One year later, it's still All About The Ball.

Looking back on the day that changed the football landscape on the West Coast

Ever been on a roller coaster? 

One minute, your hands are up and you’re living your best life and the next minute, you’re holding on for dear life!

That is what August 4th, 2023 felt like for me, and likely more than 200 colleagues in the Pac-12. 

While I’ve written about that day here and there, I wanted to dedicate today’s newsletter to those colleagues, all gifted and talented people and some who have yet to find a landing spot. I hope this letter helps, wherever you may be, to find clarity amid some of the chaos we all lived through.

We’ve said from Day 1 at Y-Option that this newsletter would share the stories of College Football, through the lens of the West Coast. That lens will forever have August 4th on its timestamp and with that, I'd like to share a story from the night before that fateful day.

Last August 3rd I needed to watch some football.

My college training camp tour had yet to begin on the West Coast, but I needed to simply see some ball. I needed to smell the grass, hear the pads, and study the schematics.

Thankfully, my close friend and Los Angeles Rams broadcaster, J.B. Long, invited me down to Orange County to watch the Rams practice. As practice went on, I was pondering the reality of the following morning. To remind you, August 3rd was the night before the Pac-12 truly took on a new shape and 6 teams would join USC and UCLA and announce their departure to new conferences.

J.B. and I had become close friends over the past 12 years and had called 20 or so games together over that time. He too was a Pac-12 Network broadcaster and had grown up around this league. Neither of us were sure if the conference would remain intact, or would splinter. In fact, I’m not sure anyone knew the future. 

With each Rams practice period my mind would wander: 

• What’s going to happen? 

• There is no way the league will splinter…

• There is less than a 1% chance the league will make it….

• C’mon Yogi, stay optimistic, don’t lose hope now!

Like they were on a loop, those thoughts would come in and out of my mind as Matthew Stafford dropped dime after dime. Thankfully, J.B. was there and would be the sounding board and absolute rock star friend that he has always been. 

That night I went to dinner with current Arizona State Offensive Coordinator Marcus Arroyo. We met when we were both young graduate assistants in the Pac-10. Him at Cal, me at USC. He’s been a phenomenal friend and confidant over the years, has lived college football and the NFL for 20+ years and is a true guardian of the game around the world. And from my lens as an analyst, he should be a head coach in the not too distant future. 

We drove up from practice together, as he was gaining insights from Rams coaches during meetings and was kicking off his NFL and college camp tour across the nation. The drive was epic. We talked about life, college football and of course the Pac-12. Eventually, we arrived at Scopa, a phenomenal Italian spot in Venice Beach, CA where we ate great food, sipped bespoke cocktails and talked about the future. 

Marcus and I entered this hip spot in LA amid a packed crowd and by the time we even considered leaving, we were the only two left in the building. 

In times of chaos I’ve found that coaches, especially those who have been head coaches like Marcus, can quickly find clarity. It’s their superpower, at least the successful ones. The special ones are a little different, those coaches love solving complex issues and to me, this was as complex as it got and Marcus was all in.

That night, Coach Arroyo challenged me to not just seek clarity amid chaos, but state it out loud. 

“Yogi, what matters most to you?” 

He asked it like I was one of his former players who had heard that speech decades earlier in training camp. He wouldn't relent and I loved it. I needed some hard coaching and he knew it. Plate after plate we just kept digging. Drink after drink, we just kept seeking. As he asked, I examined. As he probed, I found simplicity.

At the end, when the lights inside Scopa came on, the light inside me did too. 

What mattered most was the game, the ball. As I’ve said countless times, How Great Is Ball!?

We called it a night and I was ready for whatever came the next morning. Or at least I thought I was.

The next morning, August 4th, came quickly and with that day came a lot. Within an hour my colleagues and I went from the high of that roller coaster thinking a deal with Apple was done to the lows of that same ride, learning the league would be changed forever.

We were crushed. 

I was crushed and hungover. 

I think deep inside we all knew there was a small chance for campus/conference/network alignment and a signed deal but regardless, we all held out hope. The belief in the league by those 200 or so colleagues was beautiful. The commitment to the very end was inspiring. The bond was unbreakable. 

Which only made the reality that much harder to navigate. 

The next few days were a daze, full of calls to colleagues who had over the course of 12 years, become family.

Later that week I boarded a flight to Portland for a keynote speech. I was prepped and ready, dialed with my notes and focused on my presentation. 

Like on most flights, when faced with a dilemma, it takes getting up really high to see life, or your issue, from a different perspective. As the western clouds parted, clarity re-emerged. I was reminded that what mattered most to me was the game, the ball. And I wanted to talk about it.

When I got on stage that day, I decided to scrap the speech and rather, speak from my heart. 

I’ve never shared this content but when we started Y-Option Jim Thornby and I committed to generating thoughtful dialogue about college football through the lens of the West Coast.

I hope this short video is a part of that mission statement and to my former colleagues, I hope each and every one of you have found some clarity over the past 365 days. And if not, maybe this video will help. 

Much love and of course, #HowGreatIsBall.

Yogi

P.S. Training camp tour recaps are coming, just not today. Be sure to track us on Twitter and Instagram for real time updates from across the nation in college football.