Casualties of conference realignment, Pac-12 officials detail hope, devastation in search of new opportunities

Amid the Pac-12's dissolution, it's easy to overlook those who proudly carry the conference's lasting legacies

By Dennis Dodd Jul 5, 2024 at 1:14 pm ET• 11 min read

During fall Saturdays last year, Pac-12 official John Morton would gaze up at the stands, the sights and the sun and feel something else wash over him during the conference's impending demise.

Sentimentality. Melancholy. A sense of loss.  

The CPA from the Pacific Northwest had spent 13 years as a Pac-12 on-field official. The 2023 season was his last in the league, mostly because it was the end ofthe league. It wasn't easy having that fact play over in his mind and on the field for the entire season. 

Officials are supposed to be neutral. Morton couldn't be. Not in this case. He and his peers were rooting for status quo.

They weren't alone.

"You knew that very well could be the last time you ever went to that stadium," said Morton, a veteran back judge originally from Olympia, Washington, now currently living in Dallas. "You knew all these teams were going to be in other places next year. Officials were going to be in other conferences. It was unlike anything else. It definitely made for a much different season."