Washington
MWC leaders visit WSU to express interest; AAC commissioner also invited
Leaders from the Mountain West met with Washington State officials on Thursday to pitch the conference as a future home for the Cougars, school president Kirk Schultz announced.
Mountain West commissioner Gloria Nevarez and New Mexico president Garnett Stokes made the trip to Pullman, Wash., and are expected to do the same with Oregon State as the two Pac-12 schools chart their future. The American Athletic Conference is also interested in the two schools, and commissioner Mike Aresco has also been invited to visit after virtual presentations that are expected next week, a source briefed on the situation told The Athletic.
As both “Group of 5” conferences jockey to add the Pac-12 remnants, no decisions are expected to be made by WSU and OSU until Stanford’s and Cal’s futures are determined. There is growing momentum in the ACC to add Stanford and Cal, but no vote has been scheduled yet.
WSU’s athletics advisory committee, which met with Mountain West leaders and will meet with the AAC, is made up of students, faculty, staff and alumni and provides input to Schultz and athletic director Pat Chun. WSU has said it has three options: the Mountain West, the AAC or attempting to rebuild the Pac-12 with Stanford and Cal.
The Mountain West
“President Stokes emphasized that the conference’s top priority is the success and well-being of its student-athletes,” WSU said in a statement.
“She also discussed the similarities between Mountain West schools and WSU. The Mountain West Conference is comprised of a mix of land-grant and flagship universities and includes six R-1 designated research institutions. Commissioner Nevarez described the member schools of the conference as being gritty, resilient, strivers, and trailblazers. She also touted the conference’s focus on first-generation college students and the league’s leadership position in diversity, equity, and inclusion.”
The Mountain West’s pitch to WSU and OSU begins with geography, as the last West Coast-based Football Bowl Subdivision conference if the Pac-12 ends, featuring schools like Boise State, San Diego State, Colorado State, Air Force and others and making for some natural new rivalries. After the most recent realignment, the league hopes it can establish itself as the top G5 league again heading into a 12-team College Football Playoff era. It’s also been a very strong basketball conference, as evidenced by SDSU’s run to this year’s men’s national championship game.
GO DEEPER
‘Be us’: How San Diego State rallied to beat FAU, make the national title game
The conference has media rights deals with Fox and CBS through 2026 worth about $3.7 million per full member school annually (Boise State gets a bigger share), as part of a total payout worth about $6 million per school annually, according to league sources. Adding any new schools would open negotiations with media partners to potentially increase that number.
The Pac-12 paid members an average of $37 million per school in the most recent fiscal year. Whatever the decision, WSU and OSU will see a sizable drop in conference payout revenue.
The AAC
The AAC’s pitch to WSU and OSU is about ESPN and investment. The conference has been the most dominant G5 league, earning the coveted New Year’s Six bowl spot seven times in nine years — though the teams that produced five of those seven have joined the Big 12. Still, the league on average has higher coaching salaries and athletic budgets than the Mountain West.
GO DEEPER
Revamped by realignment, the AAC isn’t planning for a drop-off
The AAC also has an ESPN exclusive deal through 2031-32 that pays founding members an average of around $7 million (less for recently-added members). Like the Mountain West, that number could go up if it adds the two schools. The AAC would pitch the exposure, longevity and security of its deal in an uncertain time for media rights.
The conference also has high-academic schools like Tulane and Rice, and USF recently became an AAU member. As for the increased travel, the conference is based in Texas and has a majority of its teams in the Central Time Zone and in major cities, which can ease the burden. The AAC is also waiting to see the ACC takes Dallas-based SMU alongside Stanford and Cal.
WSU and OSU will need to make decisions quickly, especially to begin scheduling for next season, but a final resolution isn’t expected until after the AAC makes its pitches and visits, which is at least a week away. It also first depends on what happens with Stanford and Cal.
Required reading
(Photo: William Mancebo / Getty)
Vancouver Police Department, West Precinct, in Vancouver, Wash., June 29, 2024.
Anna Lueck / OPB
The legislators will make an initial request of $3.5 million toward plans for the training center, which would serve new recruits and current staff. They will seek an additional $3 million during the 2026 legislative session as well as federal appropriations from Washington’s Congressional delegation, according to a letter from Vancouver Mayor Anne McEnerny-Ogle.
“We really need one place to come together and have the ability to give our officers the best training,” said Vancouver Police Department Deputy Chief Erica Nilsen, who noted Southwest Washington’s booming population. “That’s really why we need the regional academy.”
The academy would primarily serve as a training site for police and sheriff’s department staff from Clark, Cowlitz and Skamania counties, Nilsen said. Her department hopes to have a facility where prospective officers could train on squad car driving, firearms and scenario training, and do classroom work.
Since January, the Vancouver Police Department has used a repurposed elementary school in the city. They also rent a driving track and send recruits to the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission academy in Burien, about two-and-a-half hours north.
That distance creates barriers to hiring potential officers who are female or single parents, Nilsen said.
“To leave your family for four months is incredibly difficult. Sometimes that stops the conversation before they even get past that,” she said.
Lawmakers are pitching the idea of a potential location in Ridgefield on property that’s privately owned by the family of Boschma Farms, near where Clark College is currently building an advanced manufacturing campus.
The likelihood of landing such a request for state funds remains uncertain, given Washington’s projected $10-12 billion budget deficit. Clark County and the city of Vancouver are also navigating multimillion-dollar deficits.
“With the budget issues that we’re going to be facing, it kind of remains to be seen where we’re at. It’s going to be probably quite a stretch, but [law enforcement] is certainly my priority going into this next session,” said state Rep. Stephanie McClintock, R-Vancouver, whose district spans the north end of Clark County.
McClintock said that in addition to being a training academy, she hopes such a facility would provide a new administrative home for the Clark County Sheriff’s Office.
Officials with the Vancouver Police Department and county sheriff’s office have both recently said they are among the lowest-staffed departments in the state per capita. McClintock said a new training facility could help attract more law enforcement officers.
“We need to send a message that they are a priority,” she said. “It’s a morale issue. And it’s a good recruiting tool to show that we support our law enforcement here in Southwest Washington.”
In November, the city of Vancouver attempted to increase property taxes to fund 80 new police officers. The proposal was rejected by voters. Clark County is considering asking voters to pay for 30 new sheriff’s deputies, according to the mayor’s memo.
From 2020 to 2023, Clark County saw a 3.5% increase in population. While a new law enforcement facility would take years to complete, the need to train officers will increase as the population of Southwest Washington continues to grow.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Louisville (8-4, 5-3 ACC) is set to face Washington (6-6, 4-5 Big Ten) in the Sun Bowl on Tuesday, Dec. 31 at 2:00 p.m. EST at Sun Bowl Stadium in El Paso, Texas. Here’s how the Cardinals stack up against the Huskies:
*Mobile users can scroll left and right on the tables below*
|
Washington |
Louisville |
|
|---|---|---|
|
AP/USAT |
NR/NR |
RV/RV |
|
CFP |
NR |
NR |
|
SOS |
12th |
28th |
|
SOR |
46th |
25th |
|
SP+ |
61st |
18th |
|
FPI |
45th |
12th |
|
Sagarin |
47th |
17th |
|
Kelley Ford |
49th |
13th |
|
CFB Insiders |
41st |
11th |
|
Washington |
Louisville |
|
|---|---|---|
|
Total Offense |
68th (383.7) |
10th (455.8) |
|
Yards Per Play |
52nd (5.96) |
3rd (6.88) |
|
Scoring Offense |
109th (22.5) |
9th (36.6) |
|
Passing Yards |
39th (252.3) |
20th (272.4) |
|
Yards Per Completion |
113th (10.97) |
37th (12.82) |
|
Rushing Yards |
93rd (131.3) |
37th (183.3) |
|
Yards Per Rush Attempt |
85th (4.07) |
9th (5.60) |
|
First Downs Gained |
76th (248) |
57th (261) |
|
3rd Down Con. % |
102nd (36.4%) |
74th (39.7%) |
|
4th Down Con. % |
101st (45.8%) |
(116th (40.0%) |
|
Red Zone Con. % |
85th (82.2%) |
95th (80.8%) |
|
Turnovers Lost |
19th (11) |
19th (11) |
|
Interceptions Thrown |
26th (7) |
10th (6) |
|
Fumbles Lost |
15th (4) |
30th (5) |
|
Tackles for Loss Allowed |
87th (5.83) |
19th (4.17) |
|
Sacks Allowed |
111th (2.83) |
23rd (1.25) |
|
Avg. Time of Possession |
66th (30:10) |
73rd (29:57) |
Key: National Rank out of 134 FBS Teams (Value)
|
Washington |
Louisville |
|
|---|---|---|
|
Total Defense |
27th (324.8) |
58th (360.1) |
|
Yards Allowed Per Play |
28th (5.00) |
49th (5.28) |
|
Scoring Defense |
45th (22.8) |
52nd (23.3) |
|
Passing Yards Allowed |
5th (166.8) |
80th (224.7) |
|
Rushing Yards Allowed |
83rd (158.1) |
43rd (135.4) |
|
First Downs Allowed |
69th (241) |
40th (229) |
|
3rd Down Defensive % |
106th (43.9%) |
39th (35.5%) |
|
4th Down Defensive % |
91st (57.1%) |
112th (64.5%) |
|
Red Zone Defensive % |
53rd (81.0%) |
63rd (81.8%) |
|
Turnovers Gained |
91st (14) |
69th (16) |
|
Interceptions Caught |
93rd (8) |
75th (9) |
|
Fumbles Recovered |
69th (6) |
49th (7) |
|
TFL Per Game |
132nd (3.6) |
39th (6.4) |
|
Sacks Per Game |
90th (1.67) |
40th (2.42) |
Key: National Rank out of 134 FBS Teams (Value)
|
Washington |
Louisville |
|
|---|---|---|
|
Net Punting |
131st (34.49) |
109th (36.74) |
|
Avg. Kickoff Return |
30th (22.42) |
60th (20.53) |
|
Avg. Kickoff Return Def. |
92nd (21.83) |
24th (17.42) |
|
Avg. Punt Return |
74th (7.27) |
106th (5.13) |
|
Avg. Punt Return Def. |
126th (14.94) |
31st (5.00) |
|
Field Goal Attempts |
18-26 |
18-25 |
|
PAT |
26-26 |
55-55 |
Key: National Rank out of 134 FBS Teams (Value)
– FPI Prediction: Per ESPN’s Football Power Index, the Cardinals have a 74.8 percent chance to win against the Huskies. Louisville has an FPI rating of 16.4 (12th overall), whereas Washington has an FPI rating of 5.1 (45th overall).
– SP+ Prediction: Per Bill Connelly’s SP+ model, the Cardinals have a 76.89 percent chance to take down the Huskies. Louisville has an SP+ rating of 15.5 (18th overall), whereas Washington has an SP+ rating of 3.0 (61st overall).
– Kelley Ford Prediction: Per the Kelley Ford ratings, the Cardinals have a 73 percent chance to defeat the Huskies. Louisville has a KFord rating of 16.5 (14th overall), whereas Washington has a KFord rating of 5.1 (48th overall).
– College Football Insiders Prediction: Per College Football Insiders’ IPR metric, the Cardinals have a 71.99 percent chance to take down the Huskies. Louisville has an IPR rating of 65.5 (11th overall), whereas Washington has an IPR rating of 53.5 (41st overall).
– Personal Prediction: Louisville 28, Washington 24
(Photo via Jordan Prather – Imagn Images)
You can follow Louisville Cardinals On SI for future coverage by liking us on Facebook, Twitter/X and Instagram:
Facebook – @LouisvilleOnSI
Twitter/X – @LouisvilleOnSI
Instagram – @louisvilleonsi
You can also follow Deputy Editor Matthew McGavic at @Matt_McGavic on Twitter/X and @mattmcgavic.bsky.social on Bluesky
Notre Dame football continues transfer portal haul with TE Ty Washington
Ty Washington’s 2024 season ended abruptly. The redshirt sophomore tight end was dismissed from Arkansas in late October for what head coach Sam Pittman described as a violation of team rules.
Notre Dame football wants to give Washington a second chance. The 6-foot-4, 247-pound tight end with two seasons of eligibility remaining announced Wednesday his commitment to transfer to Notre Dame.
Maybe Washington can find more success with the Irish after catching 14 passes for 212 yards and four touchdowns in 21 career games with the Razorbacks. Pro Football Focus gave Washington the second-lowest offensive grade on Arkansas’ roster for his play in the 2024 season. He received a 42.3 offensive grade on his 116 offensive snaps. The lowest offensive grade on Notre Dame’s offense so far this season is reserve offensive tackle Ty Chan’s 47.8 on eight snaps.
SUBSCRIBE TO INSIDE ND SPORTS TO STAY IN THE KNOW ON NOTRE DAME ATHLETICS
Related Content
Washington will be a depth option for Notre Dame’s tight end room. The Irish will lose starting tight end Mitchell Evans to the NFL this offseason with four seasons of eligibility used. Reserve tight end Davis Sherwood will also have exhausted his eligibility. Seldom-used graduate senior Kevin Bauman still has one season of eligibility remaining, but it’s unclear if he’ll be on Notre Dame’s roster next season.
The obvious options to return to Notre Dame next season are current junior Eli Raridon, sophomore Cooper Flanagan, freshman Jack Larsen and 2025 signee James Flanigan. Raridon has played in all 13 games this season and caught nine passes for 70 yards and two touchdowns so far. Flanagan caught four passes for 55 yards and two touchdowns in 12 games this season.
So Washington’s impact at Notre Dame seems far from guaranteed, but that’s much better than the situation he was in at Arkansas. Washington shared his side of the story about his dismissal on the “4th and 5 Podcast.” Washington refused to enter a 58-25 victory over Mississippi State in the fourth quarter when the coaching staff wanted to put him in the game. Prior to the game, Washington said, he learned that his grandmother was in poor health and that put him in a bad place mentally.
“Our team was kicking butt,” Washington said on the podcast. “Our tight ends were doing their thing. Shout-out to Luke [Hasz] and shout-out to Andreas [Paaske] because they were playing a hell of a ballgame. To be honest, I didn’t think that I needed to go in to just try to fight through something and look bad or mess up the team in general when I’m already going through something mentally.
“To be honest, that messed me up and I should’ve taken accountability for that because that was the reason why I was thrown off the team — for not going into the game. I know I could’ve handled it differently, but at the time I let that shut me down. And it shut me down because mentally I’ve been going through a lot of stuff and physically I’ve been going through a lot of stuff. It broke me down a little bit. I’m only human.”
Pittman declined to expand on Washington’s dismissal after reporters heard Washington’s retelling of it. Hasz, Arkansas’ starting tight end this season, has already committed to transfer to Ole Miss.
JOIN THE CONVERSATION ON THE INSIDER LOUNGE MESSAGE BOARD
Washington signed with Arkansas as a three-star recruit out of Leesburg (Ga.) Lee County. Rivals ranked him as the No. 31 tight end in the 2022 class.
Washington redshirted his true freshman season by playing in four regular season games and a bowl game. His only catch of the season was a 17-yard touchdown in the first quarter of a 55-53 win over Kansas in the Liberty Bowl.
Washington’s playing time increased in 2023 with three starts in nine games, but his season ended with a shoulder injury. He recorded 11 receptions for 170 yards and two touchdowns in the four-game stretch before his injury. The 2023 season was Washington’s best, according to PFF. He received a 77.3 offensive grade with an 86.6 in the passing game.
Washington started just one game this past season and caught two passes for 25 yards and one touchdown in seven games played. His dismissal came after the eighth game of the season for Arkansas.
Notre Dame’s incoming transfer portal class is currently bigger than its outgoing transfer class. The Irish added Alabama defensive back DeVonta Smith, Virginia wide receiver Malachi Fields and Wisconsin wide receiver Will Pauling prior to Washington. Fields and Pauling announced their commitments on Monday and Tuesday, respectively, making Washington the third commitment in three days.
Notre Dame’s three outgoing transfer portal players were no longer with the team for most of the season. Defensive tackle Tyson Ford and defensive end Aiden Gobaira weren’t on the roster this season. Cornerback Jaden Mickey opted to seek a transfer after playing in the first four games of 2024, which allowed him to preserve a season of eligibility. Both Ford and Mickey have already committed to Cal.
Notre Dame has yet to address arguably its biggest transfer portal need this offseason: defensive tackle. At least in terms of public commitments. But at the rate this week has gone, who knows how quickly that could change.
CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE TO INSIDE ND SPORTS ON YOUTUBE
—————————————————————
• Talk with Notre Dame fans on The Insider Lounge.
• Subscribe to the Inside ND Sports podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, Podbean or Pocket Casts.
• Subscribe to the Inside ND Sports channel on YouTube.
• Follow us on Twitter: @insideNDsports, @EHansenND and @TJamesND.
• Like us on Facebook: Inside ND Sports
• Follow us on Instagram: @insideNDsports
Cardinals RB James Conner Gets Encouraging Update
What's at stake in the 68 Ventures Bowl between Arkansas State and Bowling Green?
California has 15 of 25 priciest places to live in US
Deion Sanders Supports Travis Hunter in Colorado Practice Video: 'You Are Him'
Zero fatal car crashes during Christmas in Connecticut: state police
Colorado Rockies game no. 116 thread: Zac Gallen vs José Ureña
Why Marjorie Taylor Greene was ‘kicked out’ of the Freedom Caucus according to Rep. Buck
See it: Tesla crashes into Columbus convention center at 70 mph
Fox News Politics: Georgia the whole day through
Death of missing Oregon girl found in stream ruled homicide
Trump has Christmas message to 'Radical Left Lunatics,' tells inmates Biden granted clemency to 'GO TO HELL!'
2024: Top 10 defining moments in the European Parliament
Popeye, Tintin and more will enter the public domain in the new year
Trump picks Miami-Dade County Commissioner Kevin Marino Cabrera for Panama ambassador
Five journalists killed in Israeli strike near Gaza hospital
-
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24924653/236780_Google_AntiTrust_Trial_Custom_Art_CVirginia__0003_1.png "Google’s counteroffer to the government trying to break it up is unbundling Android apps")
Technology5 days agoGoogle’s counteroffer to the government trying to break it up is unbundling Android apps
-
News6 days agoNovo Nordisk shares tumble as weight-loss drug trial data disappoints
-
Politics6 days agoIllegal immigrant sexually abused child in the U.S. after being removed from the country five times
-
Entertainment7 days ago'It's a little holiday gift': Inside the Weeknd's free Santa Monica show for his biggest fans
-
Lifestyle7 days agoThink you can't dance? Get up and try these tips in our comic. We dare you!
-
Technology1 week agoFox News AI Newsletter: OpenAI responds to Elon Musk's lawsuit
-
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25672934/Metaphor_Key_Art_Horizontal.png "There’s a reason Metaphor: ReFantanzio’s battle music sounds as cool as it does")
Technology2 days agoThere’s a reason Metaphor: ReFantanzio’s battle music sounds as cool as it does
-
News3 days agoFrance’s new premier selects Eric Lombard as finance minister