Washington
Washington State, Oregon State Reportedly In Serious Trouble As Future Plans In Doubt
Washington State and Oregon State might not be bound for the Mountain West in the near future.
The Cougars and Beavers are the last two remaining PAC-12 programs following the conference imploding. The rest of the once-powerful conference split for the Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC.
WSU and OSU were left dangling in the wind, and eventually reached a scheduling agreement with the MWC. The belief has been that there would be some kind of merger.
A popular theory has been that the MWC will be folded under the PAC-12 banner (I have a Las Vegas dinner riding on a bet that this won’t actually happen), or that the Beavers and Cougars could join the MWC.
Will Oregon State and Washington State join the MWC? (Photo by Brian Murphy/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Washington State, Oregon State face uncertain future.
It might be time to tap the brakes on those theories, according to a new report from CBS Sports. The interest might not be there as originally thought, but not from the side you’d think. The MWC reportedly has cooled on the idea of some kind of merger.
CBS Sports’ Dennis Dodd reported the following, in part, on the situation Oregon State and Washington State are in:
“On the surface, it makes sense for the best Group of Five conference to take in the last two Power Five schools remaining from the realignment chaos.
But after a week of speaking to industry sources during various media days, there seems to be momentum toward the Mountain West cooling on inclusion of Oregon State and Washington State. Such a move has been portrayed as expansion, a merger or a reverse-merger. (Although, it’s hard to envision who reverse-merges with whom.)
The Mountain West has a scheduling agreement with both teams for the 2024 season with a mutual option to continue the partnership in 2025. Might as well make that a Mountain West option because it’s becoming clear the conference doesn’t necessarily need or even want the Beavers and Cougars on a full-time membership basis.”
To be clear, there’s still plenty of time for something to happen and as Dodd pointed out himself, a merger is certainly possible. However, if the MWC has cooled on the idea of adding the final two PAC-12 teams, then they’re both in pretty big trouble.
What other options are out there? The answer is there really aren’t any. Perhaps they could try to poach other small schools from around the country, but that’s a plan that seems destined to fail.
The main reason why is TV money. If MWC schools stay where they are, then the duo would have to go hunting in regions of the country that aren’t close at all. That makes travel expensive, and the conference still wouldn’t have any real TV value.
What will happen to Washington State and Oregon State? (Photo by Michael Wade/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
It’s been a “MWC or bust” mentality seemingly since the PAC-12 imploded, and if the Mountain West isn’t returning the feeling, then it might be time for fans to start getting very nervous. Let me know what you think at David.Hookstead@outkick.com.
Trinity Rodman signs record deal with Washington Spirit
USWNT forward Trinity Rodman signed a three-year deal with the NWSL’s Washington Spirit. The deal makes Rodman the highest-paid female footballer in the world.
unbranded – Sport
Washington Spirit goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury has announced that she and her husband Matt are expecting a baby in July.
The couple made the announcement in a video on the Spirit’s social media channels, holding a baby goalkeeper jersey on the pitch at Audi Field.
Kingsbury becomes the most recent Spirit star to go on maternity leave, following defender Casey Krueger, midfielder Andi Sullivan and forward Ashley Hatch.
Sullivan gave birth to daughter Millie in July, while Hatch welcomed her son Leo in January.
Krueger announced she was pregnant with her second child in October.
Kingsbury has served as the Spirit’s starting goalkeeper since 2018, and has been named the NWSL Goalkeeper of the Year twice (2019 and 2021).
The 34-year-old has two caps with the U.S. women’s national team, and was named to the 2023 World Cup roster.
The club captain will leave a major void for the Spirit, who have finished as NWSL runner-up in back-to-back seasons.
Sandy MacIver and Kaylie Collins are expected to compete for the starting role while Kingsbury is on maternity leave.
The Spirit kick off their 2026 campaign on March 13 against the Portland Thorns.
YAKIMA, Wash. — Yakima could soon take a major step toward redesigning Sixth Avenue after the Washington State Public Works Board awarded the city a $985,600 loan.
The loan was approved for the design engineering phase of the Sixth Avenue project. The funding can also be used along Sixth Avenue for utility replacement and updated ADA use.
The Yakima City Council must decide whether to accept the award. If the council accepts it, the city’s engineering work will move forward with the design of Sixth Avenue.
The cost of installing trolley lines is excluded from the plan. The historic trolleys would need to raise the funds required to add trolley lines.
The award is scheduled to be discussed during next week’s City Council meeting.
Microsoft will ramp up its investment in the University of Washington.
Brad Smith, the company’s president, made the announcement at a press conference with University of Washington President Robert Jones on Tuesday.
That means hiring more UW graduates as interns at Microsoft, he said.
And he said all students, faculty, and researchers should have access to free, or at least deeply-discounted, AI.
“ Some of it is compute that Microsoft is donating, and some of it is pursuant to an agreement where, believe me, we give the University of Washington probably the best pricing that anybody’s gonna find anywhere,” Smith said. He assured the small group of reporters present that it would be “many millions of dollars of additional computational resources.”
The announcement today didn’t include any specific numbers.
But Smith said Microsoft has already invested $165 million in the UW over several decades.
He pointed to Jones’ vision to spur “radical collaborations with businesses and communities to advance positive change,” and eliminate “any artificial barriers between the university and the communities it serves.”
Microsoft’s goal is for AI to help UW researchers solve some of the world’s biggest problems without introducing new ones.
At Tuesday’s announcement, several research students were present to demonstrate how AI supports their work.
Amelia Keyser-Gibson is an environmental scientist at the UW. She’s using AI to analyze photographs of vines, to find which adapt best to climate change.
It’s a paradox: AI produces carbon emissions. At the same time, it’s also a new tool to help reduce them.
So how do those things square for Keyser-Gibson?
“ That’s a great question, and honestly, I don’t know the answer to that,” she said. “I’m highly aware that there’s a lot of environmental impact of using AI, but what I can say is that this has allowed us to make research innovations that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise.”
“If we had had to manually annotate every single image that would’ve been an undergrad doing that for hours,” Keyser-Gibson continued. “And we didn’t have the budget. We didn’t have the manpower to do that.”
“AI exists. If we don’t use it as researchers, we’re gonna fall behind.”
Microsoft reports on its own carbon emissions. But like most AI companies, it doesn’t reveal everything.
That’s one reason another UW student named Zhihan Zhang is using AI to estimate how much energy AI is using.
How the Editor in Chief of Marie Claire Gets Styled for a Trip to Italy
Terrion Arnold ‘maintains complete innocence’ in kidnapping, theft case
Giants scratch Rafael Devers from lineup with tight hamstring
Downtown Dallas Inc. backs relocating aging City Hall, redevelopment of site
North Miami Beach 6-year-old who was allegedly severely abused dies: Family
Florida High School Football Rankings: Top 25 teams – Oct. 21
Cleary's 21 help Le Moyne down Central Connecticut State 69-64 in OT
How old is Bo Nix? What to know about Oregon quarterback ahead of 2024 NFL Draft
99th annual Pony Swim held in Virginia
Indiana Members Credit Union announced as new anchor tenant at Bottleworks District
Where Iran’s ballistic missiles can reach — and how close they are to the US
Has India’s influence in Afghanistan grown under the Taliban?
Bill Clinton to testify before House committee investigating Epstein links
Read Judge Schiltz’s Order
Vulnerable House Dem lashes out at Trump’s ‘racist’ SOTU challenge: ‘That was uncomfortable’
-
World2 days agoExclusive: DeepSeek withholds latest AI model from US chipmakers including Nvidia, sources say
-
Massachusetts2 days agoMother and daughter injured in Taunton house explosion
-
Montana1 week ago2026 MHSA Montana Wrestling State Championship Brackets And Results – FloWrestling
-
Oklahoma1 week agoWildfires rage in Oklahoma as thousands urged to evacuate a small city
-
Louisiana5 days agoWildfire near Gum Swamp Road in Livingston Parish now under control; more than 200 acres burned
-
Denver, CO2 days ago10 acres charred, 5 injured in Thornton grass fire, evacuation orders lifted
-
Technology6 days agoYouTube TV billing scam emails are hitting inboxes
-
Technology6 days agoStellantis is in a crisis of its own making