A realignment rumor fest

Good morning. We’ll see if today holds as many surprises as Monday.

1. The day when Gonzaga supposedly joined the Pac-12

The briefest, most succinct headline for Monday is that the Pac-12 added Utah State.

If it were only that simple.

In the span of less than a few hours, the Pac-12:

• Got rejected by Memphis, South Florida, UTSA and Tulane, all of which elected to stay in the AAC.

• Briefly had Gonzaga in as its seventh member, with a full conference revenue share even without football.

• Only to have Gonzaga officials dismiss that report minutes later.

• Pushed to add Utah State and UNLV later that afternoon, but only the Aggies reportedly accepted.

Amid all that, the Mountain West got a commitment from Air Force to remain in the league. The Rebels reportedly are still considering other options and haven’t formally committed to stay in the MWC.

MWC Commissioner Gloria Nevarez pushed those schools to stay put due to exit and penalty fees that’ll total more than $120 million, per Ross Dellenger. And part of it was the MWC reportedly paying a $10 million bonus. Hm. Pay to leave or get paid to stay? Tough call.

Last night, Pete Thamel of ESPN reported that UNLV agreed to return to the MWC, but that was contingent on all eight schools agreeing to stay. Without

So now, that leaves the Pac-12 with seven schools, five of which are from the MWC: Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State and Utah State. They’ll join starting in 2026.

This all comes as the Pac-12 still doesn’t have a new TV deal. The league reportedly pitched the AAC schools that a new deal would generate about $12 million per school, an increase of about $3 million from the AAC. But that group of four stayed because of the AAC’s relative stability.

The Gonzaga component of all this got squashed quickly, but I wouldn’t expect it to go away. The Zags haven’t fielded a football team since 1941 and their addition wouldn’t help the Pac-12 meet the minimum requirement for the CFP. But there’s no denying the Zags would be a tremendous addition to a league in search of an identity. After all, the Big 12 reportedly courted the Zags last year, and the Big East occasionally had its name floated with the Zags.

One can only hope any further conference realignment news can wait until after the college hoops season.

2. Sights, sounds from first day of official fall practices

Whether it was a hype video from North Carolina, Iowa State officially happy to be back on the court, or Providence coach Kim English channeling Allen Iverson (more on that later), several programs kicked off the week the best way possible:

By holding official fall practices.

Related note: The season is now 41 days away.

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