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It's time for a weekly PAC twelve conversation with Senjose Mercury News reporter John will

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fifteen percent of anything anytime baby at simply Sattle dot com. We're continuing live

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from Lime and Kirkland inside the Rosehill Plaza until four thirty. It's Taco Tuesday,

0:47

Dick. You can get train tacos for ten bucks. By the way,

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here at the Lime in Kirkland, traditional tacos are one dollar street taking

0:56

bucks, I can afford that unbelievable. Well, a guy who might you

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know, who knows, maybe Venmo West some money and maybe buy us a

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few tacos. Our buddy Johnny Wilner from the San Jose Mercury News. John,

1:04

how are you man, I'm good. Thanks. Just to make sure

1:08

I was fully prepared for our conversation. I've been checking the transfer portal about

1:12

every fifteen minutes. Okay, let me ask you a question, because when

1:17

I want to check the portal, I just go to two four seven's website.

1:19

Is there like a super secret website address that you have that we should

1:23

be aware of, by the way, No, I do the exact same

1:27

thing. I do think that there there is a super secret access, but

1:33

I don't have it, and I think it's mostly for the twenty four to

1:37

seven reporters. No, I just I hit refreshing. Frankly. I've been

1:42

doing it for football and basketball the last few days because it's crazy for both.

1:49

It was a big time offensive lineman that SMU had that is rumored to

1:53

potentially go to Washington. And then also Damie Martinez. He is Jamie Martinez,

1:57

the biggest Pac twelve name in portal right now from Oregon State, probably

2:02

as of right now, but that you know, that could certainly change in

2:07

an instant. Colorado. Colorado's losing a lot of guys to the portal these

2:12

days. I think Martinez to me is just he's just a tremendous back,

2:16

right, I mean he could he can play anywhere in the SEC or Big

2:21

ten, he's so good. So I would say probably, And I think

2:24

that there's there's gonna be more offensive lineman. I know the guy from SMU

2:30

is high on Washington's list and would be a good addition, But there are

2:34

a lot of linemen in that portal, and there's a lot of good players

2:38

that only are carrying three star, you know, ratings, but they're better

2:43

than that. I think Washington's gonna be fine. Well, the Damien Martinez

2:46

thing to me is interesting because I gotta tell you, guys, I don't

2:49

know if they're outside of Caleb Williams at USC and Dick. You were at

2:53

that game with me in La. Yeah, I don't know if a Husky opponent player impressed me more than Damien Martinez. That's fair. I mean he

3:00

was a beast in that game. My god, was he hard to bring

3:02

down. So is Damien Martinez just looking for a better deal potentially from Oregon

3:07

State or is he looking for maybe a bigger spotlight before he goes to the

3:12

NFL. I think it's both. Uh, he is clearly thinking about the

3:16

NFL and you know, playing against top competition and playing on TV so he

3:23

can be visible. I think it's a whole bunch of factors. And those

3:27

are similar issues that both Oregon State and Washington State are facing, not only

3:31

in football but also in men's basketball, just the unfortunate reality that they're in.

3:38

John, you wrote about campuses in the PAC twelve. This year's subsidizing

3:43

a quarter of a billion dollars to their athletic departments this last year. Is

3:46

that a normal number or is that inflated because we were still kind of coming

3:52

out of COVID, And do you think that'll continue. I think it's on

3:55

the high end of normal. You know, it was the the latest official

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numbers are for the twenty two to twenty three school year, right, and

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the twenty two football season was the first without COVID restrictions. But they it

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was still you know, kind of building backsteam building steam back up across the

4:16

West coast. So I think it was a little bit impacted by you know,

4:23

delayed impact by COVID. But schools get subsidized heavily across the country by

4:29

by their central campus, right, because athletic departments have eighteen to twenty sports

4:33

that are losing money, two sports that are making money, and are you

4:38

know, the goal is to have football, men's basketball pay for everything else,

4:42

but that's not realistic. So you see a lot of subsidies and and

4:46

you know, you can make the case that it's not wrong. Washington basically

4:51

sent ten million bucks to athletics. Is that wrong? They're sending money to

4:58

all departments across campus, and athletics does more for Washington's visibility than chemistry or

5:03

engineering does. Yeah. Absolutely, And that ten million dollars that they were

5:09

in the red without the support of the upper campus, that's actually relatively great

5:14

compared to the rest of the conference. Right, didn't you dub do very very well this last year? You DUBB did do well. When you include

5:21

the subsidy, Washington basically ended up making a profit of like one point six

5:28

million. Washington had the highest revenue of any school in the PAC twelve.

5:32

I believe the Huskies were over one hundred and fifty million in total revenue for

5:36

fly twenty three, and I think that's the first time they've ever been over

5:40

one point fifty I would expect it'll be even higher for Fly twenty four because

5:46

that will include the football season that just happened. But yeah, they they

5:49

actually came out. Well, you've got schools like ASU, Arizona, Couse,

5:54

UCLA that are that are plowing thirty forty million from campus in athletics.

6:00

Yeah. Well, John Wilner is with us, and John, I gotta

6:02

tell you about eleven days ago, we were in Phoenix at the Final Four

6:08

and we had Danny Sprinkle join us on the radio show down there, and

6:12

I asked him, how far away are we from hearing about your coaching staff?

6:15

And he said to me on that day, he said about a week to ten days. Well, ten days was yesterday. Yesterday was also the

6:21

day that Tony Bland's show cause from the nc doable A expired, all right,

6:27

And there's a lot of rumors and a lot of reports out there that

6:30

Tony Bland is coming to join Danny Sprinkle on Montlake as an assistant coach.

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And when you type in his name on Google, the first thing you see

6:38

is arrested in twenty seventeen by the FBI. So how should Washington fans feel

6:45

about the idea of Tony Bland coming to Montlake. Uh, you know,

6:49

I'm not sure. I think probably a little bit mixed, right. I

6:53

mean, he clearly was part of that thing, and we talked about weeks

6:58

ago before the hack Sprinkley, you asked me, should the hear Will Wade?

7:01

Right? And you know I was against Will Will Wade. I'm less

7:06

against Tony Bland because he's not the face of your basketball program, which is

7:13

an important piece of your university's public persona. You know, guys are getting

7:19

hired who have been accused of NCAA violations left and right. Because a lot

7:26

of those violations are no longer violations. You know, he would help their

7:30

program. I would. If I'm a Washington fan, I'd probably have some mixed feelings about that. But I can see why people would be in favor

7:36

of it. The guy can recruit, he knows la Speaking of violations,

7:42

So Michigan has received three years probation of fine and recruiting restrictions for their COVID

7:47

ERA recruiting violations. Is that fair and just punishment for Jim Harbaugh's former team.

7:56

I think it probably is. It's interesting, though Jimbo's got no problems,

8:01

right, he did face suspensions last year, but he's off to the

8:05

NFL, you know, and doesn't have to deal with it. This is

8:09

part of the issue that the NCAA has with their enforcement process, is that

8:15

coaches can escape by leaving for the pros, you know. I think Michigan

8:20

certainly has been through a lot. To me, the spygate was a much

8:28

bigger deal than the COVID issues, and I'll be interested to see if there's

8:33

anything more from spygate. I doubt there will be. Harbot had three game

8:37

suspension, but to me, that was much worse. Yeah, apparently his

8:41

his deal with the NCAA is separate, right from this thing, John,

8:45

that was announced today. Is that correct? Yes, I believe that's right,

8:50

gotcha, John, We're waiting. The other thing is we're waiting on

8:52

asu ASU's COVID you know, their transgressions for COVID and propriety. That happens

9:01

a year and a half before the Michigan stuff ever surfaced, and issue still

9:05

hasn't heard from the NCAA. Right, Hey, John Wilner with us again.

9:09

Courtesy is simply Seattle and John. For some reason, I ended up

9:13

on the Oregon State Athletics email distribution list, and they just sent out an

9:18

email about twenty minutes ago with a message to Beaver Nation from Scott Barnes,

9:22

the ad down there in Corvallis, and says, look, we've received multiple

9:26

gut punches. You can either packet in or keep fighting, right, trying

9:30

to get the Beaver Nation all fired up, and says a football media rights

9:33

agreement will be announced soon. What is he getting at and what does that

9:37

potentially look like for Oregon State and even Wazoo. Well, I think it

9:43

will look very similar for both. I think that it's gonna it's not gonna

9:46

be a ton of money, right, yeah, I mean it's they have

9:50

thirteen combined home games next season. The Beavers have seven and the Cougars have

9:56

six. You know, I'm guessing that they're gonna get a million or two

10:00

million bucks per game. It's not gonna be you know, trajectory changing money.

10:05

But what it is gonna be is is visibility, because I think they're

10:09

gonna end up with pretty with you know, not being relegated to streaming.

10:13

They're gonna be on you know, network and or broadcast television. And I

10:18

think that they're gonna have pretty good TV windows as well, they're not gonna

10:24

be playing all their home games at seven thirty at night, So I suspect

10:28

it's gonna be pretty good for those schools for visibility, because the key for

10:31

them is they can't get forgotten. Right. Being seen is more important than

10:37

the money when it comes to their football media deal. Next year and the

10:41

year after, Well, John, we might have a lifeboat for the Oregon

10:46

States and the Washington States of the world. What do you what are you

10:48

hearing about this CFT super League? Because I always thought the Super League was

10:52

gonna be any six thirty two teams, and I'm hearing maybe seventy teams and

10:58

you could put the old Pac ten back together in a Western division, that's

11:03

what they're talking about. I don't think that's gonna work. Seventy teams doesn't

11:07

make sense to me. And it's actually like eighty teams. It's seventy permanent

11:11

members and then you've got ten floating members with relegation and promotion like European soccer,

11:18

and there's a Western wing that has the packed ten schools with you know,

11:24

Utah and Colorado or in a different division. I just don't think seventy

11:28

works. Why would ESPN or Fox pay for some of those games. Right,

11:35

if there's gonna be a super league, in my opinion, it's gonna

11:39

be twenty four or thirty two, maybe forty teams. Washington's in it,

11:45

Oregon's in it, USC's in it. I don't know who else from the

11:50

pack old Pack twelve would be in it. But financially it's inefficient for there

11:54

to be a seventy or eighty team league. Well as a guy that's covered

11:58

the West Coast and college football, college basketball, Pac ten, PAC twelve,

12:05

Hell, maybe you're an old Pack eight guy for all I know a

12:09

lot of different responses to the passing of OJ Simpson last week, Right,

12:13

a lot of people wanted just more in the football player. A lot of

12:16

people want to talk about what was obviously a much bigger story off the field.

12:20

So how do you remember Oj Simpson And what was your reaction when you

12:24

heard that news? Well, so a couple things. One of my initial

12:30

reactions was he's still he died with having a Heisman trophy and Reggie Bush does

12:37

not have a Heisman trophy. That's right, just insane, absolutely insane.

12:43

The other thing, and it's a little bit personal, you know, with

12:46

such big news. My kids were asking about it, right, they're sixteen

12:50

and twelve, and so my wife and I were telling them that they could

12:56

not imagine what a big deal the whole thing was, starting with the Bronco

13:01

chase and the trial, and there's nothing that I can remember that has come

13:09

close to meaning that terms of gripping the nation, you know, for a

13:11

long period of time. And so we actually watched the first three or four

13:18

episodes of that, uh, that documentary, you know, the Trial of

13:22

the Century, you know, Crime of the Century is really good with Cooba

13:26

Gooding Junior. It's very good. We're we're three or four episodes in and

13:31

we're going to finish it. But it's it's great for you know, for

13:33

my kids who are seeing it and just now understanding what that whole thing was

13:39

like thirty years ago. No question. Hey, John, I want to

13:43

go back to watch that whole thing. I watched the Yeah, I watched

13:46

it during COVID. Yeah, among you know, among the other million series

13:50

that I watched during COVID. John well done, it really really was.

13:54

I loved for botha yes, yes he was. He was fabulous in that.

14:00

John, You know, I want to go back to this restructuring, and let's say the Super Conference doesn't work, and let's say we're back to

14:05

this PAC two situation for a while. What makes the Pack two enticing to

14:11

join or is it a place for teams just to kind of fall into if

14:16

the ACC collapses. Well, I think it's certainly somebody to fall into if

14:20

the ACC collapses for Stanford and col Right, But to me, what is

14:26

enticing? If you are a top four six team in the Mountain West,

14:33

you know there is more value playing under the banner of the PAC twelve than

14:37

there is playing as a Mountain West. If you're boys Ofer San Diego,

14:41

Fresno, the playing in the PAC twelve means something. And they could also

14:46

I don't think it's just if they reform the conference. It won't just be

14:50

with Mountain West schools. I don't think they're gonna try to expand the footprint.

14:54

You know, Rice, Memphis to Lane. You know there'res schools that

15:01

would have a little bit of value and would really help fortify the league.

15:05

I think that we're gonna see something. I don't know when it's gonna be

15:09

exactly, but by the end of the decade, there will be a pack

15:13

eight, anywhere from a pack of eight to a pack sixteen. I think,

15:16

wow. Well, John Wilner again with us. We're at the Lime

15:20

in Kirkland. Taco Tuesday one dollar traditional Tacos two dollars Street Taco stop on

15:24

By and CEUs and the Rosehill Plaza right here in Kirkland. Crack and pregame

15:28

coming next obviously with Winnipeg. But John, I gotta ask you because Jedfish

15:33

just announced on social media a few minutes ago that the Spring Game honorary coaches

15:39

are gonna be Lincoln Kennedy, Lawyer Maloy, Danny Shelton, and Jake Locker.

15:43

They're doing this on a Friday night. It's gonna be on May the

15:46

third, So two weeks from this Friday is the Spring Game. And you

15:50

know, Dick and I were talking yesterday about Jedfish obviously has aspirations for the

15:54

NFL. I mean, you're gonna be a moron to not see that he's

15:58

running an NFL style systems, bringing in Bill Belichick, John Lynch, you

16:03

know a bunch of X players and coaches have all been at practice so far.

16:07

He's got a you know, hankering to be in the NFL, And

16:10

who can blame the guy? What does he need to do to be attractive

16:14

to the National Football League as a head coach? How many wins? How

16:18

long does he need to stay here for? What does he need to do

16:21

with Washington to really show off to the NFL? You think, oh,

16:25

good question. I mean, everybody knows what Washington's roster was like when he

16:33

took over. He ends up winning eight or nine games and competing in the

16:40

Big Ten. I think he could be attractive next winter, and I wouldn't

16:45

put it just limited just the NFL. I think he would have interest in

16:48

his alma mater, Florida, if there's a vacancy there. But he is

16:53

any Husky fan who thinks that he's going to provide long term stability, I

17:00

think that is a misguided approach. And I don't blame Fish at all.

17:03

But you know if he if he wins, he's only going to be there

17:07

for two or three years. Yeah, I agree with you, John.

17:11

They should have known that when they hired him, and I think they did

17:15

know that. They didn't care. They didn't care, Yeah, they didn't

17:18

care. So then you know that's the consequences of making that move and you

17:23

just have to. You hope he wins, and then you hope your programs

17:27

in good shape when he leaves, and you hire somebody who continues that well

17:32

as Troy Dannon made the higher, and I agree with the higher. I

17:34

don't like Dann, but I agree with a higher. I have no problem

17:37

with Fish being here. I'm totally with you. I think Dix on board

17:41

as well. This is a short term deal for Jetfish. I mean, god, if he's here for five years, then, oh my god,

17:45

that's going to feel like one hundred years for trying out loud. But yep,

17:48

did they do the wrong thing? Should they have gone after somebody who

17:52

maybe would give them a little more stability in your opinion? Well, I

17:56

don't know the extent to which they went after, say Lansley pulled from Kansas

18:02

or let's claim Chris claiming from Kansas State or some other guys. Uh,

18:06

they may have put out feelers. I don't know if Fish was their number

18:08

one choice all along, yeah, uh, but they were certainly it was

18:12

a you know, it was a little bit of a tough spot given given

18:15

the timing of divorce departure in the offseason cycle. But I go back you

18:22

know, and your listeners may not want to hear this. I go back

18:25

to the first Oregon game. Why was there not a contract on Debor's desk

18:33

the next morning? Eight years, eight nine million a year? Why did

18:38

they not try to lock him up then instead of instead of letting him gain

18:45

all the leverage into November and December. That's the answer I would love to

18:49

know from Hono Maury cowsat john With all the eyeballs on women's basketball recently,

18:56

the PAC twelve now no longer has the winningest coach in basketball history. Your

19:00

thoughts of Tara Vanderveer of Stanford leaving and is there even a close second to

19:07

the best program of the Big three sports men's basketball, women's basketball, and

19:11

football in the pack era? Oof? Oh boy, good question. Probably

19:19

not because USC football did not sustain the way Stamford women's basketball did, you

19:26

know. I think I have a little bit of a nuanced view of vander

19:30

vere I think she gets a little bit too much credit for what she did

19:33

for her first, say, twenty years at Stanford, and not enough credit

19:37

for what she's done the last five or ten. She had enormous advantages when

19:42

there was no WNBA and if you're the best women's basketball player in the country,

19:48

of course you go into Stanford because you don't have you're not getting a

19:52

pro contract. You got to go to get an education to get a job,

19:56

right, So she had a huge advantage, but lately that advantage has

20:00

flipped, and it's a disadvantage in a lot of ways, with Stanford's policies

20:04

on transfer n nil and the WNBA leveling the playing field. And she has

20:10

still produced a really top tier program. So I think she deserves a lot

20:12

of credit for that. John, You know why I can't be the man

20:18

because you're the man. No, I refuse to believe that. I believe

20:22

that you are the man. All right, listen, have a good week

20:26

and we'll talk next Tuesday. Buddy, appreciate this pal. Thanks a lot,

20:29

guys, all right, John Wilner with us. That'll do it for

20:33

us. From Lime in Kirkland, Rose Hill Plaza. Here, great spot.

20:37

One dollar traditional tacos, two dollars soft tacos on Taco Tuesday, and

20:41

somebody just dropped off a big old plate of taco. Perfect timing for me

20:45

and Dick. We're got a break, we got cracking, and we got

20:48

the Jets the penultimate game of the year. Two more to go, one

20:52

tonight, one Thursday, and the Boys are done for the season. Cracking

20:56

pregame with Winnipeg coming next right here on ninety three three k j R F

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