It's time for the Big 12 to be honest with itself...
I think it's well past time for the Big 12 and its fans to be honest with themselves about the state of their conference. If they do that, they have a chance to improve. However, their public relations has been horrible and it's primarily because their fans and some admins are wildly delusional.
First, they lose a bunch of teams all at once. That is a big-time red flag that your conference is highly dysfunctional. That just doesn't happen – at least it hasn't happened to anyone else.
Then they conduct a haphazard search in which they approached Notre Dame, Arkansas, Pitt, and others and they were snubbed at every turn.
Then, they finally got their act together and invited TCU as their ninth team and later West Virginia as team No. 10. However, when they adopted West Virginia they should've taken Louisville and Cincinnati as well. That would've been an excellent decision on their part and there would be no geographical or cultural outliers. Louisville and Cincinnati are longtime rivals and West Virginia would fit in with that pair like a glove.
However, because they are delusional, the Big 12 snubbed Louisville and Cincinnati in favor of trying to lure Florida State and Clemson. That was a huge mistake and one they will long regret. Had they made the common sense decision to add the other two Ohio Valley schools, I think they would be in a different position right now.
Since that time, their dysfunction and dissension has only grown. It is rare that a month goes by without reading some account of some administrator upset with the conference or a school within the conference – usually involving Oklahoma and Texas.
That's not good.
After being held off for a long time, Oklahoma has finally won its power struggle with Texas and they're going to expand – most likely by for teams.
However, because they are relentlessly delusional, instead of getting serious and picking from the best G5 schools available, we're constantly reading and hearing nonsense about how all of these recently defected schools are dying to come back or how this Pac-12 school or that Pac-12 school is just dying to join that conference.
What?! Seriously, WTF?!
It's time to face reality. No P5 program would even consider leaving their current situation to join the wildly unstable and geographically landlocked Big 12. Any assertion to the contrary is pure poppycock.
So if I were advising them, and I'm obviously not, I would tell everyone, "Hey guys, let's get serious about this and let's start looking at the resumes of Brigham Young, Cincinnati, Connecticut, Central Florida, Colorado State, Memphis, Houston, San Diego State, Boise State, South Florida, etc. That's where your next set of teams are going to come from, not the ACC, the SEC, the Pac-12, the AFC South, etc.
Honestly, I think there's one clear choice – BYU – and a whole bunch of choices that are ultimately very comparable with each other. I think it depends on the direction the league wants to pursue.
If it were up to me, I think I would fill the other three spots with Cincinnati and the Florida twins. I think those three programs all have good potential for growth – perhaps better potential for growth than all of the others except, maybe Houston. However, there are many ways in which they could go that would also make sense.
What does not make sense is UCLA leaving the Pac-12 for the Big 12; or Nebraska forfeiting all of the money it is now raking in to return to the Big 12. That type of thinking is just plain nonsense and it always has been.
|
/
It's time for the Big 12 to be honest with itself...
