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With conference realignment, West Coast style meets East Coast play 

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It seemed like a regular summer day in Pullman, Washington. Robin Jeffry, graduate assistant for Washington State (WSU) Women's Basketball, walked into practice and began shooting around with the staff. What else could he do?

The Pac-12 dissolution was swift and painful for West Coast fans and athletic departments alike. Universities now must deal with new rivals, travels, and challenges, with the burden falling on women's and non-revenue sports.

What does that mean for the schools in the conference formerly known as Pac-12?

"I do not envy the girls on the Stanford or Cal tennis teams," said Jeffry. "I can't imagine playing FSU on Tuesday night, landing and going back to school the next day."

On Aug. 4, 2023, Arizona, Arizona State, Utah, Oregon and Washington all announced their exit from the Pac-12 in favor of larger, wealthier conferences with better streaming deals. The announcements that Friday spurred an intense game of University Musical Chairs. While smaller schools like WSU and Oregon State (OSU) scrambled to market themselves as attractive additions, the more powerful schools left in the conference had to carefully choose a defining next move.

While Stanford and California ran off to the ACC, WSU and OSU had to settle for a step down and join the West Coast Conference.

"On some level, we didn't understand the decisions that other schools made," said Jeffry, "We didn't understand why they were choosing to take on these schools with lower viewership than Washington State has."

Cal and Stanford on air talent Kevin Danna couldn't feel bad about the fall of the the Pac-12 for weeks, only because it all seemed so surreal. His own hire for the upcoming seasons was held up as Stanford solidified its future.

"I think most would still want the Pac-12 to be alive. I know I would. But despite the travel, the ACC is the next best option. Change sucks, but it's what these schools need to do to stay at the top," said Danna. "This is a necessary evil for Cal and Stanford to stay at the top of college athletics."

However, what it means to be at the top of college athletics is increasingly being called into question across conferences and sports.

"[Conference realignment] is about making sure you can compete, stay in a power conference and make money, even though Stanford, Cal, Oregon and Washington are going to have to take fractional shares," said Danna.

If joining wealthier conferences is needed to stay at the top of revenue sports, and non-revenue sports need to be cut to maintain that position, the entirety of the goal of college athletics is brought under scrutiny.

With charter flights costing over $80,000 per flight, and commercial airline tickets costing over 100 dollars, the money to fund geographically diverse conference travel plans will have to come from somewhere; usually the smaller and Olympic sports budgets'.

"The undercurrent behind everything about conference realignment asks, 'Do we really want to do this? Are we sure this is all really a good idea?" said Danna. "Increasingly, you hear that football needs to break away as its own separate entity with other sports playing in more regional conferences. Hopefully we get there one day and hopefully the Pac-12 isn't dead forever."

That's the story of conference realignment; big schools and big sports take prestigious steps forward, leaving smaller schools and less urban areas behind.

For the old Pac-12 programs, the big questions will go on the back burner in the name of preparing for new opponents and challenges.

"I know the Stanford women's basketball staff is excited to see new schools and travel to new places," said Danna [They've] been scouting ACC opponents already, and to add a layer of difficulty, the transfer portal increases roster turnover. Everyone needs to do their homework early."

Stanford Women's Basketball will fly charter for next season, but other schools or other sports may not be so lucky; instead, they will rely on commercial coach flights. Charter, or lack thereof, especially taxes the larger body types of the best volleyball and basketball players. Charter or not, this distance means late flights and late returns to campus for teams flying across the country.

In 2023-24, Stanford Women's Basketball played 11 away games and six neutral site games, totaling just over 12,020 miles traveled the entire season. For the 2024-25 season (not including non-conference and potential tournament games), Stanford Women's Basketball projects to travel over 18,060 miles, representing a ⅓ increase from the previous season.

Former Stanford star forward Cameron Brink pointed to that very increase in travel as one of the reasons she jumped to the WNBA a year earlier than necessary.

"I'm kind of tired of school. Stanford is no joke." Brink said on The Bird and Taurasi alt-cast during the Final Four. "As much as I love my coaching staff and my teammates, I don't want to travel across the country."

Cameron Leary finished his baseball career with Boston College last month, smashing in 15 home runs to put him second in school history. He is avoiding the changes but is still accustomed to living out of his bag.

"They're going to fly across the country every other weekend. That's going to take a huge toll on their bodies and academics," Leary said. "All that time in the air dehydrates you a lot and you don't even realize it. If you don't take care of your mobility and stretching, those confined seats will just destroy your body."

The stage is set for 2024-25. Teams have their opponents, players have their matchups, and schools have their clarity, for now. The larger questions about realignment aren't going away anytime soon. If Florida State and Clemson decide the SEC is a better fit for them than the ACC, the game of conference musical chairs will start right back up again. It asks why we play collegiate sports in the first place.

"The majority of college athletes don't go pro. Those men and women need school. Part of the whole thing about playing in college is that you get an education. You could argue because they're getting the NIL stuff that education is less important, but I think that's a reductive way of looking at it." Said Jeffry. "What is the point of providing that education when you're going to make it so extremely difficult in their classes? It doesn't seem there was a genuine priority put on the well-being of student-athletes."

The Pac-12's end has major impacts on college sports

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With conference realignment, West Coast style meets East Coast play

New teams joining the Big Ten have highlighted the contrasting styles between the two coasts.

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With conference realignment, West Coast style meets East Coast play

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