Anyways, Chip Brown from Orangebloods.com reports OU may apply to the Pac-12 by the end of the month.
Oklahoma will apply for membership to the Pac-12 before the end of the month, and Oklahoma State is expected to follow suit, a source close to OU's administration told Orangebloods.com.
Even though Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott said Friday the Pac-12 was not interested in expansion at this time, OU's board of regents is fed up with the instability in the Big 12, the source said.
The OU board of regents will meet within two weeks to formalize plans to apply for membership to the Pac-12, the source said.
Messages left Sunday night with OU athletic director Joe Castiglione and Oklahoma State athletic director Mike Holder were not immediately returned.
If OU follows through with what appears to be a unanimous sentiment on the seven-member Oklahoma board of regents to leave the Big 12, realignment in college athletics could be heating back up. OU's application would be matched by an application from Oklahoma State, the source said, even though OSU president Burns Hargis and mega-booster Boone Pickens both voiced their support for the Big 12 last Thursday.
There is differing sentiment about if the Pac-12 presidents and chancellors are ready to expand again after bringing in Colorado and Utah last year and landing $3 billion TV contracts from Fox and ESPN. Colorado president Bruce Benson told reporters last week CU would be opposed to any expansion that might bring about east and west divisions in the Pac-12.
Currently, there are north and south divisions in the Pac-12. If OU and OSU were to join, Larry Scott would have to get creative.
Scott's orginal plan last summer was to bring in Colorado, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State and put them in an eastern division with Arizona and Arizona State. The old Pac-8 schools (USC, UCLA, Cal, Stanford, Oregon, Oregon State, Washington and Washington State) were to be in the west division.
Colorado made the move in June 2010, but when Texas A&M was not on board to go west, the Big 12 came back together with the help of its television partners (ABC/ESPN and Fox).
If Oklahoma and Oklahoma State were accepted into the Pac-12, there would undoubtedly be a hope by Larry Scott that Texas would join the league. But Texas sources have indicated UT is determined to hang onto the Longhorn Network, which would not be permissible in the Pac-12 in its current form.
Texas sources continue to indicate to Orangebloods.com that if the Big 12 falls apart, the Longhorns would consider "all options."
Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe held an emergency conference call 10 days ago with league presidents excluding Oklahoma, Texas and Texas A&M and asked the other league presidents to "work on Texas" because Beebe didn't think the Pac-12 would take Oklahoma without Texas.
Now, it appears OU is willing to take its chances with the Pac-12 with or without Texas.
There seemed to be a temporary pause in any possible shifting of the college athletics' landscape when Baylor led a charge to tie up Texas A&M's move to the Southeastern Conference in legal red tape. BU refused to waive its right to sue the SEC over A&M's departure from the Big 12, and the SEC said it would not admit Texas A&M until it had been cleared of any potential lawsuits.
Baylor, Kansas and Iowa State have indicated they will not waive their right to sue the SEC.
It's unclear if an application by OU to the Pac-12 would draw the same threats of litigation against the Pac-12 from those Big 12 schools.
Originally Posted by BigCatDaddy:
Yeah, I think they would have. They play so many other teams outside of the divison it's not like you wouldn't be tested against other very good teams regardless of what division you are in. But when you start out at such a disavantage it would be nice to not be in a division with team with the biggest advantage in the sport.
And that's where the analogy is a little flawed.
Well, MLB also has a playoff system in place where the ability to sneak in through weak competition and catch fire is a pretty big deal - you don't have that in CFB.
In basketball you may be right (witness Memphis), but I think in major college football you want to be playing against the best as often as you can. That's how you'll improve your program to the point that every 5-6 years you may actually have that legitimately excellent team. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut:
So really it all gets back to KU's complete inability to discuss anything without yacking about basketball.
Got it.
Relax, man. It doesn't get back to anything. You think we're building a strawman and that's fine. I don't care enough to go search for posts to prove you wrong. MU fans think that the Tigers are a football power. It is what it is. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Pants:
Relax, man. It doesn't get back to anything. You think we're building a strawman and that's fine. I don't care enough to go search for posts to prove you wrong. MU fans think that the Tigers are a football power. It is what it is.
Power? No. But Pinkel has developed a very good program. This is much is indisputable, IMO.
As I've said a number of times, MU should be a perennial top-25 team. That's where my expectations are at this point in the program's development. Elite? Not close. But very solid. [Reply]
Kids like Noel Devine, Geno Smith (their current starting QB), Stedman Bailey (their starting WR), Ivan McCartney (their #3 WR), Jorge Wright (their starting NT), Eain Smith (their starting safety). They don't matter to the program. :-)
Yeah really, they built their program with PA kids. Devine was an exception, but not really a program builder. But carry on if you must. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Pants:
It all stems from the old arguments we used to have how KU is a BB school. Naturally, MU fans would all start clamoring about how they're a "football" school. In reality, though, MU is just a school. One that is mediocre in both sports and severely lacking trophies.
Is MU football better than KU football right now? Obviously. Is MU more valuable to other conferences? Yes.
So they got that going for them.
There is no such thing as a "basketball school". All "basketball school" means is that your football team sucks. There are no schools with consistently good football teams that consider themselves "basketball schools".
Florida has won as many basketball titles in the last decade as KU has won in school history. Florida doesn't give a shit about basketball. [Reply]
Originally Posted by ArrowheadMagic:
Yeah really, they built their program with PA kids. Devine was an exception, but not really a program builder. But carry on if you must.
WVU's roster has 19 kids from FL and 12 from PA. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Saul Good:
There is no such thing as a "basketball school". All "basketball school" means is that your football team sucks. There are no schools with consistently good football teams that consider themselves "basketball schools".
Florida has won as many basketball titles in the last decade as KU has won in school history. Florida doesn't give a shit about basketball.
