The University of South Florida hopes of being in a Power 5 conference could be summed up best by a quote from Horace Greeley Greeley, editor of the New York Tribune, who said “Go West, young man!” in an 1865 editorial. The PAC 12 once known as “The Conference of Champions,” has gone from, 12 members, to 10 members to just four with Cal, Oregon State, Stanford and Washington State the last teams standing.
We know that USC and UCLA left last summer for the Big Ten and now they will be joined by Oregon and Washington. Then the Big welcomed four other PAC members first Colorado followed by Arizona, Arizona State along Utah brining the total teams left in the league to just four.
So, on Thursday of last week the conference hired sports executive and former West Virginia athletic director Oliver Luck to explore what options the Pac 4 had left. While, Stanford has limited options they are the key to if there is a Pac to rebuild or will they try to join the B1G or the ACC.
For USF that leaves an possible opening to be part of a Power 5 conference as soon as next year. We can start with their present conference the American Athletic Conference and their commissioner Mike Aresco who would like to either merge with the PAC 4 or have them become part of the American.
No one has fought harder or worked with more passion on behalf of the American than Aresco and he clearly see’s a path to getting the Power 5 designation by working out a deal with the PAC. Make no mistake it would be tough but it would give the conference four TV time slots, Noon, 3:30 PM, 7:30 PM and 10:30 PM in hopes of boosting their TV dollars most likely from ESPN and ESPN+.
However, Luck may wish to create a new PAC by adding members of the American and the Mountain West who also has designs on merging with the PAC. This is where Michael Kelly the athletic director at USF would have to seek membership in the PAC and hope for an invitation.
USF getting their membership in the aau making it one of 70 of the top research universities in the country is a huge plus in their favor when it comes to getting votes from Cal and Stanford. The PAC is likely looking at SMU, Rice, Tulane and USF for their academics as well gaining a foothold in some major markets in the south.
If
If the PAC does accept either a merger or USF as a stand alone member it would be a big boost to the Bulls program. But there is a long way to go before we get there but watch this space to find out what is next.
