New Pac-12 commissioner: Our athletes 'need a leader prepared to fight for them'

Calling herself a leader who will “fight” on behalf of her league’s student-athletes, new Pac-12 Conference Commissioner Teresa Gould begins the daunting task of taking what remains of a 108-year-old league and trying to rebuild a viable conference during an unprecedented time of industry disruption.

Gould, who had been the league’s deputy commissioner, officially assumes the league’s top job Friday. She is the first woman to serve as commissioner of a Power Five league.

Gould follows the ill-fated tenure of George Kliavkoff, who followed the ill-fated tenure Larry Scott. And because of costly missteps by her predecessors – in addition to those by university presidents – the league is in shambles and the challenge ahead is formidable.

Ten Pac-12 schools will depart for power conferences this summer, leaving only Oregon State and Washington State. The student-athletes at those schools are at the forefront of Gould’s mind.

“They need a leader prepared to fight for them, a leader prepared to fight on their behalf,” Gould said Thursday. “And I want to be that leader. I was really inspired and convicted and motivated to really come in and say, ‘Look at the programs on those two campuses and what they have done.’ … We have programs on these two campuses that compete at the highest level, and I wanted to be the leader that fought on behalf of those student-athletes and their future.”

Teresa Gould outlines three core responsibilities

Teresa Gould, who has a two-year contract, thinks of her job in terms of three core responsibilities:

In the short term, it will be critical that she builds an organization and operation that supports both schools in terms of the normal, high-level Autonomy Five services their programs and athletes are accustomed to receiving.

Secondly, she wants to represent both schools and the league on the national stage. That entails advocating for the best interests of her stakeholders while serving on the College Football Playoff Management Committee and meeting regularly with A-5 and FBS commissioners and engaging with NCAA President Charlie Baker. 

Lastly, and perhaps most important, is the strategic piece to forge the future of the two athletic programs.

“That strategic piece, and really being bold and being aggressive, being intentional and really attacking these challenges head-on, but also being open-minded and making sure we are considering all options,” Gould said. “That is probably the most important and urgent piece of my role, to partner with the leadership on both campuses to forge that future path for those two campuses and their athletic programs.”

‘Important we have a top-tier’ West Coast league

OSU and WSU want to rebuild the historic league. Eight-member schools are required to be considered an official conference, but the NCAA allows for a two-year grace period.

It is impossible to predict what the landscape will look like in two years. 

In the short term, OSU and WSU have announced both a football scheduling partnership with the Mountain West Conference and an affiliate membership agreement with the West Coast Conference.

Long term, a merger with the MWC – or a reverse merger in which the new league retains the branding of the iconic Pac-12 – remains a possibility as well.

“It’s really important we have a top-tier conference on the West Coast that is for all sports and that allows our student-athletes to compete at a really high level,” said Washington State President Kirk Schulz, chair of the Pac-12 board.

As a member of the College Football Playoff’s Management Committee, Gould is also tasked with working to maximize the Pac-12’s presence in the CFP moving forward. Everything is on the table for the lucrative property when the current media rights deal ends after 2025.

That includes governance (voting rights); voting in the future is not expected to need unanimity to make policy or structural changes. A revenue distribution model beginning in 2026 is also up for grabs, and it remains to be seen how stakeholders view a two-school league.

Access to the expanded field is also an open question. Will there be 12, 14 or 16 teams in the tournament beginning in 2026, and how many automatic qualifying berths will power leagues receive?

Gould attended the recent College Football Playoff meetings in Dallas, where the Management Committee broached the possibility of expanding the 12-team tournament to 14 teams. 

Gould on Thursday said the committee is “very much in the “infancy stages” in discussing potential tournament models that would take effect beginning in 2026. She stressed that multiple models are being discussed.

Teresa Gould was ‘easy choice’ for Pac-12 commissioner

Gould has extensive experience in the Pac-12 specifically and in collegiate athletics overall.

She joined the Pac-12 in August 2018. As the league’s deputy, she oversaw the management of all Pac-12 sports, including oversight of championship events, as well as compliance, governance and operations. Prior to working at the Pac-12, Gould held a variety of roles at UC Davis and also worked for 13 years at California.

When Schulz asked contacts about replacements for Kliavkoff, he said he was repeatedly told one thing: “‘You’ve got the right person right in-house.’ It was a really easy choice.”