Washington State athletic director Pat Chun is less than optimistic about the state of college athletics as his school navigates the road ahead in the wake of 10 schools exiting the Pac-12 for other conferences.
In an interview with the Seattle Times, Chun expressed his views on a range of topics, from the state of college sports to the Cougars' future.
As it stands, Washington State football has just five teams on its schedule for next season — San Jose State, San Diego State, Portland State, Washington and Oregon State. Chun told the Times that "Plan A" is for Oregon State and Washington State — who will essentially represent the Pac-12 next season — to partner with the Mountain West and have schools from that conference fill out the remainder of unscheduled games.
On the state of college sports in general, Chun is frustrated.
“College athletics is broken beyond repair,” Chun told the Times, referencing a number of issues but primarily focusing on how NIL has created a pay-for-play atmosphere that makes it hard for smaller schools to compete.
Chun said that conference realignment will continue, and hopes that Washington State can figure out where it belongs as things progress.
“Realignment is going to continue to happen, and Washington State has to just make sure that we’re positioned correctly as realignment continues to happen,” Chun said.
At least one thing is in the Cougars favor, as the CFP plans to expand from four teams to 12 next year.
“The best part of where realignment sits is that this sport is going to change significantly because of the 12-team playoff,” Chun said. “Now it’s going to open up a little bit, and hopefully we can put ourselves in a position — that’ll be the goal. And the nice thing is we got a goal.”