Not sure if you guys heard this but it's phenomenal. I'm going to write about Pollard's comments on the Big 12's decision yesterday shortly but wanted to post a transcript from some of the juicy moments from his interview on 1460 KXnO's "Morning Rush" here for discussion.
CLICK HERE to listen to the actual audio.
“I am grateful that the presidents came to the conclusion that the athletic directors have been saying for a long time. It’s unfortunate that it went through the public process that it did but in the end, I believe we got to the right spot in the road and that’s what is important.”
How did this happen and why?
“Every institution has its own governing process. As a result, some institutions end up being more governed by political boards and regents who are very heavily involved and it’s a topic that clearly has a multitude of opinions from a lot of people who have never been and will never be in an AD’s room or in the locker room. As a result, I think people can kind of swing from the branches if they are not grounded on where they want to go. I think that is my observation. That is kind of what played out here. In the end, the AD’s have been saying this since it all started really about 18 months ago when we ended up not getting a team in the first College Football Playoff. That started a cycle of everyone trying to figure out why and how you could fix that. I am hopeful now that the people who are making the decisions, that has ended. Now people are going to speculate for probably another couple of weeks but then hopefully they are going to move on to other subjects because we have set in stone what we are going to do now.”
“We made good fodder for a lot of people. I understand why people joke about it or are sarcastic about it because I probably would be too if I was on the outside. Because in the end, that’s the hand we were dealt when the president of Oklahoma came out and said what he did, Commissioner Bowlsby was kind of forced into having to go through this process. I think more good probably did come out of the process because of where we are now ending but I don’t fault anybody for making a mockery of the process from the outside because if you were on the outside, that’s what it looked like. There was more strategy to it than most people care to know or understand, but all of that is water over the damn because it is over. We are back to where we should have been from the get-go.”
“I want what is best for Iowa State, which is to be in a Power 5 conference. The best way for Iowa State to be in a Power 5 conference is for the Big 12 to be healthy, strong and fit. When I sit in a room with a group of athletic directors who believe that 10 is the best model, I’m going to go with that 10.”
“When I hear people say Texas and Oklahoma this, I laugh because I’m in the room and that isn’t the case. The Big 12 exists because we have Texas and Oklahoma in the room. If we take Texas and Oklahoma out of the room, we are in the Mountain West Conference and we are going to get $3 million. It would be like somebody saying, ‘We don’t want Georges Niang on our team because he takes too many shots. Okay. We can take Georges Niang off of our team and let’s see how good we would have been the last couple of years. We have two star players whether people want to like that or not – Texas and Oklahoma. I am glad to be on a team that has two great players and we benefit from being on that team. We can go play on a weaker team and be the star but then everybody will be saying, ‘How do you get us in one of those Power 5 conferences Mr. AD?’”
“The Pac-12, I’m not so sure about that one because there is a lot of turmoil in the Pac-12, but hopefully they will renew their contract and then it will be our turn. Where the television industry will be at that time, who knows? What we do know is in the last couple of years, the television industry has completely changed because of the new technology and the cord cutting. Eight years from now I will be 60 and have been at Iowa State for 20 years. Eight years is a friggin’ lifetime.”
“What I do know is that at 10, we give ourselves a lot more flexibility down the road vs. maybe adding members that would only clutter up the process. I have people who say that Texas and Oklahoma are going to bolt, well if Texas and Oklahoma don’t want us to add any members, I guarantee you that if we add members and forced it on them, they would bolt. That’s a part of this process that people aren’t thinking about. Make sure whatever move you make doesn’t change what you can do in the future.”
CLICK HERE to listen to the actual audio.
“I am grateful that the presidents came to the conclusion that the athletic directors have been saying for a long time. It’s unfortunate that it went through the public process that it did but in the end, I believe we got to the right spot in the road and that’s what is important.”
How did this happen and why?
“Every institution has its own governing process. As a result, some institutions end up being more governed by political boards and regents who are very heavily involved and it’s a topic that clearly has a multitude of opinions from a lot of people who have never been and will never be in an AD’s room or in the locker room. As a result, I think people can kind of swing from the branches if they are not grounded on where they want to go. I think that is my observation. That is kind of what played out here. In the end, the AD’s have been saying this since it all started really about 18 months ago when we ended up not getting a team in the first College Football Playoff. That started a cycle of everyone trying to figure out why and how you could fix that. I am hopeful now that the people who are making the decisions, that has ended. Now people are going to speculate for probably another couple of weeks but then hopefully they are going to move on to other subjects because we have set in stone what we are going to do now.”
“We made good fodder for a lot of people. I understand why people joke about it or are sarcastic about it because I probably would be too if I was on the outside. Because in the end, that’s the hand we were dealt when the president of Oklahoma came out and said what he did, Commissioner Bowlsby was kind of forced into having to go through this process. I think more good probably did come out of the process because of where we are now ending but I don’t fault anybody for making a mockery of the process from the outside because if you were on the outside, that’s what it looked like. There was more strategy to it than most people care to know or understand, but all of that is water over the damn because it is over. We are back to where we should have been from the get-go.”
“I want what is best for Iowa State, which is to be in a Power 5 conference. The best way for Iowa State to be in a Power 5 conference is for the Big 12 to be healthy, strong and fit. When I sit in a room with a group of athletic directors who believe that 10 is the best model, I’m going to go with that 10.”
“When I hear people say Texas and Oklahoma this, I laugh because I’m in the room and that isn’t the case. The Big 12 exists because we have Texas and Oklahoma in the room. If we take Texas and Oklahoma out of the room, we are in the Mountain West Conference and we are going to get $3 million. It would be like somebody saying, ‘We don’t want Georges Niang on our team because he takes too many shots. Okay. We can take Georges Niang off of our team and let’s see how good we would have been the last couple of years. We have two star players whether people want to like that or not – Texas and Oklahoma. I am glad to be on a team that has two great players and we benefit from being on that team. We can go play on a weaker team and be the star but then everybody will be saying, ‘How do you get us in one of those Power 5 conferences Mr. AD?’”
“The Pac-12, I’m not so sure about that one because there is a lot of turmoil in the Pac-12, but hopefully they will renew their contract and then it will be our turn. Where the television industry will be at that time, who knows? What we do know is in the last couple of years, the television industry has completely changed because of the new technology and the cord cutting. Eight years from now I will be 60 and have been at Iowa State for 20 years. Eight years is a friggin’ lifetime.”
“What I do know is that at 10, we give ourselves a lot more flexibility down the road vs. maybe adding members that would only clutter up the process. I have people who say that Texas and Oklahoma are going to bolt, well if Texas and Oklahoma don’t want us to add any members, I guarantee you that if we add members and forced it on them, they would bolt. That’s a part of this process that people aren’t thinking about. Make sure whatever move you make doesn’t change what you can do in the future.”
