Conference realignment "Rumors" "tweets" "etc"

[Triple B]

4 hours ago, BDYZR said:

How many times was "fan base" mentioned?

Too many. Our only hope will be for the main reason we got into the Big East ...

[Apis Bull]

28 minutes ago, NewEnglandBull said:

So, exactly how is USF's fan base? Not a measurable that helps...That being said I am purchasing a season ticket this year and will donate. We have got to get fans/students in the seats.

IMO, that's the main thing that's holding us back, and a lot of that has to do with our lack of winning in football and men's basketball.  We have market, location, academics and success in non-revenue sports.

[Sellular1]

Really good read on B12 expansion including Florida schools.

 

http://www.teamspeedkills.com/2016/1/29/10867774/big-12-expansion-talks-heating-up-again

[NewEnglandBull]

4 hours ago, Sellular1 said:

Really good read on B12 expansion including Florida schools.

 

http://www.teamspeedkills.com/2016/1/29/10867774/big-12-expansion-talks-heating-up-again

Very realistic discussion as the focus is on populations. Wish he USF as an example instead of that other team in the last paragraph. 

[Atlanta Bull]

From ESPN, Feb. 1:

Next three months could determine future of Big 12

Ever since its members overwhelmingly shot down the notion of implementing a conference network, the Big 12, for almost a decade now, has been riding a roller coaster.

Twice, the league almost dissolved. And it’s been whittled down to 10 members, while losing its championship game along the way.

As a result, the perception of the Big 12 has gradually suffered, and not just in the eyes of those from the outside, either. Oklahoma president David Boren, one of the Big 12’s most influential power brokers, has resorted to calling the conference “disadvantaged.”

Later this week, the Big 12’s presidents, chancellors and athletic directors will congregate at the conference office in Irving, Texas, to kick off what figures to be a defining three months. League leaders are set to meet again in May.

These won’t be the usual routine discussions about rules and budgets. Instead, these talks could set the course for the future of the Big 12, and, perhaps, whether the conference ultimately has a future at all.

Oklahoma president David Boren has big plans for the Big 12, including creating a conference network. AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki

And in the end, it could boil down to an old Western standoff, pitting the Big 12’s two founding members against one another.

On one side, Boren has made his aims clear. He wants a conference championship game. He wants to expand back to 12 members. And, above all, he wants a conference network.

"I'd like to plant the seeds for a resolution," Boren told reporters last week after an Oklahoma regents meeting. "I hope that resolution will not be a shootout. I hope that resolution will be one where everyone reaches a common goal as to what we're going to do.”

Boren no longer seems interested in incremental action, either. He wants all three, together and soon.

"What I hope we'll do is do a lot of talking about it and hope that we get some kind of a timetable laid out in front of us, during which time we'll act," he said. "Let's hope this is going to be in the next few months to a year or whatever.”

That will partly hinge on whether Boren can begin drumming up support for his cause -- so far, only West Virginia president Gordon Gee has publicly supported the notion of expansion.

But mostly, it will come down to Texas, and just how far the Big 12’s other flagship program is willing to meet Boren behind closed doors.

So far in the realignment era of the Big 12, Oklahoma has been the one to blink first.

In 2011, the Sooners attempted to pressure Texas into relinquishing the Longhorn Network by flirting with the Pac-12. Texas, however, called Oklahoma’s bluff. The Sooners, who didn’t have a firm invite from the Pac-12 unless the Longhorns came along too, were forced to accept Texas’ status quo.

This time around, though, Oklahoma might not be bluffing.

Boren hasn’t exactly come out and said that he’ll take the Sooners to another conference if he doesn’t get his way.

But he sure has insinuated as much.

“I think if -- if -- we can get the Big 12 on the right track, if this comprehensive plan could be adopted, then I would rather stay in the Big 12,” Boren told the Tulsa World last month. “I think that would be to our advantage. But it’s something that we really need to have happen. Certainly, my first choice, if we can get the right things done in the Big 12, the right steps taken, especially these three, then I think we ought to stay in the Big 12.

“If it just doesn’t happen, then I try to think long-term.”

Boren understands that Oklahoma has leverage the other Big 12 schools don’t. If the Big 12 ever dissolved, the Sooners have the tradition and the following that would assuredly land them a spot in another Power 5 conference. That wouldn’t necessarily be the case for the rest of the Big 12. Texas, of course, would have a landing spot, too. But the Longhorns most likely wouldn’t be able to take the Longhorn Network with them to the Pac-12, Big Ten or SEC, which already have conference networks in place.

That is leverage Boren clearly won't be afraid to use to push his agenda.

What is unclear is how the Texas brass will react.

DeLoss Dodds and Bill Powers, who played hardball with Oklahoma and the rest of the Big 12, are no longer around. Instead, the Longhorns have a new president in Gregory Fenves and a new athletic director in Mike Perrin.

Would they be open to compromising with Boren and whatever supporting contingent he is able to cobble together?

The answer to that could begin to materialize as soon as this week.

 

"I'm not out to embarrass Texas," Boren said. "I'm not out to make them financially worse off. This isn't any kind of motivation to do anything to Texas that makes them worse off. I just think we've got to think about ways to transition away from that, that will keep them whole and be fair with them.”

One myth percolating about the Big 12 is that it’s destined to dissolve, no matter what steps the league takes. But the truth is this: As long as Texas and Oklahoma are committed to making the Big 12 last, the conference will continue to exist.

This week, we’ll begin to find out just how willing the two schools that first dreamed up the Big 12 are to making it work.

http://espn.go.com/blog/big12/post/_/id/109392/next-three-months-could-determine-future-of-big-12

 

 

[Atlanta Bull]

If you read between the lines, B12 needs to get a foothold in SEC country/Florida:

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/sec-threatens-big-12-texas-004400560.html

 

Devwah Whaley wasn't shy about his goal. 

 

During his sophomore year, it was obvious his final two years at Beaumont Central would be spent as the centerpiece to Toby Foreman's offense. 

"Coach," Whaley told Foreman, "I want to be a running back in the SEC." 

Whaley made it a reality when he committed to Arkansas on Jan. 2, giving Bret Bielema's offense a nod ahead of 10 other SEC schools who offered him a scholarship. A decade ago -- or even five years ago -- the notion would have been odd. 

Now? Whaley's pledge hardly raises an eyebrow. He's a small part of the SEC's growing attractiveness in Texas, which has translated into increased success pulling the state's top players in the state to SEC territory.

That's been a major boost for the SEC, but it threatens the future of the Big 12. Texas, Florida and California have long been the states that supply the majority of the talent to the Big 12, SEC and Pac-12. Now, over the course of the last five years, the Big 12's foundation has shown signs of crumbling. 

Whaley and others like him are part of a growing trend. How far will it continue to grow? Are Whaley's reasons representative of the whole? And what does it mean for both leagues? 

Let's start with some facts and figures. 

Here are the number of top 50 players in Texas (via 247 Sports' composite rankings) who signed with SEC and Big 12 schools over the last six years. 

2010

• Big 12: 41
• SEC: 3

2011

• Big 12: 37
• SEC: 4

Texas A&M announced plans to leave for the SEC in September 2011. TCU announced plans to join the Big 12 the next month. 

2012

• Big 12: 30
• SEC: 16 (12 signed with Texas A&M) 

2013

• Big 12: 22
• SEC: 18 (13 signed with Texas A&M)

2014

• Big 12: 20
• SEC: 13 (9 signed with A&M)

2015

• Big 12: 27
• SEC: 17 (10 signed with A&M)

2016

• Big 12: 18 committed
• SEC: 18 committed (seven committed to A&M)

The trend obviously peaked in 2016, and just two of the top 10 recruits in Texas are currently committed to the Big 12 (both Baylor). That's the same number Houston can claim, thanks to 13 wins and a Peach Bowl victory over Florida State for Tom Herman in 2015. 

Texas A&M was claiming the vast majority of Texas' SEC signees since joining the league in 2012, but this year, that changed. Ole Miss has a verbal commitment from the state's top talent, offensive tackle Greg Little. LSU claimed safety Eric Monroe and linebacker Erick Fowler, the state's Nos. 9 and 12 overall players, respectively. Whaley, at No. 15, is Arkansas' lone signee from Texas' top 50.

"I played in Texas and turned down out-of-state offers," said Foreman, Whaley's coach. "Being from Texas, I'd like to see more kids stay in the state, but I understand. Everybody should go to the best place that fits them. You'd think with six big time successful colleges, we'd be able to keep all these guys." 

More and more, that's proving to not be the case. As social media and television access has grown, so has the worth of national recruiting. Not every SEC signee from Texas' story reflects Whaley's. 

"What you hear is that SEC is the best conference, period," said Kirk Eaton, who coaches Cy Falls in the Houston area. "That's what adults and radio, and sports talk radio, is what they're talking about. That's not what I hear kids saying,". 

His linebacker, Trey Baldwin, signed and enrolled early at Missouri. 

"I haven't had a kid in five years say I want to go to an SEC school," Eaton said. "They just want to be wanted. The whole Texas A&M thing, 'We're in the SEC' thing drives me crazy. A&M likes to toot their horn that they're in the SEC. I think that's the alums and sports media talking."

Granted, the SEC's recent run of national titles and a wide lead in NFL draft pick production has confronted every recruit in the state with an inconvenient truth: The SEC has proven itself as the home of college football's top programs. 

"I don't think that's SEC," Eaton said. "I think that's Alabama and LSU. ... Our kids just don't talk conferences. They just don't." 

The S-E-C chant assures that the league's 10 schools who haven't won a national title during its most recent run don't mind capitalizing on the four that have won a trophy. 

It's played out on the recruiting trail. Of those 10, Ole Miss and Arkansas have capitalized most in Texas.

"Nothing substitutes winning," Eaton said. "When you are playing for those national championships and winning and you're on TV and you have your own network -- there's a Longhorn Network, but I don't know if anybody even has that channel. Everybody has the SEC Network. Winning came first, and the SEC Network came second. There's no substitute for winning." 

Players signing with SEC West teams are guaranteed to play a game in Texas every two years. While Texas A&M's SEC entrance is the easiest explanation for the SEC's windfall within the state, it's not the only factor. 

"[The Big 12] needs Texas to get good again," said Mike Farrell, Rivals.com's national recruiting director said. "That's the biggest thing. They're the juggernaut and the one that keeps most of the in-state kids in when they're good and they've been bad. That's where it starts. If Texas is good, other programs can drum up attention from Texas kids who want to play Texas because UT didn't offer them."

TCU and Baylor have capitalized on Texas and Oklahoma's recent slides to field the Big 12's best recruiting classes in 2016, even despite Oklahoma's run to the playoff last season. However, neither TCU nor Baylor boasts the historical panache of the Big 12's resident powers. Expecting either to annually field top-10 classes is asking a lot. 

With Texas down and Oklahoma suffering an eight-win season in 2014, this year's recruiting results shouldn't surprise. 

"I do know that our kids, if they run down the hallway and see an SEC coach walking in the hallway, they do get excited," Eaton said. "It's what they know. "They have a short attention span, though. If OU had won that national championship, they'd be more excited about them." 

So where is the trend heading? Is 2016 an outlier? Is it a warning of what's to come? Or is it the new normal for Big 12 programs, at least until Texas returns to prominence? 

"I think it's maybe plateaued," Eaton said. 

"It's probably close to plateauing," Foreman said. 

Schools like Alabama and LSU can't overextend their recruiting efforts to far into Texas without drawing the ire of in-state high school coaches, a dynamic that could cost them signees in future classes. 

"They spot pick," Farrell said. "Alabama plucked away A'Shawn Robinson. This year, Greg Little (to Ole Miss), Erick Fowler (to LSU). Ole Miss just happened to be the one that could say, 'We're losing Laremy Tunsil. You're the next Laremy Tunsil.' LSU recruits Texas, but they take care of their own guys. If SEC programs focused too much energy in Texas, that would hurt them, but they're too smart for that. They pick and choose the right guys for them." 

It's a vicious cycle for the Big 12. It has to win to recapture recruits' wandering eyes, but without those signatures, it's a lot harder to win titles. 

"The SEC brand is so strong, they're going to continue to encroach on other areas," Farrell said. 

For all the anecdotal cases, top recruiting classes generally hoist trophies a few years later. 

For now, Baylor (No. 12) has the highest rated recruiting class among Big 12 and Texas schools,according to Rivals.com. Just two other schools are in the top 20. Texas, at No. 45, is hoping a late push for uncommitted prospects will push it up the rankings. 

 

However they do it, reversing the trend is paramount to the Big 12's future.

[Sellular1]

Lulz at Mike Beotchy at the Disney Sentinal pimping UCF as the #1 choice for the B12 

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/os-big-12-ucf-expansion-oklahoma-boren-media-20160201-story.html

[Dogma]

7 minutes ago, Sellular1 said:

Lulz at Mike Beotchy at the Disney Sentinal pimping UCF as the #1 choice for the B12 

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/os-big-12-ucf-expansion-oklahoma-boren-media-20160201-story.html

I'd rather you post the entire article (along with the link to provide the source credit.) I'd rather not give that douche more hits on his site.

[BDYZR]

18 minutes ago, Dogma said:

I'd rather you post the entire article (along with the link to provide the source credit.) I'd rather not give that douche more hits on his site.

and the local writer "pimping" USF is?

[Who'sYourData?]

Interesting discussion here: