LAS VEGAS — A late addition to Thursday's itinerary at Mountain West football media days was a midday gathering of the conference's 12 head coaches for a group photo.
A conference photographer was quickly surrounded by several media members eager to get a shot of coaches wearing something other than a sideline scowl.
The coaches were all smiles when someone in the audience stopped to do the math: "Hey, there's only 11 guys up there."
Uh-oh.
A new development for a conference coming off a month-long membership dispute?
Just a day earlier MW Commissioner Gloria Nevarez stood on the same stage as the coaches and said: "San Diego State will continue to be a member in good standing."
Now what?
It seems Hawaii coach Timmy Chang was polishing off the last couple bites of his pasta and chicken in the lunch room.
Chang was applauded by his peers when he appeared, then joined them on stage.
SDSU coach Brady Hoke was standing at the far left of the photo, looking quite pleased that the spotlight finally had shifted to someone else.
Three hours earlier, Hoke was seated in the media room for a 75-minute session with print and local TV reporters. The focus often turned to San Diego State's future in the league.
The first question Hoke heard was: "Let me be the most recent person to ask you about the fact that you guys are now back in good standing in the conference. How in the dark were you and the players vs. being at the forefront of what was going on between the conference and the school?"
Hoke's response was prefaced with praise for SDSU President Adela de la Torre and athletic director John David Wicker.
"They do a great job in the leadership of where we are," he said. "They're always going (to do) what's best for San Diego State.
"As far as how much we knew, we didn't know very much. Part of that is our jobs are different. That's not my job to get into conference realignment. My job is to help develop young men, help develop a really good football team."
Reporters work the room at media days, coming and going among coaches. Someone from Fresno is asking you a question. Then it's someone from Boise. Or Fort Collins. Or Honolulu. Or Colorado Springs. Or Reno. Or Laramie.
Hoke heard the SDSU/Mountain West/Pac-12 subject raised in various ways nearly a dozen times in just over an hour. Actual football questions were sprinkled in between pondering SDSU's Pac-12 possibilities.
A reporter asked: "To follow up on an earlier comment, you said you didn't know much, but you didn't say you didn't know anything. Can I ask what you did know and when you might have known it?"
Hoke: "I knew there were things in the paper that would come out. Talking with JD, there wasn't a whole lot of information that we were sharing with anybody."
Hoke addressed the subject with his players occasionally, like after a story would appear in the newspaper or on social media.
On Nov. 7, "The Dan Patrick Show" account tweeted: "Source: San Diego State is expected to join the Pac 12. Announcement could be made as early as this week."
A potential move was incorporated into SDSU's sales pitch to recruits — although, Hoke said, the prospects and their parents often were first to broach the topic.
SDSU coaches would say: "I can't tell you that, but that's the rumor."
"That was the standard line because that's exactly where we were with it," Hoke said Thursday. "I think it helped, to be honest with you."
The message was muted as the Pac-12's media rights deal dragged on and on. And on.
"We pumped the brakes probably about three months ago," Hoke said.
A national reporter who was late to the interview session said: "I know you've been asked this, but as you said, I just got here. I'm not going to ask you about the specifics, but now that there's a resolution with your school and the conference, you're staying put, Kumbaya, and all that, how did that feel to have that behind you?"
Hoke: "Is it a monkey off our back or anything like that? I don't think so. It might be more for the players than it is for us as a staff because we can only control, as you know, certain things. Well, our control is how our guys are in the weight room, how they're conditioning, how they're preparing for next (Friday) and the start of camp.
"From that standpoint, there's not a big difference. It really isn't."
Reporter: "Did it ever reach a point with that back and forth where you ever thought you are going to the Pac-12?
Hoke: "Not really. I didn't know enough. And I'm glad, because I didn't need to know. That's past us and we have moved on to things we can control."
Like the start of preseason camp, which begins July 28, four weeks and a day before the season opener against Ohio.
