These guys are great. They just keep arguing with each other in public.

http://www.mystatesman.com/news/sports/b...-is/nsgN8/

Quote:T. Boone Pickens said he likes the current 10-team Big 12 configuration the way it is and would prefer adding Houston and SMU if the league grows, but that’s “probably unlikely.” The Oklahoma State benefactor said on our “On Second Thought” podcast that Oklahoma president David Boren has been wishy-washy about expansion and that “maybe it’s time for David to retire.” Some outlets reported Tuesday that the mercurial Boren is saying he’s decided against expansion, but Boren clarified his stance, saying “Oklahoma has not yet taken a position on expansion.” Pickens, who has given $500 million to his alma mater, said, “I’ve known David forever. He likes to talk. He gets a little bit confused sometimes.”

''

(09-27-2016 08:22 PM)Wedge Wrote:  These guys are great. They just keep arguing with each other in public.

http://www.mystatesman.com/news/sports/b...-is/nsgN8/

Quote:T. Boone Pickens said he likes the current 10-team Big 12 configuration the way it is and would prefer adding Houston and SMU if the league grows, but that’s “probably unlikely.” The Oklahoma State benefactor said on our “On Second Thought” podcast that Oklahoma president David Boren has been wishy-washy about expansion and that “maybe it’s time for David to retire.” Some outlets reported Tuesday that the mercurial Boren is saying he’s decided against expansion, but Boren clarified his stance, saying “Oklahoma has not yet taken a position on expansion.” Pickens, who has given $500 million to his alma mater, said, “I’ve known David forever. He likes to talk. He gets a little bit confused sometimes.”

''

You couldn't write a better story than this BIGXII stuff, it just keeps getting better.

I've disagreed with people who critique the BigXII for the circus surrounding BigXII expansion. It has largely been bloggers, the twitters to, and message boards lie this one that have fueled a bunch of false narratives while the BigXII has done an OK job of carrying out business in a discreet manner. (Discreet as opposed to the stealth tactics used n previous conference xpansion).

But I think we've fully crossed into self inflicted circus territory with these statements.

Hasn't it always pretty much been Boren, though? Maybe just this round ...


And SMU???

Pickens must have a lifelong friend that he met at the billionaire's club who went to SMU.


Also sounds like Mike Gundy might be out on his a__, before Boren retires ...

(09-27-2016 09:03 PM)MplsBison Wrote:  Hasn't it always pretty much been Boren, though? Maybe just this round ...


And SMU???

Pickens must have a lifelong friend that he met at the billionaire's club who went to SMU.


Also sounds like Mike Gundy might be out on his a__, before Boren retires ...

Pickens lives in Dallas.

really it is time for him to retire more from the academic point of view than the athletic one

he was hired to try and really elevate the academics of OU and even through the massive oil boom and for a LONG number of years I see little evidence that he has actually done that in a major way

he has been there a LONG LONG time and now he is going down the path or perlman at Nebraska concentrating on athletics and pretty much spending all of his time talking about athletics matters when there is still room for PLENTY of academic improvement at OU to really push them into the next tier of public universities and that is to the detriment of academics

OU needs a president that will concentrate on academics not athletics full time

he has been OK at raising money, but it does not seem to really be going towards raising the academic profile even against universities that have been passed by OU in the 22 years he has been the president

their research numbers are OK, but not amazing for having the Health Science Center included with them and none of their main programs like Business, Law or Engineering really stand out in the crowd and other universities that have a made a concerted push like Ga Tech have really moved on past in a number of areas while OU just kind of passed those that were in neutral and kept even with those that were "going the speed limit" or a bit slower

Live feed from the latest Big 12 meetings.

Big 12 and the P5 have created this circus like environment by raiding each other, and ignore many schools that are wealthy to be in a P5 conference. Just break up all the conferences, and reshaped them by region, and end this non-sense period.

(09-27-2016 10:37 PM)GoldenWarrior11 Wrote:  

Live feed from the latest Big 12 meetings.

(09-27-2016 09:03 PM)MplsBison Wrote:  Hasn't it always pretty much been Boren, though? Maybe just this round ...


And SMU???

Pickens must have a lifelong friend that he met at the billionaire's club who went to SMU.

It's me. T Bo (that's what I call him) and I are BFF's. We weren't billionaires yet...only multi-millionaires.

(09-27-2016 09:55 PM)MissouriStateBears Wrote:  

(09-27-2016 09:03 PM)MplsBison Wrote:  Hasn't it always pretty much been Boren, though? Maybe just this round ...


And SMU???

Pickens must have a lifelong friend that he met at the billionaire's club who went to SMU.


Also sounds like Mike Gundy might be out on his a__, before Boren retires ...

Pickens lives in Dallas.

And his daughter graduated from SMU and his granddaughter goes there now.

(09-27-2016 09:55 PM)MissouriStateBears Wrote:  

(09-27-2016 09:03 PM)MplsBison Wrote:  Hasn't it always pretty much been Boren, though? Maybe just this round ...


And SMU???

Pickens must have a lifelong friend that he met at the billionaire's club who went to SMU.


Also sounds like Mike Gundy might be out on his a__, before Boren retires ...

Pickens lives in Dallas.

He is a pretty cool guy! I'm actually related to him lol.

(09-28-2016 09:33 AM)TrojanCampaign Wrote:  

(09-27-2016 09:55 PM)MissouriStateBears Wrote:  

(09-27-2016 09:03 PM)MplsBison Wrote:  Hasn't it always pretty much been Boren, though? Maybe just this round ...


And SMU???

Pickens must have a lifelong friend that he met at the billionaire's club who went to SMU.


Also sounds like Mike Gundy might be out on his a__, before Boren retires ...

Pickens lives in Dallas.

He is a pretty cool guy! I'm actually related to him lol.

Can I get some money? Only a little bit.

I wonder if Pickens, like Trump, considers $14 Million a "small loan"? Ok, no more politics. Just had to get that out there.

Sent from my SM-N910V using CSNbbs mobile app

(09-28-2016 09:38 AM)muffinman Wrote:  

(09-28-2016 09:33 AM)TrojanCampaign Wrote:  

(09-27-2016 09:55 PM)MissouriStateBears Wrote:  

(09-27-2016 09:03 PM)MplsBison Wrote:  Hasn't it always pretty much been Boren, though? Maybe just this round ...


And SMU???

Pickens must have a lifelong friend that he met at the billionaire's club who went to SMU.


Also sounds like Mike Gundy might be out on his a__, before Boren retires ...

Pickens lives in Dallas.

He is a pretty cool guy! I'm actually related to him lol.

Can I get some money? Only a little bit.

I wish I had some! Ha...

Ah, thanks for the explanation on Pickens with regards to promoting SMU.


I have a "for fun only" question to pose you all. It requires you accept the terms of the hypothetical as is. Questioning the terms isn't the point. Like I said, just "for fun".

- assume B12 has to expand and by two
- Houston is in, plus one more
- the second has to be either: SMU or Rice

Who do you pick and why????


Already have schools in both Dallas and Houston. Although you could try to claim that Ft Worth/TCU is far enough away from Dallas/SMU to "not count", while Rice and Houston are right next to each other.

Both schools are filthy rich. However, I also have this thought -- which could be absolutely wrong -- that SMU's alumni wealth comes from being wealthy businessmen and law professionals, while Rice's alumni wealth comes from technology/science (ie nerds). And nerds care far less about donating to athletics. Like I said, could be wrong.

Finally, if there is any school in the south that I think could one day be poised for a Stanford style step change in football success, I think it could be Rice. They have the stadium in place. Have just invested somewhat in facilities. Big market. And are filthy rich .... if they wanted to spend it on hiring a big time coach.

(09-27-2016 09:03 PM)MplsBison Wrote:  Hasn't it always pretty much been Boren, though? Maybe just this round ...


And SMU???

Pickens must have a lifelong friend that he met at the billionaire's club who went to SMU.


Also sounds like Mike Gundy might be out on his a__, before Boren retires ...

I've gotten the sense that there are a lot of people from that part of the country who would just like a conference composed of the old SWC and the Oklahoma teams. That's not viable as a standalone conference, as most people know. You might be able to make most of the old SWC plus OU/OKS work as a division in a larger conference if you had the right mix of outside media markets to make the TV deal work, though.

Of course it's viable. It would be P too, based on CFP payout tiers. Because all that stuff is based on football strength.

Where that conference would "fail" is only in getting a conference network, the same issue Big 12 has now.

(09-28-2016 10:59 AM)Bogg Wrote:  

(09-27-2016 09:03 PM)MplsBison Wrote:  Hasn't it always pretty much been Boren, though? Maybe just this round ...


And SMU???

Pickens must have a lifelong friend that he met at the billionaire's club who went to SMU.


Also sounds like Mike Gundy might be out on his a__, before Boren retires ...

I've gotten the sense that there are a lot of people from that part of the country who would just like a conference composed of the old SWC and the Oklahoma teams. That's not viable as a standalone conference, as most people know. You might be able to make most of the old SWC plus OU/OKS work as a division in a larger conference if you had the right mix of outside media markets to make the TV deal work, though.

If you didn't care about being a financially competitive power conference over the long haul then you could certainly do something like a SWC division of UT/OU/TTU/OSU/TCU/BU/SMU/UH

Though again you still have the same old problem of no one outside TX/OK ever bothering to watch any of your games besides OU/UT which means no way ESPN decides to keep your pay competitive with the others over the long term.

(09-28-2016 11:07 AM)MplsBison Wrote:  Of course it's viable. It would be P too, based on CFP payout tiers. Because all that stuff is based on football strength.

Where that conference would "fail" is only in getting a conference network, the same issue Big 12 has now.

If it isn't financially viable then it isn't viable. A conference of just Texas and Oklahoma doesn't work because they can't generate the revenue necessary to keep everyone together. It'd be the exact same problems the Big 12 has now, only magnified even further by reducing their footprint.