Former Gonzaga Bulldogs All-American Dan Dickau discusses the future of college athletics with Greg Heister
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00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 - So let's go back to the Conference of Realignment thought.
00:10 You know, Gonzaga has been talked about
00:12 with the Pac-12 in some terms.
00:14 The Mountain West they flirted with years ago,
00:17 probably to better boost their standing with the WCC
00:22 to get what they wanted in terms of negotiation.
00:26 And you talked about the Big 12 as of this summer,
00:29 there was some talks,
00:30 but I think the WCC is right for Gonzaga.
00:33 They headlined them.
00:35 Gonzaga's proven you can play for a national title
00:38 out of that league.
00:39 But I don't know if college athletics
00:41 is gonna look the same in five years
00:43 based on everything happening.
00:45 What are some of your thoughts on Conference of Realignment?
00:49 - Well, I mean, there's so many, Dan.
00:52 I mean, first and foremost, when you look at Gonzaga,
00:55 if you just look at, you know, for their sake,
00:59 Conference of Realignment's been going on
01:01 for a while now, decade?
01:04 - Yeah. - Right?
01:04 - Not to the extent over the last, say, two years.
01:07 - Yeah, no, it's certainly hit
01:10 a different velocity these days.
01:12 But there's not been any alignment
01:14 because of men's basketball.
01:16 Nobody has signed a program or brought a program in
01:20 because of their men's basketball.
01:21 - The only one that I, without interrupting you too much,
01:24 the only one I can think of would be UConn
01:26 going back to the Big East.
01:27 - But they have football. - But they do have football.
01:28 - They do have football. - But it's like a--
01:29 - So that's what I mean, though.
01:31 But there's a football program attached to it.
01:33 Syracuse had a football program attached to it.
01:36 Pitt had a football program attached to it, right?
01:40 So Gonzaga doesn't have a football program.
01:44 So if they are to realign to a conference,
01:48 they would make history.
01:50 They would be the first school to go grab space
01:54 in another conference just because of their brand
01:57 in men's basketball.
01:58 So we haven't seen that happen yet anywhere.
02:01 I know the Big 12 was chasing UConn as well,
02:05 but they had football, right?
02:07 Gonzaga would have been the only basketball program.
02:09 So until that happens, I don't know if it happens, right?
02:16 And if maybe we get to a point when the dust settles
02:21 and everybody kind of finds their space
02:23 in these new conferences,
02:25 then maybe they start to go after basketball programs.
02:28 We don't, who knows what will happen down the road.
02:31 But I don't know if, you know,
02:33 the thing about the Big 12 I kept going to in my mind
02:37 is, okay, so there's a pie of money
02:40 and they've split it up.
02:42 And now they have to go to each school
02:44 to get permission to allow Gonzaga in.
02:46 Well, do you think Bill Shelf is gonna give up
02:48 some of the money that he would get at Kansas
02:50 and then he'd bring his team up to play
02:52 in the McCarthy Athletic Center, he'd be okay with that?
02:55 To bring the brand into the conference?
02:57 I don't know.
02:58 - Well, that's a difficult one.
02:59 I think if Gonzaga were to go to a,
03:02 I don't wanna call it a higher profile conference,
03:04 but it truly is, even though the WCC has provided
03:07 what GU needs to get to this point,
03:09 there's a lot of things that would have to happen.
03:11 You're right in the fact that Bill Shelf
03:14 bringing Kansas up to Spokane every year,
03:17 or when these bigger conferences,
03:19 sometimes it's every other year,
03:21 you're now looking at the smallest arena
03:23 in those conferences.
03:24 - Yeah, no, there's a lot of things.
03:25 - So you'd have to increase capacity
03:27 of the McCarthy Athletic Center.
03:29 - And then you have to look at maybe
03:31 Veterans Memorial Arena, right, which is bigger,
03:33 but then you're sharing gate, you're sharing parking,
03:36 you're sharing concessions, right?
03:38 So the financial trickle down of all of that,
03:41 when Gonzaga now gets all the proceeds to every home game,
03:45 how does all that work?
03:46 There's smart people that would figure that out.
03:47 I don't think any of that stuff would be deal breakers,
03:50 but I'm just saying that there's hurdles to that.
03:54 I think the Pac-12 would have been
03:57 the perfect place for Gonzaga, both style, logistics, right?
04:02 Because again, if you're gonna fly
04:04 the men's basketball program around, you still have to--
04:07 - It's regional on the West Coast.
04:08 - You have to fly the golf team around,
04:10 you have to fly the soccer teams around.
04:12 And again, Gonzaga doesn't have football, right?
04:17 They don't have this--
04:17 - But years ago-- - This base, yeah.
04:20 - I remember it was like Pac-12 North, Pac-12 South
04:22 for baseball and other sports.
04:24 And if I remember correctly, like University of Portland
04:27 and Gonzaga baseball were in what was called
04:29 the Pac-10 North or whatever it was called.
04:32 - Yeah, well before the Pac-12 blew up,
04:34 I mean, I was thinking, well, this is,
04:37 because Gonzaga's brand is big enough,
04:39 it's got real value and the Pac-12 may have needed that.
04:43 And you throw that in there with U of A
04:45 and Oregon and U-Dub, I mean, it's pretty good basketball.
04:50 So I don't know, who knows?
04:51 If anybody who tells you that they know
04:53 what's gonna happen now, they're in la-la land.
04:58 - Well, I was talking about-- - We don't know.
04:59 We don't know, they could stay in the WCC.
05:02 If the Pac-12 and Mount West, AAC,
05:04 that they merge and become something,
05:08 who knows, they could end up there in time,
05:10 they could end up in the Big 12 or the Big East.
05:12 I mean, all of these things are rumored.
05:14 The fact of the matter is,
05:15 is that nobody's showed up with the bag.
05:17 - Yeah, and that's what people wanna see,
05:20 is that money at the end.
05:21 - That's when you know that it'll be serious.
05:22 - 'Cause there are coaches that don't even know
05:24 anything of what's possibly happening until it happens.
05:27 I mean, I've talked to multiple college coaches
05:29 that they've just said, I have no clue
05:31 where we're gonna be two years from now.
05:32 - And the advantage for Gonzaga is that
05:34 they have been recruiting nationally now for 15 years.
05:38 Right, and their non-conference schedule
05:41 has already been developed and proven over time.
05:44 So when they go sit down with a four-star
05:46 or even a five-star recruit, they can still sell that.
05:49 Conference, they've never sold the West Coast Conference
05:51 to those recruits, they're selling everything else.
05:54 So I think Gonzaga can still get to where they need to go
05:58 in all of that, regardless of what conference they are in.
06:01 Because if they go to the Big 12,
06:03 does that mean there's more NIL money
06:05 for Gonzaga that's gonna show up?
06:06 I don't know, maybe the recruiting gets a little easier.
06:10 But I don't know if somebody is more likely
06:13 to start contributing to NIL
06:15 because they're at a bigger conference.
06:16 I may be completely wrong about that, but I don't know.
06:20 - Well, it might even negatively impact them
06:22 because if you've got power conference schools
06:25 that have a huge NIL collective behind them,
06:28 you're gonna get outbid more times than not, I would think.
06:31 So there's lots of negatives and positives to it
06:35 that they have to sift through.
06:36 (upbeat music)
06:39 (upbeat music)