Big 12 Non-Expansion Link Dump - October 18th

Hopefully, this is the last one of these for awhile. There’s going to be a lot in here as there’s a lot out there. I truly apologize to anyone that posted something in another thread that I posted here.

Big 12 basically came out of this looking extremely bad:


Mandel absolutely goes to town on the Big 12; this is a good read:

The Big 12 owes a lot of people an apology
The league made a mockery of conference expansion

So what exactly did Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby, Boren and the other nine presidents accomplish these past few months?

Well, for one, they blew off a whole bunch of earnest people who just wanted to associate with them. They ticked off their TV partners. And they subjected themselves to a new level of mockery. When the SEC seemingly bumbled its recent handling of the LSU-Florida postponement, many referred to it as “Big 12-esque.”

Maybe, finally, all will go quiet on the Big 12 front. But that will depend in large part on whether Boren can go more than a month without popping off about something.

Whatever the next great Big 12 controversy, hopefully it doesn’t involve so much collateral damage.

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Fifteen month odyssey reveals more Big 12 issues

How many of those were or are considered home runs? None. But some have added value, including TCU, a conference nomad which quickly became one of the better Big 12 football programs. If the Big 12 really wanted to give this process its due, it should have looked for the next TCU, projecting 5-10 years out rather than talking in circles. And if the Big 12 is ultimately doomed in the long-term, adding members would have brought a short-term financial windfall, which could help current members who won’t find soft landing spots if the conference dissolves.

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Brian Smith didn’t hold back either although he gets into CTH leaving at the end.

Big 12’s decision reflects how outdated conference is
Boren & Co’s decision reflects how outdated conference is
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The idiocy emanating from the Big 12’s Big Nothing Day was utterly stunning. Except for the fact it was expected, more than a year in the making, and tattooed across Boren’s half-smug/half-clueless face the second his increasingly outdated conference announced to the world it was considering modernization.

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Well played, pray10…

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http://www.si.com/college-football/2016/10/17/big-12-expansion-future-media-rights-david-boren-bob-bowlsby?xid=socialflow_twitter_si

Houston: No school improved its profile more than Houston the past year, as it rushed to build and upgrade its facilities. Its football success the past two seasons showcased the logical reasons for the Cougars to be in a Power Five league. There’s a proven talent base, market and ability to command big television ratings. That’s a foundation. But where could they go? No easy answer there. Houston has two challenges. It needs to sustain its momentum after Tom Herman’s expected departure at the end of this season. (The notion he’d have stayed if UH reached the Big 12 is a bit naïve, as jobs like LSU, Texas and USC are still exponentially better.) And UH still needs to figure out how to find revenue to keep up with its increasing expenses. Neither is an easy challenge.

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Embedded Video - Daniel Gotera slams the Big 12

https://twitter.com/DTGoteraKHOU/status/788228039800922116

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Big 12 candidates react to league’s decision to not expand
http://collegefootball.ap.org/node/510913

“One of the telling things about this process is that the Big 12, in wanting to expand, look at who they were talking to. Most of the schools they were talking to were in our conference. I think that shows, without question, that our conference plays at their level and are athletically and academically appropriate to be a Power Five.” — UConn President Susan Herbst, who also serves as chairwoman of the board for the American Athletic Conference.

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This is a good one:

Jeff Jacobs: UConn, Others Played For Fools By The Big 12 Circus Freak Show

This wasn’t the intent when the NCAA Division I board of directors voted in 2014 to allow the five conferences to write their own rules, like cost-of-attendance stipends, recruiting, etc. The intent was to allow the schools with the resources to use them so they wouldn’t bolt yet to keep Division I together by allowing the smaller schools to afford it. The rule helped Texas and Oklahoma. The rule helped Hartford and Quinnipiac. The unintended consequence is the rule kicks the hell out of UConn and Cincinnati and Houston. Autonomy didn’t address the schools that had the budget to run with the Power Five in 2014 and won’t have it in 2024. Does the NCAA have the courage to re-address this massive problem?

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Bohls: If the Big 12 had no dysfunction, it wouldn’t function at all

Is this any way to run a conference? If you’re new here, this is one of the many reasons that the Texas A&Ms and Nebraskas jumped ship. Never mind that the consultants told the Big 12 that it could better its chances of reaching the College Football Playoff by as much as 15 percent if it enlarged the league membership as well as add a championship game, which it will do next season.

Know this: The Big 12 was wrong in not adding any schools.

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And in the end, it was all a giant waste of our time. Mine, yours and everyone else who spent a moment of their time on this drama. Because today the Big 12 announced it unanimously voted not to expand.

The interesting part for me is that it was posted on the Fox Sports website.
Have you noticed of how little “noise” came out of espn?
Yesterday, I was glued to my smart phone. I had to contain my anger for a few hours and went into a sports bar to see if I could see any mention(s) reports on the espn networks. The silence or very little mentions told me everything I had to know.
You can bet that Fox is upset at the power play that the small12 and espn imposed on them. That also explains why boren reacted the way he did.
I have mentioned multiple times the PAC12 but the BIG10 would be very wise to invite us. Fox would gain eye balls and espn would have to rethink its entire regional strategy. I have the feeling this coming up next.

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UH rejected in Big 12 disappointment
University’s ability to sustain athletics momentum in question
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Bowlsby acknowledged that some of the candidates would have been “additive” to the Big 12’s fortunes, which have suffered in recent years with the departure of charter members Nebraska, Colorado, Missouri and Texas A&M.

Big 12 is no bigger, and certainly no better, after rejecting expansion

The Big 12 didn’t move any closer to a TV network in the summer than it was in the spring, and it’s no farther away in autumn. It’s always been nowhere near making that happen. But still, fine universities with excellent athletic programs from Provo, Utah to Storrs, Conn., were dragged through this embarrassment.

“We went through a process that was, I think, thoughtful and respectful of the schools,” Bowlsby said. “We wanted to be very careful not to commoditize great institutions and view them as chess pieces on a board. We didn’t do that.”

Anyone else think maybe Bowlsby isn’t the best judge of that?

Here we go again. The chron uses the word SUBSIDY Read between the lines on the real intent behind that article. We all know that is behind the chron. They will never use the PUF and what that means to U of H. The two are forever linked.

Whether Fox and ESPN put their foot down, Texas reminded everybody that it still had no interest in ditching LHN, or the Big 12 truly just couldn’t agree on teams … we’re back to where we were 92 days ago. Good times.

Texas Governor blasts Big 12 for punting on expansion
http://collegefootball.ap.org/node/510914

“The Big 12 owes a lot of people an apology. It punted on expansion & shanked its future. @UHouston deserved better,” Abbott tweeted.

The one move that could save the Big 12
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/the-one-move-that-could-save-the-big-12-160138736.html?soc_src=social-sh&soc_trk=tw

So far, the Big 12 has done no lobbying for an expanded playoff. Instead it spent 15 months on a pointless expansion discussion. It’s long past time for the leadership to finally lead.

LACK OF BIG 12 EXPANSION SHOWS WHO REALLY HOLDS THE POWER IN COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Expansion could have at least been one last gambit that could have stalled or detoured what seems like the inevitable. Instead, we got our answer to the question we posed a few months ago of “who is really in control here?” The answer isn’t Oklahoma or Texas or anyone else in the Big 12, it’s ESPN and Fox. Coming out publicly against Big 12 expansion was a major power play by Fox and ESPN, but when you have all the power already, what do you really have to lose?

Monson: Big 12’s big play makes saps out of BYU and every other expansion candidate

Boren and Bowlsby said that decision was not a rejection of the fine academic and athletic institutions who voluntarily — a word they repeated numerous times — threw their hats in the ring for consideration. It was simply a confirmation of the wonderfulness of the Big 12 as already constituted. That’s a remarkable conclusion, one that would have been fairly easy to reach without the dog-and-pony show, the ruse, of the past six months. Except that the extortion of network funds had yet to be completed.

Tepper: Big 12 decision not to expand leaves everyone in limbo
THE CONFERENCE HAS REPORTEDLY DECLINED TO EXPAND BEYOND THE CURRENT ALIGNMENT, ACCORDING TO MULTIPLE REPORTS.
http://www.texasfootball.com/tepper-big-12-decision-not-expand-leaves-everyone-limbo/?platform=hootsuite

At some point, the Big 12 will have to make a big decision — either to expand itself, merge with another conference or disband altogether. Monday’s decision only delays what feels inevitable.