LOS ANGELES — It’s been less than a month since George Kliavkoff officially became the commissioner of the Pac-12 Conference.
As if he didn’t have enough on his plate, now he’s dealing with a crucial issue — conference realignment — that recently resurfaced.
Texas and Oklahoma announced Monday that they plan to leave the Big 12, possibly for the Southeastern Conference, which would be a seismic change to the college football landscape.
How will the Pac-12 respond?
That’s one of several topics that will be addressed Tuesday during Pac-12 football media day Tuesday at the W Hollywood Hotel.
Along with Kilavkoff, the league’s 12 head coaches and two players from each school will be in attendance to field questions from the media leading up to the 2021 season.
Actually, only 11 coaches are expected to attend because Washington State coach Nick Rolovich won’t be here. That’s because he is not vaccinated for COVID-19 and will be participating via Zoom. Rolovich said in a statement that he didn’t get vaccinated for personal reasons, which opens the door for a lot of interesting questions.
The festivities begin at 9 a.m. MDT Tuesday on the Pac-12 Network, with remarks from Kliavkoff, senior associate commissioner of football operations Merton Hanks and Oregon athletic director and chair of the Pac-12 athletics directors committee Rob Mullens.
Specific timing and details for Pac-12 Networks’ coverage are available at Pac-12.com.
Utah coach Kyle Whittingham, wide receiver Britain Covey and linebacker Devin Lloyd will represent Utah at media day. Whittingham, Covey and Lloyd are scheduled to address the media at about 4:45 p.m. MDT.
As part of Tuesday’s event, preseason predictions and preseason all-conference teams will be announced.
Besides Rolovich, another Pac-12 coach that will be under considerable scrutiny Tuesday is Arizona State’s Herm Edwards.
This will mark the first time that Edwards has faced reporters since the allegations of impropriety within ASU’s program came to light. Edwards probably won’t be able to comment on the ongoing investigation but it will be interesting to see how he plans to help his team maintain focus amid the allegations and the investigation.