Gonzaga AD Says They Have Not Yet Made A Decision On Mountain West
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Zags brass was caught off guard from Craig Thompson’s comments.
Prior to Saturday’s first Final Four game, Mountain West commissioner Craig Thompson gave an update on Gonzaga possibly joining the league.
“For next season, it doesn’t look promising,” Thompson said. “I’d put it like this: Today is today, none of us can predict tomorrow.”
That quote caught the higher-ups at Gonzaga off guard and in particularly athletics director Mike Roth who talked to The Spokesman-Review about the status of the Bulldogs and the Mountain West.
Gonzaga officials were caught a little off guard by Thompson’s comments. They didn’t dispute that negotiations in the past week were pointing the Zags in the direction of staying in the WCC, but they were under the impression talks were ongoing.
“We collectively have not made a final commitment,” Roth said Saturday. “We have not told the WCC we’ve made a final decision. I have not talked to Craig Thompson.”
The time frame for a final decision has always been a week after the Final Four and that is the timeline Roth mentioned on Saturday.
A meeting was scheduled to take place next week between the Mountain West and Gonzaga but that meeting is likely not going to happen. That is a sign pointing for the Bulldogs to stay where they are, and the obvious reason is due to the changes the WCC made in scheduling and money being paid for NCAA Tournament runs by Gonzaga.
One concern about Gonzaga joining the Mountain West is exposure as the Mountain West has a deal with CBS Sports Network which is in fewer home and has less visibility than the ESPN family of networks.
It does appear that Gonzaga is likely to remain in the WCC but Thompson appears to be projecting his thoughts on what he thinks will happen rather than what is actually going on at the moment.
