UPDATE (August 4, 4:16 pm): OSU President Jayathi Murthy issued a statement on the departures of Oregon and Washington leaving the PAC-12 for the BIG-10 Conference. In the statement she confirmed that Oregon State University is looking at all options outside of the PAC-12.
“We believe the preservation of the Pac-12 is in the best interests of all member universities, student-athletes and fans. Oregon State University also continues to explore options separate from those of the conference. We have been working vigorously behind the scenes to secure the best opportunity going forward. I will share more information with the university community as it becomes available,” Murthy said.
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As the Oregon State Football team opened day two of fall training camp on Thursday, there was a looming question over the on and off-the-field future of Oregon State Football beyond 2024.
The Beavers are coming off a 10-3 season and a Las Vegas Bowl Game win over the University of Florida Gators under sixth-year head coach Jonathan Smith. Oregon State is also finishing up renovations ahead of the home opening game on Sept 9. on the west side of Reser Stadium as part of the $162 million “Completing Reser Stadium Project.”
However, despite all the excitement ahead of the 2023 Beaver Football season. The future of Oregon State in the PAC-12 Conference and the future of the Conference as a whole remains murky beyond 2024.
The PAC-12 Conference faces its biggest challenge in the Conference’s 108-year existence as they are trying to keep the remaining members of the Conference together after multiple schools departed the PAC-12 while simultaneously trying to negotiate a new media rights deal.
Five PAC-12 schools are expected to announce that they are leaving the conference in the coming days.
The University of Arizona, Arizona State University, the University of Utah, the University of Oregon, and the University of Washington are all expected to depart from the PAC-12 after 2024 on top of three schools that have announced prior moves, University of California Los Angeles, University of Southern California, and the University of Colorado Boulder.
Smith spoke to the media following the conclusion of Friday’s practice in the wake of the unprecedented conference realignment occurring in the PAC-12.
“Sounds like there is more and more reports even while we were going through practice on uncertainty with realignment, things of that nature. I’ll echo what we talked about as a team last night; what we have in front of us is certain, and these guys have built this program and have worked so hard,” Smith said. “To allow this to be a huge distraction, we’re not going to do that. At this moment, I don’t have many answers for you, but I will talk more on this.”
Smith had also acknowledged questions about the future of the PAC-12 Conference following the conclusion of the first practice of fall training camp for Beaver Football on Thursday.
“There’s a lot of talk, there’s some beauty to be able to just get started with what we’ve currently got going. Day 1 of a schedule that we know and we’re so excited about that,” Smith said. “Seems like that talk continues, the narrative changes almost by the day. I haven’t been on my phone today to see what the new narrative is.”
Smith added that players have been paying attention to the realignment news as it directly affects them. As of today, there is no certainty on what the team’s schedule will look like beyond 2024-2025.
