SEATTLE — Washington State University's (WSU) leadership said it is committed to keeping the athletic department in a competitive spot, but admits it is in a difficult position as conference realignment leaves the four remaining Pacific-12 Conference teams in a bind.
School President Kirk Schulz told ESPN's Pete Thamel earlier this week that WSU is in a "bad spot" as it works to determine what is next following the Pac-12's mass exodus in early August.
"College athletics is at its worst with this realignment stuff," Schulz told Thamel. "Everyone is truly looking out for themselves. What it also does is changes behavior, and people stop being honest with each other."
WSU Athletic Director Pat Chun gave a press conference Wednesday and lambasted the leadership of the conference while pledging that the school would not lay down and accept a lesser place in the NCAA Division I hierarchy.
"The last couple weeks was a culmination of years of failed leadership, failed vision, failed implementation. It isn't one singular thing that led to the destruction of the Pac-12 as we know it. It was a bunch of decisions and you know, failed strategies that put us in this place," Chun said.
"Washington State will continue to be a national brand," Chun said. "Because unlike most of the schools around the country, we've actually earned it through the work of all our student-athletes and all of our alums around the world."
Along with WSU, Oregon State, California and Stanford round out the rest of the remaining Pac-12 schools. It appeared as though the Bay Area programs might have a place in the Atlantic Coast Conference earlier this week, as that league's member schools met and discussed adding both Cal and Stanford.
The Atlantic Coast Conference presidents chose not to vote Wednesday night on adding the two schools, according to the Associated Press citing multiple sources. However, they did not rule out an eventual vote and potential addition of the Northern California rivals.
The Mountain West and American Athletic Conference are interested in adding Washington State and Oregon State, but neither of those non-Power Five leagues would provide nearly the same level of revenue those schools have been getting in the Pac-12.
Washington State is facing an $11 million deficit in athletics.
"I think President Schulz has been very clear, we're committed we are Power Five school," Chun said. "Our performance indicates that we are a Power Five school. We're going to do our best to continue to compete at that level. That's really our goal is going forward."
A conference merger between the Pac-12 and either the American Athletic or Mountain West could be the best path forward, but WSU must be mindful of thinking about what is in the best interest of its own program as opposed to the collective league. That groupthink is what has left WSU and Oregon State on an extremely tenuous path going forward in athletics.
The WSU Board of Regents plans to meet Friday for a "special meeting," so perhaps there will be more concrete updates on the school's future then.