08-04-2007, 10:55 PM
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/big12...9e534.html
Big Ten commissioner Jim Delaney is one of the 1,000-pound gorillas of college athletics. Whatever he wants, he usually gets.
The Big Ten rules the collegiate roost. And when its commissioner even implies he is considering expansion, it makes for more than merely a series of juicy newspaper headlines.
When Delaney starts talking about expansion, even in its most abstract terms, it should send some shock tremors jolting through the Big 12's leadership.
Because if the Big Ten chooses to expand – whether in the immediate or distant future – it's likely that several Big 12 schools would be among those most likely to be considered.
The Big 12 should be among those with the most to fear when speculation starts about Big Ten expansion. The reasons why are obvious.
Delaney told the Des Moines Register last week that the conference needs to look at expanding in the next season. He hinted that moving his conference to another state would provide added value for the conference's fledgling television network, which is having difficulty gaining traction in almost every location because of its lack of reach.
"The broader (the network) is distributed, the more value (expansion) has," Delaney told the newspaper. "We have eight states. With expansion you could have nine."
Although he backed off from his comments several days later at the Big Ten's media days, it's clear that his talk about addition was more than idle speculation. Or else why would he be so open to talking about it in the first place?
If the conference were to expand to 12 teams, there are several different ways to look. The speculation about each potential school is intriguing – even if it might be years from happening.
Before Delaney ever decides to look in any other direction, he needs to be absolutely, positively sure about the prospects of being able to land Notre Dame. If the Irish decide they want to join the Big Ten, it's the certain best choice. The school already plays many of the schools in football and basketball. It's also the most geographically sound move.
But Notre Dame administrators have turned down the Big Ten once before and it's unlikely that NBC would ever want the program to leave its independent status for any conference. Notre Dame athletic director Kevin White is said to be adamant about staying independent in football – which is the reason he's cutting deals with stadiums across Texas and Florida to get his program into these recruiting-rich areas in the future for non-conference games.
If Notre Dame decides to still say no, the Big Ten has some other fallback candidates. The most intriguing would be a couple of Big 12 schools – and not merely because former Big 12 commissioner Kevin Weiberg was just hired to head up the Big Ten's television network and knows the speed-dial combinations for every president in the conference.
To say that Weiberg knows a little about the Big 12's sometimes dysfunctional family would be an understatement. One of the major reasons that Weiberg left the Big 12 for the relative safety of moving back to the Big Ten was because he was tired of refereeing the big school/small school battles that marked the end of his Big 12 tenure.
So Weiberg would know the pressure points better than anybody in case the Big Ten needed to court any specific Big 12 schools.
Missouri would fall easily into the Big Ten's footprint, but would add little in terms of national stature. The Tigers are the preseason North Division favorites in football this season, but remain a school that has not won a conference football championship since 1969.
Missouri is one of the largest states nationally in terms of population with only one state school playing Division I-A football. But the feeling always has been that the St. Louis metropolitan area already looks to the Big Ten as much to the Big 12 because of its proximity to Illinois. So the Big Ten wouldn't really be adding that much in terms of another television market.
Iowa State would also be a simple geographic addition, balancing the East and West divisions in the Big Ten. But ISU, which last won a football championship by sharing the Missouri Valley title in 1912 and had a recent 22-year lapse between bowl visits, makes even less practical sense than Missouri.
Iowa is already the least populated state in the Big Ten and adding another school in the state would additionally fragment that limited base.
If anything, adding ISU would cut the Big Ten's support rather than grow it. And the thinking here is that if the Big Ten expands, it wants to garner as much splash as it could muster.
That's why two Big 12 teams probably make Big Ten officials salivate at the mere thought of adding them.
Nebraska and Texas are the two of the biggest powers in the Big 12 in terms of national football presence. The schools butted heads over almost every issue when the conference was formed. Now, they are strong allies in the big vs. small battles that made Weiberg's last few months of working with the Big 12 difficult.
Nebraska would be almost as easy a fit as Missouri from a geographic standpoint, providing delicious immediate natural rivalries with Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin.
And while Nebraska wouldn't add an immediate boost in terms of population of the actual state, the Cornhuskers have a true national perspective in terms of their support. Cornhusker alumni arrange for their games to be broadcast across the nation – from Phoenix and Denver to Seattle and Sioux Falls. Think that devoted group might have some interest in buying the Big Ten cable network if it had a few more Cornhuskers games?
But the thought is that Nebraska would truly have to receive more than just a huge payday. It would be hard to see the school do away with traditional rivalries with schools like Kansas, Missouri and Iowa State that date from the early days of the Big Eight.
But if Delaney wants to truly think outside the box and make his conference the best in the country, the most intriguing choice might be found about 973 miles southwest of the conference's Chicago offices to Austin.
Some critics would say that speculation is fueled by lunacy. But the same criticism abounded when talking about Penn State shortly before the Nittany Lions moved into the Big Ten.
Remember that UT officials flirted with the Big Ten in the final stages of the Southwest Conference in the early 1990s. The most obvious reason for the original interest in both parties was that the academic missions of those 11 schools match UT's.
Part of what makes the Big Ten unique is that it is also an academic partnership of research-based schools. And UT has been a member of the invitation-only Association of American Universities since 1929. All of the Big Ten schools are members of that group.
The distance between UT and the rest of the Big Ten makes it impractical. Travel costs in the Big Ten would skyrocket. And fans would have a hard time following their favorite Longhorn teams.
The result would be a bizarre sense of isolation for UT fans in their new conference. They no longer would have the traditional rivalries against Texas A&M or Texas Tech or Oklahoma except for an occasional non-conference game.
College sports are so successful because they are built on regional, traditional rivalries. The Big Ten and the Southeastern Conferences have been the two strongest conferences in recent history because of their tightly knit fan bases. And adding UT or Nebraska would be a complete departure of that strategy for the Big Ten.
That's why the Big Ten's expansion strategy – if not adding Notre Dame – makes more sense by looking to the Big East Conference.
Early speculation from the Big East has centered on adding Pittsburgh, Syracuse or Rutgers. Pittsburgh would provide a once-solid football program that has struggled in recent seasons. But Penn State coach Joe Paterno has privately been said to be adamantly against letting the Panthers in the Big Ten on any conditions. Heck, he won't even play them in football any more. Paterno still is livid about Pitt torpedoing his original plans for an all-sports East Coast conference back in the 1980s
And if the Big Ten is adamant about expansion for the sake of adding new television markets, it won't gain much by adding Pittsburgh. That market is already accounted for with Penn State.
Syracuse once was a national contender in football back when it was known as "Tailback U" with great players like Jim Brown, Ernie Davis, Floyd Little and Larry Csonka. But basketball coach Jim Boeheim isn't getting any younger and the Syracuse football program has fallen on some hard times since Dick McPherson left.
And while Rutgers might offer the Big Ten a presumed entry into the New York City metropolitan area, Delaney is smart enough to know how little attention Rutgers really gets in that professional sports-soaked market. If anything, the Big Ten already has as much support in the New York/New Jersey area because of all of the existing Big Ten alumni already scattered there.
The Big East teams that make better sense are West Virginia and Louisville, who have recently developed into the conference's strongest football programs. And both have the kind of rabid fan followings that dwarf any other Big East school.
Louisville has quietly built a developing superpower in nearly every sport under athletic director Tom Jurich. It has a brand-new basketball facility on line with Rick Pitino at the helm. And its football program has developed into a national power in the last 10 years.
West Virginia's football program is similarly growing under Rich Rodriguez and its basketball program is poised for a national boost with the recent hiring of Bob Huggins.
But truthfully, none of those schools – nor in fact any from the Big East other than Rutgers, Syracuse or Pittsburgh – really is a good academic fit with the Big Ten. And Big Ten schools are snooty about their academics for potential new members.
So don't expect the Big Ten to make any rash moves – even for the benefit of its fledgling television network. The most likely scenario will be to wait out Notre Dame for a few more years with the current 11-team alignment.
It wouldn't be a great surprise if the Irish administration acquiesces one day. But not before the Big 12 has to do some heavy lobbying to make sure that the conference remains unified in the future.
Here's a list of top potential Big Ten expansion targets, in order of attractiveness to the conference
1. Notre Dame: Still the biggest of the big dogs in college athletics.
2. Nebraska: Would bring a nationally following in football the Big Ten would covet.
3. Texas: If Big Ten was really into outside the box thinking, this might be the ultimate addition.
4. Missouri: Some wonder why this school hasn't achieved more in athletics.
5. Louisville: Developing into college football's newest superpower.
6. West Virginia: Look to be set in the future with alums Rodriguez and Huggins leading their signature programs.
7. Iowa State: Geographic fit, but would add little more than that.
8. Rutgers: Far down the food chain in the New York City/New Jersey mega-media market – even with recent football success.
9. Syracuse: Where have you gone, Donovan McNabb?
10. Pittsburgh: Can't see Joe Pa letting them in.
Big Ten commissioner Jim Delaney is one of the 1,000-pound gorillas of college athletics. Whatever he wants, he usually gets.
The Big Ten rules the collegiate roost. And when its commissioner even implies he is considering expansion, it makes for more than merely a series of juicy newspaper headlines.
When Delaney starts talking about expansion, even in its most abstract terms, it should send some shock tremors jolting through the Big 12's leadership.
Because if the Big Ten chooses to expand – whether in the immediate or distant future – it's likely that several Big 12 schools would be among those most likely to be considered.
The Big 12 should be among those with the most to fear when speculation starts about Big Ten expansion. The reasons why are obvious.
Delaney told the Des Moines Register last week that the conference needs to look at expanding in the next season. He hinted that moving his conference to another state would provide added value for the conference's fledgling television network, which is having difficulty gaining traction in almost every location because of its lack of reach.
"The broader (the network) is distributed, the more value (expansion) has," Delaney told the newspaper. "We have eight states. With expansion you could have nine."
Although he backed off from his comments several days later at the Big Ten's media days, it's clear that his talk about addition was more than idle speculation. Or else why would he be so open to talking about it in the first place?
If the conference were to expand to 12 teams, there are several different ways to look. The speculation about each potential school is intriguing – even if it might be years from happening.
Before Delaney ever decides to look in any other direction, he needs to be absolutely, positively sure about the prospects of being able to land Notre Dame. If the Irish decide they want to join the Big Ten, it's the certain best choice. The school already plays many of the schools in football and basketball. It's also the most geographically sound move.
But Notre Dame administrators have turned down the Big Ten once before and it's unlikely that NBC would ever want the program to leave its independent status for any conference. Notre Dame athletic director Kevin White is said to be adamant about staying independent in football – which is the reason he's cutting deals with stadiums across Texas and Florida to get his program into these recruiting-rich areas in the future for non-conference games.
If Notre Dame decides to still say no, the Big Ten has some other fallback candidates. The most intriguing would be a couple of Big 12 schools – and not merely because former Big 12 commissioner Kevin Weiberg was just hired to head up the Big Ten's television network and knows the speed-dial combinations for every president in the conference.
To say that Weiberg knows a little about the Big 12's sometimes dysfunctional family would be an understatement. One of the major reasons that Weiberg left the Big 12 for the relative safety of moving back to the Big Ten was because he was tired of refereeing the big school/small school battles that marked the end of his Big 12 tenure.
So Weiberg would know the pressure points better than anybody in case the Big Ten needed to court any specific Big 12 schools.
Missouri would fall easily into the Big Ten's footprint, but would add little in terms of national stature. The Tigers are the preseason North Division favorites in football this season, but remain a school that has not won a conference football championship since 1969.
Missouri is one of the largest states nationally in terms of population with only one state school playing Division I-A football. But the feeling always has been that the St. Louis metropolitan area already looks to the Big Ten as much to the Big 12 because of its proximity to Illinois. So the Big Ten wouldn't really be adding that much in terms of another television market.
Iowa State would also be a simple geographic addition, balancing the East and West divisions in the Big Ten. But ISU, which last won a football championship by sharing the Missouri Valley title in 1912 and had a recent 22-year lapse between bowl visits, makes even less practical sense than Missouri.
Iowa is already the least populated state in the Big Ten and adding another school in the state would additionally fragment that limited base.
If anything, adding ISU would cut the Big Ten's support rather than grow it. And the thinking here is that if the Big Ten expands, it wants to garner as much splash as it could muster.
That's why two Big 12 teams probably make Big Ten officials salivate at the mere thought of adding them.
Nebraska and Texas are the two of the biggest powers in the Big 12 in terms of national football presence. The schools butted heads over almost every issue when the conference was formed. Now, they are strong allies in the big vs. small battles that made Weiberg's last few months of working with the Big 12 difficult.
Nebraska would be almost as easy a fit as Missouri from a geographic standpoint, providing delicious immediate natural rivalries with Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin.
And while Nebraska wouldn't add an immediate boost in terms of population of the actual state, the Cornhuskers have a true national perspective in terms of their support. Cornhusker alumni arrange for their games to be broadcast across the nation – from Phoenix and Denver to Seattle and Sioux Falls. Think that devoted group might have some interest in buying the Big Ten cable network if it had a few more Cornhuskers games?
But the thought is that Nebraska would truly have to receive more than just a huge payday. It would be hard to see the school do away with traditional rivalries with schools like Kansas, Missouri and Iowa State that date from the early days of the Big Eight.
But if Delaney wants to truly think outside the box and make his conference the best in the country, the most intriguing choice might be found about 973 miles southwest of the conference's Chicago offices to Austin.
Some critics would say that speculation is fueled by lunacy. But the same criticism abounded when talking about Penn State shortly before the Nittany Lions moved into the Big Ten.
Remember that UT officials flirted with the Big Ten in the final stages of the Southwest Conference in the early 1990s. The most obvious reason for the original interest in both parties was that the academic missions of those 11 schools match UT's.
Part of what makes the Big Ten unique is that it is also an academic partnership of research-based schools. And UT has been a member of the invitation-only Association of American Universities since 1929. All of the Big Ten schools are members of that group.
The distance between UT and the rest of the Big Ten makes it impractical. Travel costs in the Big Ten would skyrocket. And fans would have a hard time following their favorite Longhorn teams.
The result would be a bizarre sense of isolation for UT fans in their new conference. They no longer would have the traditional rivalries against Texas A&M or Texas Tech or Oklahoma except for an occasional non-conference game.
College sports are so successful because they are built on regional, traditional rivalries. The Big Ten and the Southeastern Conferences have been the two strongest conferences in recent history because of their tightly knit fan bases. And adding UT or Nebraska would be a complete departure of that strategy for the Big Ten.
That's why the Big Ten's expansion strategy – if not adding Notre Dame – makes more sense by looking to the Big East Conference.
Early speculation from the Big East has centered on adding Pittsburgh, Syracuse or Rutgers. Pittsburgh would provide a once-solid football program that has struggled in recent seasons. But Penn State coach Joe Paterno has privately been said to be adamantly against letting the Panthers in the Big Ten on any conditions. Heck, he won't even play them in football any more. Paterno still is livid about Pitt torpedoing his original plans for an all-sports East Coast conference back in the 1980s
And if the Big Ten is adamant about expansion for the sake of adding new television markets, it won't gain much by adding Pittsburgh. That market is already accounted for with Penn State.
Syracuse once was a national contender in football back when it was known as "Tailback U" with great players like Jim Brown, Ernie Davis, Floyd Little and Larry Csonka. But basketball coach Jim Boeheim isn't getting any younger and the Syracuse football program has fallen on some hard times since Dick McPherson left.
And while Rutgers might offer the Big Ten a presumed entry into the New York City metropolitan area, Delaney is smart enough to know how little attention Rutgers really gets in that professional sports-soaked market. If anything, the Big Ten already has as much support in the New York/New Jersey area because of all of the existing Big Ten alumni already scattered there.
The Big East teams that make better sense are West Virginia and Louisville, who have recently developed into the conference's strongest football programs. And both have the kind of rabid fan followings that dwarf any other Big East school.
Louisville has quietly built a developing superpower in nearly every sport under athletic director Tom Jurich. It has a brand-new basketball facility on line with Rick Pitino at the helm. And its football program has developed into a national power in the last 10 years.
West Virginia's football program is similarly growing under Rich Rodriguez and its basketball program is poised for a national boost with the recent hiring of Bob Huggins.
But truthfully, none of those schools – nor in fact any from the Big East other than Rutgers, Syracuse or Pittsburgh – really is a good academic fit with the Big Ten. And Big Ten schools are snooty about their academics for potential new members.
So don't expect the Big Ten to make any rash moves – even for the benefit of its fledgling television network. The most likely scenario will be to wait out Notre Dame for a few more years with the current 11-team alignment.
It wouldn't be a great surprise if the Irish administration acquiesces one day. But not before the Big 12 has to do some heavy lobbying to make sure that the conference remains unified in the future.
Here's a list of top potential Big Ten expansion targets, in order of attractiveness to the conference
1. Notre Dame: Still the biggest of the big dogs in college athletics.
2. Nebraska: Would bring a nationally following in football the Big Ten would covet.
3. Texas: If Big Ten was really into outside the box thinking, this might be the ultimate addition.
4. Missouri: Some wonder why this school hasn't achieved more in athletics.
5. Louisville: Developing into college football's newest superpower.
6. West Virginia: Look to be set in the future with alums Rodriguez and Huggins leading their signature programs.
7. Iowa State: Geographic fit, but would add little more than that.
8. Rutgers: Far down the food chain in the New York City/New Jersey mega-media market – even with recent football success.
9. Syracuse: Where have you gone, Donovan McNabb?
10. Pittsburgh: Can't see Joe Pa letting them in.
TS II is a total tool, isn't he! 