for grabs, and the game of High Stakes Football Monopoly is under way. Halfway through this year’s portal from Dec. 9-28, more than 2,000 players had put their names out for auction.
Coaches play too, abandoning ship to earn massive contracts to rebuild lacking programs – often taking the best players of the team they are leaving along with him.
OSU is a case in point.
Beaver Coach Jonathon Smith – who was rebuilding a solid program in Corvallis, Oregon – left in late season last year for a bigger long-term contract at Michigan State. Guess who was the new quarterback for Michigan State this season? The highly regarded young quarterback Smith had recruited to Oregon State.
Before the first OSU practice of the fall, more than a dozen of OSU’s best players had hit the go button, and new Beaver Coach Trent Bray was left trying to patch a team together.
It’s surprising they did as well as they did – finishing with a 5-7 record – albeit against clearly lower quality opponents.
I was startled to read notes from a recent press conference in which the new OSU coach actually answered the question no one else would:
How much would it cost to get a quarterback through the portal?
He replied:
It depends, starting at $500,000.
Note he said “started.” Yikes.
But boy, he was right.
Recently, Washington State Coach Jake Dickert, with several of his staff, pulled out and headed to Wake Forest. The talented quarterback at Washington State then signed for $3 million at Oklahoma. And believe it or not, OSU came up with more than half a million dollars to sign highly regarded Duke quarterback Maalik Murphy – ranked No. 4 in the Transfer Portal at that time.
The green- and yellow-clad University of Oregon Ducks finished an undefeated season and will undoubtedly go into the new College Football Playoff tournament seeded No. 1.
It should come as no surprise that the biggest Duck booster is an alumnus of that school who just happens to be of Nike fame. Undoubtedly, University of Oregon Coach Dan Canning already has his shopping list ready.
After all, it’s the holiday season, right?
