The hot topic in college athletics nowadays is the issue of conference expansion and realignment. It started off innocently enough, with talks of Missouri joining the Big Ten, or some Utah teams joining the Pac-10. But now it seems this rumor weed has grown too big, as Texas is starting to join the names of those who could move. Now we’re getting serious. So the question is: Should (or will) Texas move?
I’ll be honest, I don’t see this move happening, and if it did I don’t think I’d see it as a very smart move if they were to go to either the Big Ten or Pac-10. Let’s get the positives out of the way first. Texas would get a lot of money, without really having to do anything. I’ve heard numbers around $9 million as an incentive to move to the Big Ten. There’s about all the positives I can think of, but that’s 9 million pretty good reasons. There are those that would say then that Texas couldn’t afford not to move. But realistically, they can, are one of the few athletic departments that can.
What they can't afford, however, is losing the long-standing rivalries. The biggest rivalries are in football, of course, against pretty much the entire Big XII South. But this doesn't just affect football, but every other sport. There are many big rivalries in college athletics, but usually the fervor is reserved for select sports. There are few that cover all, and one of those (at least in my mind, I can't necessarily speak for those in Austin) is that between Texas A&M and Texas. A move to the Big Ten would shatter this. It would be very difficult for Texas to ensure scheduling against the Aggies during non-conference every year in every sport. And especially for football, where Texas would presumably be interested in keeping the Red River Rivalry going. Their conference schedule would have to be manipulated heavily to just keep these two games, which are both traditionally played at certain dates.
Keep in mind also that Texas was very influential during the creation of the Big XII, and continues to be influential. If they're not happy with something within the conference, they have the pull to get almost anything they want. But the one thing that they do not have control over is competition, but the rest of the conference takes care of that. In the two "money sports", football and men's basketball, the Big XII is typically ranked as the second best in both sports, although they had a slight drop last year in football. The Big Ten and Pac-10 are somewhere below that, although the Pac-10 had a strong year in football despite USC's drop-off. In all other sports that Texas competes in, the Big XII always has several teams near the top of the list.
Basically, I just don't see why Texas would want to go through with this. I'm sure there are other things being brought up as to why they should move, but when it comes down to it, Texas is at the top of arguably one of the best conferences in the nation. Where else would you want to be?
Don't forget that it is a nine million dollar per year incentive, since its mainly from the TV contract...
ReplyDeleteTo me, this is just Texas being Texas, greedy. Academically, I think we are slightly below the Big 10, and far behind the Pac-10. We have schools like tceh, and the oklahoma schools bringing us down, while they have schools like stanford and usc...
Financially, I think they underestimate the success they have become accustomed to. It is very hard to be successful in collegiate sports, with all the competition out there. I think everything is cyclical though, and I think their downturn isn't all too far away. Mack Brown won't be around all too long, and Muschamp is a toolbag that won't be able to recruit at the same, or coach at the same level as Brown. You can see what is about to happen to usc after Carroll left...
I personally think we are the most well-rounded conference in the nation, considering women's and men's, all sports, and popularity. We have some need in the TV slot, but they are largely responsible for that, as they and ou did not push for the widespread exposure for the conference, since they knew they would have no tv exposure problems of their own.
Texas is going to have to break this move down for all the different aspects of the University. Financially, why not? It's 9 million dollars that we could use for a number of purposes. Being at UT, it is very evident that funds are running relatively low. We had to cut almost all informal classes, and next year the number of professors is being lowered. So to turn down 9 million dollars that is just given might be considered fiscally irresponsible.
ReplyDeleteAcademically, it can also be viewed as a step up. The Big 10 is respected far more than the Big 12 in this regard. Many people view Texas as being "out of place" academically being in the Big 12. With schools like Michigan, Penn State, Purdue, Northwestern, and others, Texas would be respected much more as an academic university. To compete with those schools would be much greater than competing with the likes of Texas Tech and Oklahoma.
Now comes the athletic portion of this debate. I view this as a huge dilemma. I agree with Ben in saying that the loss of the big rivalries would be a huge blow. Scheduling would be very tough. I would say it was possible because the Big 10 normally finishes early December due to the lack of a conference championship, but the adding of Texas would ironically bring the Big 10 to 12 teams... eliminating that problem. However, this could prove to be a great move recruiting wise. Texas has the possibility of playing in Ann Arbor, Happy Valley, and Columbus every year. They could use this fact to sell to families of players who come from those regions. Most of Texas' recruits come from Texas, but having that extra incentive in their pocket they could start pulling heavily from across the nation. The Big 10 also has a much better TV contract.
I also look at this move as being a positive for non existent sports at UT. The state of Texas has one of the most rich pools of talent for soccer in the nation. The move to the Big 10 would cause the school to have a men's soccer team. It also gives lacrosse a chance to emerge. It's not like the university would be having a lack of funds...
I may be biased but i wold love to see this move occur. The rivalries of the Big 12 do not mean too much to me. But i did grow up in the Big 10 so i would love to see Texas form new rivalries with schools i truly hate like Michigan and Ohio State. Plus this would just give me an excuse to go back to my home in Happy Valley every year...
Matt, i think you're a little bit biased. But I don't think that the academic portion of the debate is that big. It certainly plays a part in the formation of conferences and whether a conference will allow another university in, but ultimately it comes down to athletics, and again, Texas has all it wants (minus men's soccer, but they could still talk to other Big XII universities and try to gather support for that) in the Big XII.
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