SAINT-QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES, France – For two days at Le Golf National, only one factor – big or very, very small – has seemingly been able to slow the United States’ Xander Schauffele.

Got to watch out for those ants.

It was on the par-four 13th hole. Schauffele on Friday drove the ball left into the deep rough. The news at first would have been that he finally hit a poor shot. Hadn’t happened much yet in this Paris Olympics tournament. But then he got to his ball, leaned in to take a long look and shouted, ‘Can I get an official?’

‘It was an ant pile, or whatever you want to call it, in their home,’ he said. ‘So I didn’t want to mess with it too much.’

Schauffele asked for relief for the ant hill with two officials making it on scene. Relief wasn’t granted as it was a ‘loose impediment,’ kind of like a twig or leaf. Schauffele was allowed to take a tee and try to clean up behind the ball, but that didn’t help. He eventually had to just chip his second shot about 50 yards into the fairway. Thus was the story of Schauffele’s second bogey of the round and only his third in 36 holes thus far at this Olympics.

2024 Olympic medals: Who is leading the medal count? Follow along as we track the medals for every sport.

Otherwise, it’s gone awfully well. Schauffele heads into Saturday’s third round at 11-under-par, tied for first with Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama and Great Britain’s Tommy Fleetwood. Another Olympic medal – after Schauffele’s gold in Tokyo – would be added to two majors already in 2024.

Didn’t just happen here in France. Schauffele has been in a special zone for months.

At Le Golf National, he has played the front nine at 8 under. On Friday, he went on runs that made it look easy at times, going from fairway to green to makeable birdie putts without a clear weakness or a concern in the world.

‘If you do hit a bad shot,’ he said, ‘it’s easier to accept it because you know you’re playing really good golf, and you can make it up somewhere else. In that sort of a zone, I guess.’

Schauffele led the charge for Team USA on a Friday when the other Americans either spun wheels for a while (Scottie Scheffler), started too far back (Wyndham Clark) or are beginning to run out of enough holes to get going (Collin Morikawa).

Scheffler (6 under) isn’t out of it. The world’s No. 1 played the front nine Friday in 2 over, thanks to a double bogey on No. 7. But he ended up carding a 69 and is tied for 10th at the halfway point.

‘I’m proud of the back nine to kind of get myself back into it,’ Scheffler said. ‘I was pretty far back, so it was nice to string some good holes together and hole some putts and definitely ride that momentum in the next couple of days.’

Clark rebounded with a 68 after opening with a 75, but he’s tied for 46th at 1 over.

Meanwhile, Morikawa’s 68 moved him to 4 under. He’s tied for 19th after a drab 70 on Thursday.

‘Better,’ Morikawa said. ‘I’m just not reading the putts well out here, and speed has been a little off. It’s frustrating when you’re not hitting it as good as I’d like. But I’ve got two more days. Seven (shots) back. So you’re not out of it. The way this kind of format works, you’re fighting for three spots.’

While Schauffele and Matsuyama threatened to run away from the field earlier in the morning, Fleetwood made a charge to catch them in the afternoon.

Fleetwood’s 7 under 64 followed up a 67 on Thursday, putting the British star within reach of a special achievement.

‘As the week goes on, it becomes of a mental challenge. Obviously, you know that three places are what is going to decide your week in way. Usually, you finish top five, top 10, you’ve had a great week. But that doesn’t mean anything (in the Olympics). … That’s something you have to be aware of and deal with.

‘But two rounds in and I’ve still got a chance. It’s a nice feeling.’

Reach Gentry Estes at gestes@gannett.com and on the X platform (formerly known as Twitter) @Gentry_Estes.

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Lionel Messi continues to recover from his right ankle ligament injury, but he won’t play in Inter Miami’s Leagues Cup tournament match against LIGA MX club Tigres UANL on Saturday at Houston’s NRG Stadium.

Messi is out of the walking boot he used to begin his recovery, Inter Miami coach Tata Martino said during a news conference Friday. But Messi continues to work with team trainers and has yet to hit the field with his teammates in a practice setting.

Still, it’s a positive Messi injury update since he first suffered the injury during the Copa America final July 14.

Inter Miami’s match against Tigres UANL will determine seeding in the Leagues Cup tournament as both clubs have already clinched a spot in the Round of 32, beating Puebla during the group stage.

Inter Miami will face either MLS counterpart Toronto or LIGA MX side Pachuca in the knockout stage next week. If Inter Miami wins, it will face the Toronto-Pachuca loser. If Inter Miami loses, it will face the winner.

Despite already advancing to the knockout stage, Martino believes Tigres UANL could advance deep in the Leagues Cup, and Saturday’s match will serve as another measuring stick for Inter Miami. The club has won seven of eight matches without Messi since June 1.

“It is one of the most important teams in the [tournament], and it will surely be a nice test for us to see how we are to transcend in this competition,” Martino said of Tigres UANL.

How to watch Inter Miami vs. Tigres UANL in Leagues Cup?

The Inter Miami match against Tigres UANL begins at 8 p.m. ET (9 p.m. in Argentina) and will be live streamed by MLS Season Pass on Apple TV.

Is Messi playing tomorrow?

No, Messi is not expected to play in Inter Miami’s match vs. Tigres UANL during Leagues Cup.

Where to watch Leagues Cup tournament games?

All Leagues Cup games are available to live stream via MLS Season Pass on Apple TV.

Which MLS and LIGA MX teams have advanced in Leagues Cup?

As of Friday, 19 of 32 teams have already reached the knockout stage – 13 from MLS and six from LIGA MX.

∎MLS: Austin FC, Columbus Crew, D.C. United, FC Cincinnati, Inter Miami CF, LAFC, LA Galaxy, New York City FC, Philadelphia Union, Portland Timbers, Sporting Kansas City, St. Louis City SC, Toronto FC.

∎LIGA MX: Club América, CF Pachuca, FC Juárez, Mazatlán FC, Tigres UANL, Toluca FC.

Which MLS and LIGA MX teams have been eliminated from Leagues Cup?

So far, only five clubs have been eliminated from the tournament

∎MLS: Chicago Fire FC, FC Dallas, New York Red Bulls.

∎LIGA MX: Club Puebla, Club Querétaro.

Upcoming Leagues Cup Schedule

The round of 32 will be decided after these Leagues Cup games Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.

Saturday, Aug. 3

Tigres UANL vs. Inter Miami CF at NRG Stadium, 8 p.m.
CF Monterrey vs. Pumas UNAM at Q2 Stadium, 10 p.m. (Univision)
Vancouver Whitecaps FC vs. Tijuana at BC Place, 10 p.m.

Sunday, Aug. 4

Atlanta United vs. Santos Laguna at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, 4 p.m.
Orlando City SC vs. San Luis at INTER&Co Stadium, 8 p.m.
Pachuca vs. Toronto FC at BMO Field, 8 p.m.
Philadelphia Union vs. Cruz Azul at Subaru Park, 8 p.m. (FS1, UniMás)
St. Louis City SC vs. Juárez at CITYPARK, 9 p.m.
Chivas Guadalajara vs. LA Galaxy at Dignity Health Sports Park, 10:30 p.m.
Seattle Sounders FC vs. Necaxa at Lumen Field, 10:30 p.m.

Monday, Aug. 5

FC Cincinnati vs. New York City FC at TQL Stadium, 8 p.m.
Houston Dynamo FC vs. Real Salt Lake at Shell Energy Stadium, 9 p.m.
Club León vs. Colorado Rapids at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, 9 p.m.
Toluca vs. Sporting Kansas City at Children’s Mercy Park, 9 p.m. (FS1, UniMás)

Tuesday, Aug. 6

New England Revolution vs. Nashville SC at Gillette Stadium, 7:30 p.m.

What is Leagues Cup tournament?

What’s better than winning an Olympic gold medal?

How about winning a gold medal and almost immediately getting a marriage proposal?

That’s exactly what happened Friday to Huang Yaqiong, a women’s badminton player from China.

Yaqiong teamed with Zheng Siwei to win the gold medal in the badminton mixed doubles competition at the 2024 Paris Olympics, beating Kim Wonho and Jeong Naeun of South Korea (21-8, 21-11). Then, once Yaqiong went through the medal ceremony, fellow Chinese badminton player Liu Yuchen had a surprise for her. 

2024 Olympic medals: Who is leading the medal count? Follow along as we track the medals for every sport.

Yuchen ‒ who won a silver medal in the men’s doubles competition at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and competed in men’s doubles again during these Paris Games ‒ pulled out a ring, got down on one knee and proposed. 

Already holding flowers in her hands from the medal ceremony, Yaqiong quickly said yes. The proposal was shown on the videoboard at the Porte de la Chapelle Arena in Paris and the crowd celebrated along with the couple. 

This actually isn’t the first engagement associated with these Olympics. 

The official website of the Paris Olympics noted that Argentina men’s handball player Pablo Simonet proposed to Argentina women’s field hockey player Maria Campoy in the Olympic Village just before competition began. American swimmer Lilly King also got engaged to fiancé James Wells on the pool deck in Indianapolis at the United States Olympic swimming trials in June.

Here’s a sampling of the social media reaction to the Olympic engagement of Yaqiong and Yuchen:

PARIS − It was her ability to dodge punches from boys that led her to take up boxing.

That’s what 24-year-old Algerian boxer Imane Khelif, ensnared in an Olympics controversy surrounding gender eligibility, said earlier this year in an interview with UNICEF. The United Nations’ agency had just named Khelif one of its national ambassadors, advocates-at-large for the rights of children.

Khelif said that as a teenager she ‘excelled’ at soccer, though boys in the rural village of Tiaret in western Algeria where she grew up teased and threatened her about it.

Soccer was not a sport for girls, they said.

To her father, a welder who worked away from home in the Sahara Desert, neither was boxing. She didn’t tell him when she took the bus each week about six miles away to practice. She did tell her mother, who helped her raise money for the bus fare by selling recycled metal scraps and couscous, the traditional North African dish.

2024 Olympic medals: Who is leading the medal count? Follow along as we track the medals for every sport.

At the time, Khelif was 16.

Three years later, she placed 17th at the 2018 world championships in India. Then she represented Algeria at the 2019 world championships in Russia, where she placed 33rd.

At the Paris Olympics, Khelif is one of two female boxers cleared to compete − the other is Taiwan’s Lin Yu-Ting − despite having been disqualified from last year’s women’s world championships for failing gender eligibility tests, according to the International Boxing Association.

The problem, such as it is, is that the IBA is no longer sanctioned to oversee Olympic boxing and the International Olympic Committee has repeatedly said that based on current rules both fighters do qualify.

‘To reiterate, the Algerian boxer was born female, registered female (in her passport) and lived all her life as a female boxer. This is not a transgender case,’ IOC spokesman Mark Adams said Friday in a press conference, expressing some exasperation over media reports that have suggested otherwise.

Still, the controversy gained additional traction Thursday night after an Italian boxer, Angela Carini, abandoned her fight against Khelif after taking a punch to the face inside of a minute into the match. The apparent interpretation, from Carini’s body language and failure to shake her opponent’s hand, was she was upset at Khelif over the eligibility issue.

Carini, 25, apologized on Friday, telling Italian media ‘all this controversy makes me sad,’ adding, ‘I’m sorry for my opponent, too. If the IOC said she can fight, I respect that decision.’

She said she was ‘angry because my Olympics had gone up in smoke.’

Lin, the second female boxer at the center of gender eligibility criteria, stepped into the ring Friday. Capitalizing on her length and quickness, the 5-foot-10 Lin beat Uzbekistan’s Sitora Turdibekova on points by unanimous decision.

Khelif’s next opponent is Anna Luca Hamori, a 23-year-old Hungarian fighter.

‘I’m not scared,’ she said Friday.

‘I don’t care about the press story and social media. … It will be a bigger victory for me if I win.’

Algeria is a country where opportunities for girls to play sports can be limited by the weight of patriarchal tradition, rather than outright restricted. In the UNICEF interview, conducted in April, Khelif said ‘many parents’ there ‘are not aware of the benefits of sport and how it can improve not only physical fitness but also mental well-being.’

PARIS − Sha’Carri Richardson had a fast Olympic debut.

Richardson won her opening-round heat of the women’s 100 with a time of 10.94 seconds to advance to Saturday’s semifinal round.

She had a decent start but surged by the other sprinters around 30 meters and cruised the rest of the way. Patrizia van der Weken of Luxembourg was second behind Richardson in 11.14.

Richardson ran in the first of eight heats Friday morning. Marie-Josée Ta Lou Smith of the Ivory Coast had the top time in the opening round, running a 10.87. Jamaica’s Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce finished with the second fastest time (10.92) in the first round.

Richardson is on to the semifinals with the fourth fastest mark of all qualifiers. The U.S. Olympic track and field trials champion in the event has the top time in the world this year at 10.71.

2024 Olympic medals: Who is leading the medal count? Follow along as we track the medals for every sport.

Richardson is considered the frontrunner to win the 100 at this year’s Paris Olympics. She is the defending world champion and comes in the meet with plenty of momentum. Plus, Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson scratched from the event earlier this week.

All three Americans advance

Richardson’s teammates, Melissa Jefferson and Twanisha Terry, also qualified for the semifinals.

Jefferson posted a 10.96 to place second in the third heat of the 100. Terry ran a 11.15 to win her sixth heat.

Richardson, Jefferson and Terry are training partners in Florida.

‘Having other teammates here to be able to train with you to have that extra support and to push each other. When one of us is down, the other two might be up,’ Terry said after her race. ‘It’s a great feeling to have moral support aside from our coach and family.’

VERSAILLES, France – Before leaving for the venue Thursday morning, Karl Cook packed the white britches and white shirt because he wanted to – no, had to – be prepared. 

“Just in case,” Cook said. “Then we got the call.” 

“We” being himself and his jumping horse at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Caracole de la Roque, both of whom were alternates on the U.S. equestrian jumping team. That was until “the call,” which elevated them to the main squad for the qualifier Thursday and the Friday’s final. 

The U.S. won its third consecutive silver medal in the team jumping event at the historic Chateau de Versailles, with French president Emmanuel Macron on hand to watch. Cook and Caracole de la Roque were joined by Laura Kraut (aboard Balountinue) and McLain Ward (riding Ilex) as the second-place finishers behind Great Britain. France took bronze. 

“I’ve done it before,” said Kraut, 58, who now has two silvers and a gold in team jumping, “and it just never gets old.”

2024 Olympic medals: Who is leading the medal count? Follow along as we track the medals for every sport.

It was Ward’s fifth medal following his golds at the 2004 Athens and 2008 Beijing (which he shared with Kraut). Ward said the importance of the Olympics in American society has allowed them to prioritize working toward the Games every four years. 

“I think our team mentality is that this is the pinnacle of the sport,’ Ward said. ‘This is what we aim everything towards.” 

Ward, 48, added that the team and the U.S. Equestrian Federation are willing to sacrifice other events throughout the season to find the right combinations to medal come Olympics time. Kraut agreed about the Olympic emphasis. 

“In the United States, we are so focused to go to the Olympics,” she said. “This is what we grow up dreaming of and thinking of.” 

Sometimes the proper recipe for success eludes them, such as at the 2012 London Games. 

“I think being able to pull it off a few times builds confidence. Everyone keeps delivering,” Ward said. “And I think that perpetuates itself, right? It inspires the next generation.” 

Part of that next generation is Cook, who made his Olympic debut in Paris. Kent Farrington and Greya were the third combination initially selected for the jumping team, but an ‘allergy issue’ with Greya – and all three scores counting – prompted the team to insert the 33-year-old and Caracole de la Roque.

“Mentally, all of our training, everything, was as if we were on the team,” Cook said. “Even though we were alternate, I figured it was best to do it that way instead of trying to hype yourself up from nowhere.” 

He returned to the barn and changed into his white britches and walked the course once team officials informed him of the change before 9 a.m. Thursday. 

“Business as usual,” Kraut said of Cook. 

In Friday’s final, Kraut led off for the Americans and was assessed one penalty for knocking over a barrier. Cook followed with a clean run and thrust his right arm in the air after Caracole de la Roque bounded over the final obstacle. 

Watching their teammates is worse than riding, Cook and Kraut agreed. Once the bell rings, Cook said, the nerves dissipate. 

“I’m not capable of also being stressed while focusing on jumping,” he said.

From the stands, they are powerless. Kraut hid behind the “kiss and cry” because that’s where she stood during Cook’s run. 

“We’re very superstitious when it comes to things like that, so I didn’t want to move or change my lucky spot,” she said. 

As Ward went on his run, Kraut and Cook grabbed one another with nearly every jump. Each leap added another layer of anxiety for the trio that won gold at the 2023 Pan American Games together.

“You’re emotional,” Cook said. “It’s a lot.” 

Ward also executed a clean run and guaranteed that the U.S. would not finish worse than silver. 

“It’s just amazing that we all showed up, we all performed and it’s an unbelievable experience and feeling,” Cook said. 

In Tokyo, Ward and Kraut were joined by Jessica Springsteen – daughter of music legend Bruce Springsteen. Jessica Springsteen was not selected for the Paris team when the foursome was announced last month.

Kraut said that the three-year gap between Tokyo and Paris motivated her to stick around for another run. The Los Angeles Games in four years are unlikely, she said. 

“This might be last,” Kraut said. 

If it is, Kraut left the world stage with one last impressive feat. Balountinue is now a two-time medalist, something that’s rare for any horse in equestrian. He and Kraut hadn’t been together long prior to Tokyo, but entering Paris, their partnership was one of the highlights of the Games for her. 

“For us to perform at our best, it’s very, very difficult,” Kraut said. “Then you add the element of the horse onto it, and we hope that they’re with us. It’s just so many unknowns that go into what we do that, I guess, just makes it that much better when it all comes together.” 

The USA TODAY app brings you every Team USA medal — right when it happens. Download for full Olympics coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and much more.

A judge at the Paris Olympics surfing competition in Tahiti has been dismissed after a social media photo showed him posing with Australian surfer Ethan Ewing and his coach.

On Thursday, the International Surfing Association dismissed veteran judge Ben Lowe in response to a photo on Instagram of him with Ewing and Australian national team coach Bebe Durbidge that was captioned, ‘These 3 Straddie boys doing their stuff at the Olympics.’

All three are from North Stradbroke Island in Queensland.

‘It is inappropriate for a judge to be interacting in this manner with an athlete and their team,’ the ISA said in a statement. 

2024 Olympic medals: Who is leading the medal count? Follow along as we track the medals for every sport.

Lowe, who also served as an Olympic judge in Tokyo in 2021, had been the subject of criticism during these Games from Brazilian fans, who have accused him of an apparent bias against Brazilian star Gabriel Medina.

Despite the complaints, Medina − the subject of a stunning photo that went viral earlier this week − has advanced to the men’s semifinals. Ewing fell to countryman Jack Robinson in his quarterfinal match.

When asked about the photo following his heat, Ewing acknowledged it did raise questions.

‘Yeah, I’ve kinda been copping some hate on it online but I really don’t know the story or have any insight on it,’ he told surfing publication Stab Mag. ‘It’s sad for sure.’

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The University of Southern California and UCLA shocked the sports world two years ago when the schools announced they were abandoning their longtime home in the Pac-12 Conference to join a sports league based in the Midwest – the Big Ten.

That move finally becomes official Friday – a seismic shift that roiled their Pac-12 peers and left behind a digital trail of emails about what happened behind the scenes at UCLA and other Pac-12 schools.  As the Big Ten welcomes its new members this week, those records obtained by USA TODAY Sports provide a glimpse into how those initial moves went down (in secrecy), how they were received by other Pac-12 university leaders (flat-footed dismay) and how some West Coast alumni and staff reacted to it (with frustration and anger).

A few of these communications previously were reported in the news media. Others were not. Many weren’t even obtained until this week after they were originally requested in July 2022, shortly after the news of the move broke on June 30, 2022.

What did the emails say?

Among other details, the emails show how then-Pac 12 Commissioner George Kliavkoff had reason to wonder if he had been ghosted on a Zoom call scheduled for that day with UCLA Chancellor Gene Block and Southern California President Carol Folt amid reports of their schools leaving. The meeting was scheduled for 3:15 p.m. After waiting until nearly 3:20, he sent this message to Block and Folt:  

“Carol and Gene,’ Kliavkoff wrote. ‘I am on our zoom call scheduled for 3:15. Please let me know if you are both still able to make this zoom and if I should stay on? Thank you, George K.”

The news had caught Kliavkoff and the rest of the Pac-12 leadership by surprise, forcing some to scramble back from summer travels in order to meet online about what to do next. Not surprisingly, the records also indicate that the move was engineered in secrecy long before that, according to cryptic emails from a UCLA attorney trying to schedule in-person meetings with Block.

Together they provide some additional details and color about what happened that day and beyond in reaction to a decision that eventually led to the dismantling of the Pac-12. They were obtained from public records requests and therefore don’t include records from USC, a private school.

One month before USC, UCLA announced departure

On the morning of May 27, 2022 – about a month before the move was announced – UCLA attorney Bobby Swerdlow sent an email to Rena Torres, an assistant for UCLA chancellor Block. Swerdlow didn’t say in the email about what he wanted to talk to Block about, but the emails were provided to USA TODAY from UCLA in response to a request for records of discussions to join the Big Ten. UCLA also labeled the emails as “Big Ten Scheduling Emails” in a PDF file.

“I would like to schedule another meeting with the Chancellor,” Swerdlow wrote. “The purpose of the meeting is to update him on a pending legal matter. I mentioned this to him yesterday (and that I would work to set up this meeting) so he will know what it is about.

“The meeting should be 1 hour in duration and in-person.”

Swerdlow added that he had spoken with the meeting’s other planned participants: UCLA athletic director Martin Jarmond and outside counsel from the O’Melveny law firm, where Swerdlow previously worked.

A meeting was then confirmed for June 4, 2022 at the chancellor’s residence on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles.

A few days later, on June 8, 2022, Swerdlow asked for another meeting with Block.

“Rena- Thank you for your helping scheduling the meeting with the Chancellor last Saturday. I am reaching out to schedule another meeting with him later this month,” Swerdlow wrote. “The next meeting is to discuss the same legal issue. The need for this next meeting was discussed at the last one so it will not be a surprise to Gene. The next meeting will be a long one. I am hoping to block out two hours for it. The meeting should be during the last week of June, the later in the week the better (ideally 6/30 or 7/1).”

Eventually they confirmed a meeting for June 28, two days before the news broke. Swerdlow didn’t respond to a message seeking comment.

The news breaks of USC, UCLA leaving for Big Ten

A reporter for the San Jose Mercury News posted a message about it at 10:23 a.m. PT on June 30, 2022. The first internal email about it from the Pac-12 office then went out from Kliavkoff’s executive assistant at 10:27 a.m.  It was addressed to the presidents, chancellors and athletic directors of the other Pac-12 universities.

“Hello all. There are rumors about schools leaving the Pac-12 Conference and I am putting together an emergency call for later today or tomorrow,” wrote Kliavkoff’s assistant, In Ja Halcomb. “I will be working with your assistants to schedule this as soon as possible.”

Kliavkoff was traveling at the time and sent a message to the Pac-12 leadership about 25 minutes later, according to the timestamps.

“Hi all,” Kliavkoff wrote. “Sorry I was not able to send this email myself. I was in a car from Montana to Idaho with limited cell coverage. I’m now back in cell coverage and available. Every indication is that the rumors of USC and UCLA defecting to the BigTen are true. When we get the emergency meeting below scheduled we will cover the media, legal and other issues. George K”

The Pac-12 scramble to react

The news came at a time of year when university administrators are out of office, making it hard to schedule an emergency meeting in response to it.

“I am on a flight to Europe at 4:30 mountain,” University of Colorado chancellor Phil DiStefano wrote to his fellow Pac-12 leaders.

Emails to Washington State University President Kirk Schulz triggered an automatic response because he was on vacation:

“I am out of the office and will not be responding to email until July 10, 2022.”

Shortly after noon, Schulz’s assistant wrote back:

“I have not been able to reach him as of yet so I have no confirmation of his ability to join.”

Stanford President Marc Tessier-Lavigne didn’t want to wait in the meantime.

‘I suggest we have a meeting today ASAP even if not everyone can join, as the news broke and is now widely reported,’ he wrote.

Eventually a meeting was scheduled for 4 p.m. with Kliavkoff telling Pac-12 university leaders, “I have been invited to a call with (USC) President Folt and (UCLA) Chancellor Block at 3:15pm today and will report out at our call at 4pm.”

That’s the call in which Kliavkoff was kept waiting past the appointed time. It’s not clear when it actually started.

The Big Ten later that evening voted unanimously to admit USC and UCLA starting Aug. 2, 2024.

UCLA apology letter and frustration

Knowing that the news caught his colleagues by surprise, Block sent an apology letter the next day, July 1, 2022.

“In light of yesterday’s announcement that UCLA will join the Big Ten at the start of the 2024-25 season, I wanted to send you a personal note to express my sincere apologies that I was unable to share information with you before the public announcement,” Block wrote to fellow Pac-12 university executives. “I am truly sorry about this. This was an extremely difficult decision for UCLA — and personally anguishing.”

Arizona President Robert Robbins replied to Block a day later.

“Gene,’ Robbins wrote. ‘Thank you. I look forward to seeing you soon my friend. Robert”

But frustration and disappointment had already started to flare up in emails on June 30. An emailer identified only as “Stevie” wrote a one-word message that evening to Robbins:

“shocking”

Robbins replied 10 minutes later.

“All about the almighty dollar,” Robbins wrote, referencing the motive behind the move for UCLA and USC – to chase more revenue and exposure in the Big Ten.

On July 4, 2022, an Arizona alumnus and faculty member at Arizona’s School of Art even felt compelled to write Robbins with his own thoughts about how to deal with the loss of USC and UCLA.

“Is it possible to suggest that we cancel all sporting events with both schools going forward?” the faculty member wrote. “Maybe the whole remaining schools in the PAC-12 (10) do the same before the beginning of the school year?”

‘This is outrageous and a disgrace’

Block’s inbox got slammed with its own barrage of criticism shortly after he announced the move to the UCLA community in an email June 30, 2022. His message said this was “exciting news” that came after “thoughtful deliberation” and “ensures that we remain a leader in college athletics for generations to come.”

A UCLA employee in the registrar’s office replied to it less than 20 minutes later.

“Careful and thoughtful consideration which did not involve the UCLA community and is a complete shock to the whole country,” the employee wrote. “100+ years of conference history thrown away. This is outrageous and a disgrace.”

A UCLA alum and medical doctor in Utah named Sean Mulvihill wrote Block the next day.

“Legacy and geography, and the relationship with alums is more important, in my view, than tv money,” Mulvihill wrote. “A shameful decision, hopefully not irrevocable.”

In hindsight, the announced departures of USC and UCLA on June 30, 2022, spelled doom for the Pac-12. A year later, the 10 other Pac-12 teams were unable to land a future media rights deal good enough to keep the league together. after losing the Los Angeles market.

Eight more teams ditched the league last year for the Big 12, Big Ten and Atlantic Coast Conferences, leaving only two teams in the Pac-12 today – Oregon State and Washington State.

It was all set in motion two years ago. On Friday, USC’s and UCLA’s defection to the Big Ten finally become official. Washington and Oregon also are officially joining the league Friday.

Earlier this week, USA TODAY Sports followed up with Mulvihill and asked him how he feels about the move two years after he sent that email to the UCLA chancellor.

‘I understand the rationale for the change, but as a native Los Angeleno, I am sad to see the demise of the Pac 12,’ Mulvihill wrote in an email. ‘And as a former college athlete, I am also sad to see money rather than school spirit and rivalries be the driving force in decision making.’

Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. E-mail: bschrotenb@usatoday.com