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 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.
Yes, this has been brought up before. I think UK, UNC, Duke, KU would consider themselves basketball schools even if one should win 2 National Championships in football back to back in 2015 and 2016.
But I agree, football is by far the #1 sport. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Laz:
you can say the same about MU and football
We are in a conference realignment thread and conference realignment is almost exclusively football oriented.
If MU fans start yacking about football during the annual NCAA tournament thread, feel free to chastise them for it, otherwise you're just talking out your ass. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Pants:
Yes, this has been brought up before. I think UK, UNC, Duke, KU would consider themselves basketball schools even if one should win 2 National Championships in football back to back in 2015 and 2016.
But I agree, football is by far the #1 sport.
If the Lakers win back to back Super Bowls, they will still consider themselves to be a basketball team. That's not going to happen, though.
Football schools can win basketball championships. Basketball schools don't win football championships. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Pants:
Yes, this has been brought up before. I think UK, UNC, Duke, KU would consider themselves basketball schools even if one should win 2 National Championships in football back to back in 2015 and 2016.
But I agree, football is by far the #1 sport.
Duke - probably. KU - definitely.
UNC - remember the couple of years where they were in a down period (between Smith and Roy, IIRC)? They had a pretty good football program around that same time and suddenly you started to see some UNC pride in the football team. If UNC had both a contender in football and a contender in basketball - I think they'd become a 'football school' real quickly.
KY - Same story. They started to get a little uppity when they had that fat shit, lefty quarterback that won them a few games and the post-Tubby era wasn't going gangbusters for them.
Saul's right - with very few exceptions, a 'basketball school' will turn football school in a hurry if the football team is winning. [Reply]
Originally Posted by kstater:
What is Missouri then?
Missouri is a school with a good basketball team and a good football team. Therefore, MU fans care much more about football. This isn't that difficult. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Saul Good:
If the Lakers win back to back Super Bowls, they will still consider themselves to be a basketball team. That's not going to happen, though.
Football schools can win basketball championships. Basketball schools don't win football championships.
You don't think UNC could ever get a Garry Patterson and sneak in a couple NCs? Ever? Snyder almost did it with ****ing K-State. Look, I'm not arguing here that should a school have a rich tradition in both sports it would consider itself a basketball school over a football one. But a school's history definitely plays a huge part in how the fans perceive things. If KU had a top 25 football program for the last 10 years, we would still be calling ourselves a basketball school today. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Pants:
It's not even about the NCs, it's about history and tradition.
I know, I was just correcting him. If you wanna talk history and tradition, KU has it. There's no denying that. And I agree with you. Because of that, we'll always be known as a basketball school even if we get a top football program. [Reply]