Pennsylvania Duck Moderator No. 1 Share Posted April 25, 2023 Wow! As if it wasn't already bad... Pac-12 Conference officials have long been the butt of the joke, but there may not be anymore jokes to make because there many not be any officials left. The ‘Conference of Champions’ is facing an officiating crisis. According to Football Zebras, five referees have left the Pac-12 in recent weeks. Four resigned, one retired. Mike Mothershed hung it up after 28 years with the conference. Chris Coyte, Francisco Villar, Steve Strimling and Jim Wharrie are headed to the Big Ten. Wharrie, although he worked at least three games as a referee last season, more frequently serves as a center judge. Regardless of what role they serve, all five officials are gone. Pac-12 FB Faces Officiating Crisis After Top Refs Poached By Big 10 WWW.OUTKICK.COM As the Big Ten gears up to add USC and UCLA in 2024, the conference has added four top officials from the Pac-12. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomallister1291 No. 2 Share Posted April 25, 2023 I still want the Ducks to leave for the Big Ten but seeing how much of a mess the Pac-12 is right now makes me feel horrible, while I heavily support the move for greener pastures, I'll still miss the conference Oregon played in for more than century. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Joseph Moderator No. 3 Share Posted April 25, 2023 There are 'top refs' to poach? Who knew? This is yet another example of the problems caused for others when you have a financial Power 2. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Joseph Moderator No. 4 Share Posted April 25, 2023 (edited) On 4/25/2023 at 6:33 PM, Thomallister1291 said: I still want the Ducks to leave for the Big Ten but seeing how much of a mess the Pac-12 is right now makes me feel horrible, while I heavily support the move for greener pastures, I'll still miss the conference Oregon played in for more than century. Amen. But in life, you reap what you sow and among other terrible business decisions, the 'leaders' of the Pac-12 allowed Larry to do his damage for over a decade. It's easy to lose patience with and question the man's tactics but GK was dealt an awful hand. With things like the Comcast fiasco not being revealed. Plus, and it is in part his fault, he was stabbed in the back by Kevin Warren, the B1G, and Fox. And outhustled by the B12. Will a lifeline be thrown by the B1G? And will it be long enough to reel in Oregon? What will SC and UCLA do? Push to take in Oregon and UW or CAL and Stanford? Oregon and Washington present athletic threats to the two LA schools that CAL and Stanford do not. And any decision made by the B1G to expand will depend on Fox and to a lesser extent, CBS and NBC. Adding CAL takes a lot of political pressure off of UCLA. In CFB world today I am making no assumptions and no predictions. Other than I believe one way or the other the Oregon brand will survive and thrive. Edited April 25, 2023 by Jon Joseph Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Joseph Moderator No. 5 Share Posted April 26, 2023 On 4/25/2023 at 7:39 PM, Jon Joseph said: There are 'top refs' to poach? Who knew? This is yet another example of the problems caused for others when you have a financial Power 2. Jon Wilner has a great article up today (Mercury News paywall) that among other things exposes Coleman, the director of refereeing in the conference. Why the man was hired in the first place and why he is still on the conference payroll is beyond me. Why hire consultants to review refereeing in the conference and do nothing to act on the consultant's advice? Wilner calls out Coleman's management style as being one of the reasons refs are leaving for the B1G. And Merton Hanks? I see nothing that this guy has done to materially improve football operations. Where is GK? Larry messed up the conference by commission. Is GK doing the same by omission? 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
