Why were Texas and Oklahoma able to bolt for the SEC on their own this time, even though they were forced to drag Texas Tech and Oklahoma State along in 2010-11?

(01-14-2023 10:07 PM)Poster Wrote:  Why were Texas and Oklahoma able to bolt for the SEC on their own this time, even though they were forced to drag Texas Tech and Oklahoma State along in 2010-11?

1. Texas Tech doesn't have as much power politically. In the 90s, between them, Baylor and Tech had a governor, Lt. Governor, Speaker of the House and several key committee chairs.
2. T. Boone Pickens is deceased.
3. Texas A&M already left the Big 12.
4. We have a fundamental shift in collegiate athletics, so its more important for schools to be able to choose their own path.

Right now the governor and Speaker are both Texas grads. The Lt. Gov. went to UM-Baltimore County.

(01-14-2023 10:16 PM)bullet Wrote:  

(01-14-2023 10:07 PM)Poster Wrote:  Why were Texas and Oklahoma able to bolt for the SEC on their own this time, even though they were forced to drag Texas Tech and Oklahoma State along in 2010-11?

1. Texas Tech doesn't have as much power politically. In the 90s, between them, Baylor and Tech had a governor, Lt. Governor, Speaker of the House and several key committee chairs.
2. T. Boone Pickens is deceased.
3. Texas A&M already left the Big 12.
4. We have a fundamental shift in collegiate athletics, so its more important for schools to be able to choose their own path.

There was also a new B12 commissioner and AD at OkSt. They had comparatively little political juice compared to their predecessors, to stop the move.

(01-14-2023 10:07 PM)Poster Wrote:  Why were Texas and Oklahoma able to bolt for the SEC on their own this time, even though they were forced to drag Texas Tech and Oklahoma State along in 2010-11?

There were never political ties in Oklahoma.

OU and OSU have never shared a board of Regents.

Former OU president David Boren looked out for Oklahoma State and had a good working relationship with OSU president Hargis but that's it.

This is a good topic.

(01-14-2023 10:07 PM)Poster Wrote:  Why were Texas and Oklahoma able to bolt for the SEC on their own this time, even though they were forced to drag Texas Tech and Oklahoma State along in 2010-11?

It's also possible that they didn't have to be pushed as hard in 2010-2011, since the travel in a "PAC-14" would be worse for them than the travel in the SEC is going to be, so the countervailing arguments for Oklahoma wanting to have Oklahoma State and Texas wanting to have another Texas school may have been stronger (which Texas school could well be politics in both the state politics and conference politics senses, if Texas Tech and Baylor had more clout, and Baylor was an obvious non-starter for a PAC move).

I think Oklahoma State will wind up in SEC soon as well.

(01-15-2023 02:06 AM)CFBLurker Wrote:  

(01-14-2023 10:07 PM)Poster Wrote:  Why were Texas and Oklahoma able to bolt for the SEC on their own this time, even though they were forced to drag Texas Tech and Oklahoma State along in 2010-11?

There were never political ties in Oklahoma.

OU and OSU have never shared a board of Regents.

Former OU president David Boren looked out for Oklahoma State and had a good working relationship with OSU president Hargis but that's it.

Yep. Ironically, OSU grads have served as governor of Oklahoma for the last 12 years. That didn't matter.

But the key is that T. Boone Pickens and David Boren are no longer in the picture. As long as Pickens' money was on the table, OSU was going to be a player. In the background, Boren had skeletons in his closet that Pickens was willing to expose if OSU was not treated favorably.

And, Boren had family ties to both schools and was looking out for both. He is a former governor and senator. His name is on a building at OSU. OU would have been gone in the previous realignment had Boren not been packaging both schools together in every scenario.

(01-14-2023 10:18 PM)bullet Wrote:  Right now the governor and Speaker are both Texas grads. The Lt. Gov. went to UM-Baltimore County.

But the Lt. Gov. seemed to have twisted TCU and Tech’s arm to get them to invite Houston to the Big 12.

(01-14-2023 10:16 PM)bullet Wrote:  

(01-14-2023 10:07 PM)Poster Wrote:  Why were Texas and Oklahoma able to bolt for the SEC on their own this time, even though they were forced to drag Texas Tech and Oklahoma State along in 2010-11?

1. Texas Tech doesn't have as much power politically. In the 90s, between them, Baylor and Tech had a governor, Lt. Governor, Speaker of the House and several key committee chairs.
2. T. Boone Pickens is deceased.
3. Texas A&M already left the Big 12.
4. We have a fundamental shift in collegiate athletics, so its more important for schools to be able to choose their own path.

This basically, although I think #4 should be higher. I believe that Texas and OU see a greater existential threat to college athletics and are positioning themselves accordingly. They will not be left as an also ran in the NIL or perhaps even "professional" era.

(01-16-2023 05:43 PM)Realigned Wrote:  

(01-14-2023 10:18 PM)bullet Wrote:  Right now the governor and Speaker are both Texas grads. The Lt. Gov. went to UM-Baltimore County.

But the Lt. Gov. seemed to have twisted TCU and Tech’s arm to get them to invite Houston to the Big 12.

I suspect it was Oklahoma St., Kansas, Kansas St. and Iowa St. that were the roadblock to UH. The Texas schools were all on board in 2015.