Just one year ago, the two conferences seemed like a perfect match. The post It’s Complicated: How the Mountain West–Pac-12 Relationship Crumbled appeared first on Front Office Sports.

We spoke with a dozen people involved in the discussions and no one sees an easy move, making it hard to predict realignment resolution.

"I think at the end of the day for Lobo basketball, if we continue to get 15,000 (fans) a game, and we continue to get the support that we're getting,

The blueprint for the Pac-12's plan to add the top football programs from the Mountain West had been collecting dust in a filing cabinet.

Cancel that bulk order of beet juice. San Diego State’s basketball team religiously drinks the nitrate-rich concoction in the days before games in high altitude, believing it enhances oxygen delivery to muscles that becomes more difficult for sea-level athletes venturing into the Rockies.

The decision to add the top football schools in the Mountain West did not require Pac-12 commissioner Teresa Gould, Washington State and Oregon State executives or their strategic consultants to reimagine college sports on the West Coast.