Manifest Destiny Realized In San Marcos

To say I am resistant to change is probably an understatement.

As an Army brat, I got used to temporary friends, changing schools and ever-evolving situations.

It’s not that I can’t accept change, it’s just that I prefer consistency rather than shifting realities.

So, needless to say, when I started reporting on college football three years ago after a brief professional hiatus in TV newsland, I was in for a rude awakening.

Week to week, especially this week, you all have seen or heard from me and Zimmel being EXTREMELY resistant to perhaps the most fundamental shift for The Texas State University Bobcats: A rumoured conference jump to the reformed PAC-12.

Between the transfer portal, NIL and revenue sharing, we are in the adapt, evolve or get out era of college football. We have two capable leaders in Texas State University President Kelly Damphousse and Athletics Director Don Coryell. Why the resistance? What gives?

Well, new things are scary. Point blank period.

The PAC-12 news is a relief to some who have always hoped and believed Texas State could be a piece of a much bigger football pie. But a sudden jump or misstep gives shades of the move from FCS to FBS all those years ago. An era many Bobcats wish they could forget.

The ultimate reason why Texas State makes the jump is that we are too big and too good to ignore. Say what you want about baseball and basketball and even football to a much lesser extent in recent years, Texas State’s resume speaks for itself.

The University has a large and engaged alumni and student base. A blossoming athletics department that just won the Sun Belt Conference’s Commissioner’s Cup. Texas State also has facilities, growth and vision that most universities dream of right now.

There is no such thing as the perfect time to do anything. But, if there was ever a time to jump conferences, it would be now.

Since the 1840s, man has sought to reach the Western portion of the United States and either escape the ghosts of their past or begin to tell a new chapter in their story here on earth.

This moment could be ours. And I say that as the first writer who ever wrote the words, “why not Texas State?”

It’s with that same level of moxie that this reporter has now adopted the belief that in order to evolve, Texas State may have to jump conferences and be part of the PAC-12.

The immediate upside is money and a lot of it, to the sum of millions over years.

I just hope that the reformed PAC-12 can continue to stay relevant and be the life raft we need in this moment. For Texas State’s sake and for every school involved.

This is a business move and football, really the entirety of collegiate athletics, has become a business. It always was, but you get my point. Money now, more than ever, has taken center stage. Now, TV deals mean more than bowl games. I’ve spoken to regular old professors on the hill who are now locked into athletics on campus because when we win, we all win.

Damphousse’s push to reach R1 status as a university and be relevant on the national level in every sport go hand in hand. Because athletics is the front porch of the university.

Can we all just agree that it’s a little different joining this new reformed version of the PAC-12? Let’s start there. Is it the worst thing? No. Not at all. The worst thing may have been joining the Mountain West, which we avoided.

For a time, I believed the reformed PAC-12, or what was becoming the reformed PAC-12 as we know it, plus or minus Texas State, was “all hat and no cattle.” I truly did not believe they had enough juice to get the ball rolling. I actually believed that they would not get a media rights deal or secure enough schools that were worth a damn to be relevant at all.

Now, enter the university I love with all my heart, being courted by the same conference that at one point in talks, may or may not have turned down the Bobcats to join the conference as a full share member.

I’m salty! Call it what it is. But apparently, somewhere along the lines, conversations materialized such that the powers that be leaked the story to ESPN’s Pete Thamel. And his word is as good as gold to me.

Thamel writes about things that are essentially close to being a done deal. He broke the G.J. Kinne contract news, he broke the Mountain West invitation news and it’s not by accident. Texas State or someone very close to Texas State who is a part of these conversations is telling him to print the stories.

This is just like when the newspapers were printing ads for land in what is now the Texas Hill Country. Publishers fawned at nearly pregnant and fertile soil, ripe for the taking as far as the eye could see.

What those poor settlers could not see, often were the Comanche on horseback. Or if they did, they had a hatchet in their hands, which was soon placed firmly in their skulls.

Making the journey to compete along the western frontier will be fraught with hurdles. Albeit not as dangerous as a full-on camp raid, but Gonzaga’s basketball team in the regular season, Boise State on a Tuesday night in the fall and Oregon State baseball in the spring? I’m dizzy just thinking about it.

But in having these talks, we are putting our chips all in. We are telling the world, we are ready for this. What does the fight song say? “Until the whole world knows our name!”

Just like I said this week on the show, every sport, every thing at Texas State this year and next year and beyond has the potential now to be a national story.

That is not an accident either and it’s almost as strategic as leaking story after story to an ESPN writer. Our chips are pushed in; it’s time to see what the dealer’s hand is.

So, I’ll see you on the trail.

I have no idea what is on the other side waiting for us as the announcement that Texas State is officially joining the conference remains outstanding as I write this, but I am excited to dig into the details when it does happen.

You won’t have to guess, but the news, when it does come out, will likely be reported by Pete Thamel.

I was here when this team was 2-10, I’ll always be here. I’m a Bobcat after all. I want the best outcome possible for my beloved university, its students and student athletes and the place I became a journalist.

Here goes nothing. Pack your wagons and don’t forget your hats.

Thanks for Squarin’

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