Utah Coach Kyle Whittingham Claims Pac-12 is in a ‘Great Spot’
With the state of the Pac-12 being discussed at length on Thursday and Friday at Pac-12 Media Days, Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham chimed in on the future of the conference saying, “I think we’re in a great spot.”
Despite Whittingham’s claim of the league seemingly doing well, the Pac-12 Conference has dominated headlines for its lack of a media rights deal and for league commissioner George Kliavkoff who expressed his intent to not discuss the matter at media days.
Whittingham detailed his thoughts by saying, “Any time you can have half the league ranked in the top 25 at the end of the season going into the next year, I think that’s strong. I don’t know if there’s a league in the country, maybe the SEC, that has that representation and that strength where you got half your league ranked in the top 25.”
While Whittingham’s optimism is semi-warranted in terms of on-the-field play, narratives surrounding the conference this offseason have gone from bad to worse. The Pac-12 conference is less than two months away from the start of the 2023 season and still has yet to announce a plan to land a new media rights deal.
The Utah Utes finished off the 2022 season ranked eighth in the country in the final AP poll after taking down the USC Trojans in their second to last season in the conference to earn a Pac-12 title. With both USC and UCLA heading to the Big Ten in 2024, conference realignment has hit the Pac-12 hard leading many to wonder what the future of the conference will look like.
