I was doing some research awhile back on the realignment of the early 1990s and I ran across a quote from Kansas St coach Bill Snyder in which he predicted that the Big 8 and SWC were each going to lose some of their best members and that the remaining schools should merge into a 12 member conference.

I think Snyder’s vision was:

North: Iowa St, Kansas, Kansas St, Missouri, Oklahoma St, Colorado
South: Baylor, SMU, TCU, Rice, Houston, Texas Tech

Instead in 1994 we got a Big 12 that included the whole Big 8 and the 4 best SWC schools.

The new Big 12 isn’t too far off the mark. He got 8 of the 12 right.

(09-11-2021 09:44 AM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  I was doing some research awhile back on the realignment of the early 1990s and I ran across a quote from Kansas St coach Bill Snyder in which he predicted that the Big 8 and SWC were each going to lose some of their best members and that the remaining schools should merge into a 12 member conference.

I think Snyder’s vision was:

North: Iowa St, Kansas, Kansas St, Missouri, Oklahoma St, Colorado
South: Baylor, SMU, TCU, Rice, Houston, Texas Tech

Instead in 1994 we got a Big 12 that included the whole Big 8 and the 4 best SWC schools.

The new Big 12 isn’t too far off the mark. He got 8 of the 12 right.

Snyder was one of the best coaches of all time imo.

(09-11-2021 09:27 PM)EEResistable Wrote:  

(09-11-2021 09:44 AM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  I was doing some research awhile back on the realignment of the early 1990s and I ran across a quote from Kansas St coach Bill Snyder in which he predicted that the Big 8 and SWC were each going to lose some of their best members and that the remaining schools should merge into a 12 member conference.

I think Snyder’s vision was:

North: Iowa St, Kansas, Kansas St, Missouri, Oklahoma St, Colorado
South: Baylor, SMU, TCU, Rice, Houston, Texas Tech

Instead in 1994 we got a Big 12 that included the whole Big 8 and the 4 best SWC schools.

The new Big 12 isn’t too far off the mark. He got 8 of the 12 right.

Snyder was one of the best coaches of all time imo.

Smart guy, and fantastic fit for his school. He didn’t win a lot of titles like the top coaches have, but he made a consistent winner out of a program that was once branded as the worst in major college football. No detail was too small to garner his attention (like the number of pats of butter at their team meals), and that’s how he made it work.

It would’ve taken a helluva crystal ball to foresee WVU, Cincinnati, BYU and UCF back then, so it was a pretty good prediction. Had the SEC not needed a 14 to pair with aTm at 13, Missouri might well have been around as well.