Final Pac-12 football season 'like an Irish wake' for broadcaster Ted Robinson

After Saturday, there won’t be anymore live football broadcasts on Pac-12 Network, with 10 of the conference’s members splintering to other leagues in 2024.

In symbolic fashion, the network for the Power 5 conference on life support won’t feature two teams from the Pac-12 for the final live football broadcast, which happens to be longtime network-television staple No. 18 Notre Dame at Stanford.

“There’s nothing greater that shows the utter lunacy leaders of college athletics have allowed to happen over the last year than the fact that the last football game that will air on the Pac-12 Network is Notre Dame at Stanford, which is now an ACC game and will be played with ACC officials at Stanford Stadium on Saturday,” Pac-12 Network play-by-play broadcaster Ted Robinson said, referencing Stanford heading to the ACC next season while Notre Dame, which is independent in football, has had other sports participate as ACC members for years now.

“No greater example than that.”

But Robinson, who will be on the broadcast for the Notre Dame-Stanford game, isn’t complaining about the matchup. Robinson met his wife, Mary, at Notre Dame, where they both graduated from in 1978. The longtime broadcaster and Bay Area resident will also watch the baptism of his fourth grandchild at Stanford Memorial Church in Palo Alto on Sunday.

“The fact that the last football game that I’ll be doing here is Notre Dame at Stanford is special. ... The ties run deep between the two schools for me,” Robinson said.

Robinson joined “Spears and Ali” on ESPN Tucson this week to look ahead to the final live football broadcasts on Pac-12 Network, the future of Pac-12 employees in the wake of the conference’s demise, and share his thoughts on Arizona’s rebuild under head coach Jedd Fisch.

What has been your mood and approach for this week?

A: “It’s not just this week, it’s been since early August when the house of cards, if I can use that analogy, that was the 10 remaining schools collapsed. I’m a firm believer as a parent, and now grandparent, that good people can make bad decisions. We’re all human, and that can happen. That’s exactly what happened to a lot of schools in this league.

“Some good people made bad decisions. I think it’s decisions, when you read the fine print, they’re starting to regret. It’s done, so I’m no longer lamenting it, but I’ve treated this football season for us like an Irish wake. As someone who is half-Irish, when I went Irish wakes as a kid, you immediately recognize there’s very little mourning, very little sadness, (and) a lot of of story-telling, celebrating funny memories, good memories — a little bit of drinking — and that’s just the way I approached this football season.”

What’s next for you beyond this season?

A: “Why I get emotional about this, I’ve been in this conference since 1985.

“It’s deep roots. Obviously no one could argue this never should’ve happened. I’m very, very, very concerned about my partners and my colleagues. Yogi Roth in football, he’s a young guy who has his whole career ahead of him and he’s excellent at what he does. I’m worried for him to find his next (role), and Don MacLean, my basketball partner, who’s brilliant, and the producers and all of the technicians that I work with. I’m playing the 18th hole, so I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me. It’s those people (I’m thinking about). And that’s the sad part, when bad decisions get made, there’s offshoots.

Back to homepage

Subscriber Login

Keep reading with a digital access subscription.

Subscribe now

“There’s a lot of people losing jobs. A lot of people are losing jobs both at the conference and the network.

“The analogy to me is we’re quick to fire coaches in this era. People have to understand when Arizona made a change in their football coach, probably 50 people lost jobs. Everybody looks at the head coach like, ‘The head coach has to go.’ When the head coach goes, there’s probably 50 people that go and that’s brutal. Fans should hear this more often, because it’s human. When football football firings happen during the holiday season, that’s even crueler on families.”

Does Washington and Oregon leaving their in-state counterparts for the Big Ten add incentive for Oregon State and Washington State to win the rivalry games this season?

A: “Absolutely does. There’s no question. I was in Pullman for a game this year, when (Arizona) crushed the Cougars, so I had a chance to see the Washington State people in person.

“What I think needs to be understood by everybody is the Pac-12 Network is an asset. The Pac-12 Network has made money ever since the day we turned the power on and went on the air.

“Now it clearly hasn’t made as much money as every wants to and we know that, but it’s a money-making operation, which means it’s an asset. There’s a brand new production facility, which opened in August, in the east bay of the Bay Area that was going to be the hub and every game was going to be produced out of that facility in the new proposed television deal. The fact it’s not happening means you have an asset that’s sitting there that’s going to be empty come June. The part of why they’re paying lawyers all this money is they’re trying to decide who’s going to control that asset. It’s another unfortunate twist that leadership has allowed to happen.

“You have institutions of higher learning, state universities, raising money right now from donors to pay lawyers. Presidential candidates are doing the same thing, so these schools aren’t the only one. But if I’m a donor to my university, I don’t want my money to be paying lawyers, I want it to better my university. Unfortunately, that’s where this has landed.”

With Arizona still in contention for a Pac-12 championship, and considering the Wildcats were 1-11 two years ago, have you seen a similar rebuild in the Pac-12?

A: “To me Arizona has done now done what Oregon State did last year under Jonathan Smith. It was very similar. It was a program that had success in the past, but was beaten down — and really down. When Jonathan took over Oregon State, it was at a low point; same for Jedd (at Arizona). You can slowly build faith and talk about culture all you want, eventually you have to start winning games. That’s what Oregon State did last year and it’s what Arizona has clearly done now. Being into games, being close, moral victories, all of that stuff, you have to turn it into wins. Honestly, I’ve been surprised — and I’m sure most everyone is surprised — with how many wins they’ve had. I thought six or seven, maybe eight, would be the start point. I never expected them to go to the final game with a chance to be in the championship.”