JRsec
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RE: Greg Swaim gets the Arizona's to the Big 12 rumors going...
(10-23-2019 03:19 PM)johnintx Wrote: (10-23-2019 11:45 AM)quo vadis Wrote: (10-23-2019 09:37 AM)Frank the Tank Wrote: I've said this before:
The Big 12 schools may like their money, but they hate their conference.
In contrast, the Pac-12 schools may not like their money, but they love their conference.
That's a great way to put it.
The problem of course is that the Big 12 remains a Big 8/SWC hybrid that has never really worked in a cultural sense. I thought it should have, since Texas/Oklahoma seemed a natural glue in that regard, but it hasn't.
In contrast, the PAC consists of schools that are an ideal cultural fit for all of them, save for the recent Colorado and Utah add-ons, and those schools are very grateful to be in the PAC.
The Big 12 is and has always been a business arrangement. It is less a conference and more a collection of schools with a TV contract.
I have fond memories of the Big 8, but it was Kansas, Kansas State, and Missouri's conference. Nebraska and Iowa State were along for the ride. Colorado was an outlier. OU was an outlaw, especially with its NCAA issues and, in the 80's, it's renegade coaches (Switzer and Tubbs). OSU wasn't allowed to come along with the original schools, and didn't make it into the conference until 1957. Conference headquarters were in Kansas City. There was always a basketball tournament in Kansas City. Before post-season tournaments caught wind across the country, the Big 8 for decades conducted a holiday tournament in Kansas City. The Big 8 worked well for the five schools closest to KC. The Oklahoma schools often felt outnumbered in the power structure of the Big 8. In addition, Oklahomans, for better or worse, are more oriented to Texas than to the Midwest. Texans are much different from midwesterners. So, the Big 8, due to its geography and lack of markets, became unable to obtain a large TV contract. There was a lot of bitterness among what became the Big 12 North as it moved into a shotgun wedding with the Texas schools. It eventually bubbled into the loss of Nebraska, Missouri, and Colorado.
Enter DeLoss Dodds and Donnie Duncan (Texas and OU athletic directors in the 1990's). They created a conference that would attract a large TV contract, while keeping a place in big-time college football for schools in the middle of the country. In the process, they created a conference that primarily benefited Texas and OU. Texas still got to be king of the hill, while OU got to be in a conference with both their old Big 8 rivals and schools in Texas, where a good portion of alumni and fans reside. As a consequence, Oklahoma State benefited in much the same way as OU, with a conference centered on Texas.
In hindsight, a zipper format (similar to the ACC) would have been a better division split for the Big 12 instead of North-South. It would have given everyone equal access to the state of Texas, and would have better integrated the two parts of the conference.
Big 12 3.0 has stabilized, at least until the GOR expires in 2025. There still isn't a whole lot in common between the Texas schools and the northern schools. West Virginia will always be an odd fit, through no fault of their own. But, as the years go by, the schools have learned to work together, as they know the alternatives are worse. Still, there will always be a separation between Texas/OU and the other 8 schools, especially with the division of revenue.
The Arizona schools can make more money in the Big 12, but their culture fits in the Pac 12. The Pac needs to fix their TV situation, especially their conference network. If they can do that, they won't have any problem keeping their conference together. Those schools want to be together.
Solid post! I've always felt that the most natural way to divide the Big 12 for purposes of realignment would be to have the Big 10 assimilate the Old Big 8 schools (minus the Oklahoma's) and the SEC to assimilate the Texas schools and possibly the Oklahoma's. If the PAC were better positioned then they would work as well on the latter.
Iowa State, Missouri, Nebraska, and Kansas, or Colorado would have been a nice move to 16 for the Big 10. Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, & Oklahoma State for the SEC.
That's passed now and the Old Big 8 schools are split 3 ways. It's sad.
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