Some Dick Rod comments.
Pac-12 expansion, realignment speculation: 'Impending sense of doom' over media deal
Jeremy CluffArizona Republic
Arizona and Arizona State coaches often don't agree on much.
But a former Sun Devils coach and a former Wildcats coach have found common ground in their worry about the state of the conference they used to coach in.
Dennis Erickson, who coached Arizona State from 2007-2011 and Rich Rodriguez, who coached Arizona from 2012-2017, were among several former Pac-12 football coaches quoted in a recent CBS Sports story questioning the future of the conference amid the league's inability to land a new media rights deal and amid swirling college conference realignment speculation.
"I know most everybody can get ESPN+ or the streaming things," Rodriguez said. "You're not going to have it on in the bars. … Your visibility will never be the same, ever. Then there's just the perception, 'Oh, you guys played? I didn't see it.' And then you won't be talked about."
More:Pac-12 on ION Television? Conference slammed after potential TV media partner report
Erickson speculated about the lack of a TV deal impacting recruiting in the conference.
"It's nice when you can turn it on a regular channel and not worry about all that other stuff," Erickson told CBS Sports. "I think it will hurt them in recruiting, no question."
Interestingly, Rodriguez wondered about the passion of fans in Arizona in the story.
"We always thought, at Arizona, [in general] they like football, but I don't know if they really love it," Rodriguez said. "So, once [the players] leave our football building, they're not hearing people talk about football a lot. We had to make it really, really important moreso than maybe we really should have. We wanted them to feel how important it was to our players.
"When you come out here to the Southeast, you don't have to worry about that."
