When news broke last summer of Southern California and UCLA planning a move to the Big Ten Conference in the near future, it was an earthquake to the college sports world in general. And it was a special jolt, too, to Tim DeRuyter.
The Texas Tech defensive coordinator grew up in Southern California and attended St. John Bosco High School in Bellflower, California. With USC being only 18 miles away, the Trojans from the powerful John McKay and John Robinson eras had his attention.
"I was a big USC fan," DeRuyter said Thursday. "Went to Catholic school, and half the school was Notre Dame fans and I was on the other side. I liked the Trojans."
USC to the Big Ten? Soon not to be in the conference DeRuyter grew up on, the Pac-8 that became the Pac-10 that grew into the Pac-12?
"It's a little different," he said. "It's a little different. But it's the future, and if you're not moving, you're going to get run over by it."
The Avalanche-Journal asked DeRuyter his thought on the Pac-12's future after Thursday's second session of the Red Raiders' spring football practice.
USC and UCLA are expected to join the Big Ten in 2024. Ever since news of the two schools' pending departures, the future of the Pac-12 and whether it can survive has been a college football front-burner topic. Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark has been open about his desire to expand the Big 12 with schools to the west, including Pac-12 programs anxious for a lifeline.
Such decisions are made at higher levels than the tier coaches occupy, but DeRuyter has a special interest, given his roots and where his career has taken him. Last year, his first at Tech, was his first time away from a Pacific Coast coaching job in a decade. He spent 2012-16 as head coach at Fresno State, 2017-20 as defensive coordinator or co-defensive coordinator at California and 2021 as defensive coordinator at Oregon.
He has a lot of coaching buddies out there.
"I do talk to them, but they have no idea [about the Pac-12's future]," DeRuyter said. "I'm from the West Coast. I think there's a lot of great traditional schools. I'm obviously not talking for the Big 12, but for college football, as a college football fan, I'd love them to still have the Pac-12 because I think that having teams on the coast ... [is beneficial].
"But I also know in this game, nothing's set, so you've got to be able to pivot and go. We'll see what happens. I know our commissioner's at the leading edge of all the new stuff happening and he's ready to pounce, whatever we've got to do. They just tell us who we're playing against, and we'll get ready for them."
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Tech's Tim DeRuyter says, 'As a college football fan, I'd love them to still have the Pac-12'
