The Pac-12 has owned the airwaves this week.

It began by adding 4 new schools last Thursday morning and continued with Washington State’s epic win in the Apple Cup on a 4th down stop that will be talked about for decades.

While Pac-12 Commissioner Teresa Gould did not call a play last Saturday in college football, she did create the playbook that added San Diego State, Fresno State, Boise State and Colorado State last Thursday. Commissioner Gould has been a friend for decades and when she was hired to lead the Pac-12 months ago, she was not only the perfect hire, but in my eyes, the only person for the job.

On Day One, she stated that she would be bold, aggressive, open minded and intentional. Now well into her 7th month, she has delivered on all 4.

In a conversation fueled by our founding partner 76, Commissioner Gould joined the Y-Option podcast to share her insight and expertise as the Pac-12 completed Phase One of the rebuild and is into Phase Two. We dove into subjects that are immediate, like what WSU will be like on Friday night, where she will be in attendance, as they host San Jose State as well as what the CFP landscape could look like in late November for the Cougs.

Always open and vulnerable, Commissioner Gould also shared that among the 200 plus text messages she has received since the news broke of the Pac-12’s new additions, the ones she enjoyed most were from friends who were colleagues for years in the Pac-12 Conference. Leaders have a unique way to connect to others and allow others to feel seen. In my eyes, Teresa does exactly that and for the new schools on their way to the Pac-12, you are in competitive and thoughtful hands.

While I cannot state for sure what the next phase will be, let alone who the exact teams will be, I can say with absolute certainty and confidence that Teresa Gould will continue to lead this charge and meet the moment that is today’s college sports reality. 

As always, Jim Thornby and I also dive into all things Week 4 in college football and share stories from USC/Michigan, the oldest QBs in college football facing off in Stillwater and Jim’s favorite game this weekend in college football (Spoiler: it involves Lane Kiffin, Clay Helton and Jaxson Dart).

I’m off to Bloomington to run the stadium steps with Rhett Lewis. Be sure to track us all weekend on Instagram as we will do our best to convince Guy Haberman to join in and get to know IU’s Memorial Stadium on another level.

And if you watch Pac-12 Insider, you will start to see Y-Option there now as well. We’re fired up to be on that platform and add to the growing community of you all on SubStack, YouTube, Spotify, Apple and more.

As always - none of this is possible without YOU. So thank you.

Much love,

Yogi

This episode was executive produced by Jim Thornby and edited by Victor Ren.

This podcast is a Best Coast Media production.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.y-option.com/subscribe