Arizona State AD apologizes for Morgantown comment: ‘No offense was intended’
ASU to join Big 12 in 2024
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Arizona State University will head to the Big 12 conference in 2024, ending a run in the Pac-12 that dates to 1978.
With the move, Arizona State athletics will routinely travel to new cities across the country, including trips to Morgantown to play the West Virginia Mountaineers.
Ray Anderson, athletic director at Arizona State University, is shown during the game against USC on October 1, 2022, at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. (Jevone Moore/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
On Saturday, ASU’s Vice President for University Athletics and Athletics Director Ray Anderson jokingly said he wouldn’t be traveling to Morgantown anytime soon.
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"I promise I’m not going to Morgantown," Anderson told reporters Saturday alongside ASU President Michael Crow. "I’m going to assign that to Jean Boyd (deputy athletics director). He can go to Morgantown. But send me to Texas and the rivalry with Arizona and starting a new one with BYU and Utah and Colorado."
Anderson apologized for his comments Wednesday on Arizona Sports’ "Bickley & Marotta" show, saying he reached out to West Virginia Athletic Director Wren Baker to provide context.
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"Although those comments were said in jest and taken out of context, they were clumsy comments from me that I sincerely regret," Anderson said Wednesday. "Because I offended some people when no offense was intended. And for that, I apologize. I sincerely do."
A West Virginia helmet is shown during the Guaranteed Rate Bowl against Minnesota on December 28, 2021, at Chase Field in Phoenix. (Kevin Abele/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
"I called Wren on Monday, and we had a chance to talk, and I explained the context, and he graciously accepted my apology and certainly said he’d pass it on to their president, Gordon Gee, whom I know," he continued.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}West Virginia will be the farthest travel destination for ASU sports once they join the Big 12, with Morgantown more than 2,000 miles away.
"We shared a few laughs because he made me promise that I would absolutely come to Morgantown many times over the course of the next few years," Anderson said.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Ray Anderson, ASU vice president for university athletics, speaks during the unveiling of the Final Four countdown clock on April 20, 2023, at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.
"I must admit, I do not like cold weather," Anderson added. "It gets really cold there in the wintertime. And that’s what I was jesting with President Crow about. That being said, I’ve been there. It’s a beautiful, beautiful college town. They got a nice stadium there, and I’m telling you, their folks are as gracious with their hospitality as any you will find. So, I know there are good folks back there and no offense was intended. And I look forward to visiting."
ASU will join the Big 12 starting in the 2024-2025 academic year.