UW, WSU detail future of their college sports at Olympia hearing

The changing landscape in college athletics has impacted Washington State with the Pac-12 essentially ending.

University of Washington and Washington State universities are finding themselves in very different situations and representatives from both schools gave details on their futures in college sports during a hearing in Olympia Wednesday morning.

Chris Mulick is the State Relations Director for Washington State University and he made it clear that WSU has a very uncertain future even though it’s one of the oldest universities in the country having been established in 1890.

”What did we do to deserve this, we’re being penalized for a noble land grant mission,” Mulick said.

Erin O’Connell, the Deputy Athletics Director for the University of Washington, also addressed lawmakers and presented a very different picture for UW, which now will get more money coming in from the Big 10 Conference which U-Dub is joining.

“In terms of the revenues coming to the athletic department, we don’t have a number that,” O’Connell said.

It is a tale of two schools, and for UW athletics it’s apparent there is a future of hope, for WSU it’s a future of doubt.

State Sen T’Wina Nobles is Chair of the Committee on Higher Education and Workforce Development which held the hearing with the two schools, this morning.

If there is one thing everyone can agree on it’s the statement she made to open the hearing: “The college athletics landscape is rapidly changing.”

UW abandoned the Pac-12 for the Big 10 conference, WSU was not given such an offer and left in the Pac-12, which is now a Pac-2 or 2-Pack with Oregon State.

U-Dub bolting for the Big 10 may have been a case of simple monetary math according to Alicia Kinne-Clawson who is a staff member on the Committee for Higher Education & Workforce Development.

“In 2023 the Big 10 signed a major TV deal with per-college conference revenue expected to exceed $50 million. The Pac 12, at its best brought in $30 million per school,” Kinne-Clawson said.

Kinne-Clawson did clarify for lawmakers that Washington State funds can’t be used to support university athletics, and she also told lawmakers that from her perspective and research into conference realignment, it does not appear that either UW or WSU is using tuition money to support college sports.

The financial bottom line is stark. WSU stands to lose millions of dollars that would have come from the Pac-12 while UW will get millions from the Big 10.

Mulick didn’t mince words when describing the position for WSU.

“We are in this place because it is perceived we won’t make enough money for other people,” Mulick said.

Brad Corbin, WSU’s Deputy Director of Athletics also detailed for lawmakers the reality that WSU was in one of the so-called Power 5 conferences when the Pac-12 existed, and now that it’s gone, it’s not clear whether the Cougars could be back in a major conference.

“I can’t look a single student-athlete in the eye and commit that we’ll remain a Power 5 institution well into the future,” Corbin said.

The Power conferences in the NCAA represent some of the largest and most prominent colleges and universities when it comes to college sports.

Corbin told lawmakers in Olympia that WSU will have a majority of its athletics teams playing in the West Coast Conference, while WSU Football will have a full 12-game schedule in the Mountain West conference.

UW is planning for travel throughout the Big 10 across time zones, and will now be managing cross-country travel since the Big 10 has schools as far away as New Jersey (Rutgers University in New Jersey) to California (USC and UCLA both located in Los Angeles).

Mulick said that WSU’s pride runs deep and that the school will try to hold itself to the standards it’s always had.

“WSU didn’t ask for this fate and frankly we don’t deserve it. Cougs vs everybody is a hashtag that’s been used since August 4th, and for many, it reflects exactly what it feels like,” Mulick said.

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