I thought UT and A&M had more power in the state but I guess not according to the article.
As the merger neared, Texas politics played a key role in who went to the Big 12 and who didn’t.
Banowsky: I think everyone assumed it would be [Texas] Tech and Houston. Because it was the publics [Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech and Houston] and the privates [Baylor, Rice, SMU, TCU]. That was kind of a clean way to do it. Public schools get public funding and it just seemed like the legislature would want to make sure it happened. Then out of the blue, Houston was out and Baylor was in.
Texas’ governor at the time, Ann Richards, was a Baylor graduate.Lt. Gov.Bob Bullock graduated from both Texas Tech and Baylor. The Texas House Speaker [Pete Laney], House Appropriations Committee Chairman [Rob Junell] and Texas Senate Finance Committee Chairman [John Montford] were all Texas Tech graduates.
According to the book “Bob Bullock: God Bless Texas,” by Dave McNeely and Jim Henderson, Bullock summoned Texas and Texas A&M’s presidents to his office in early 1994 as the merger neared. “You’re taking Tech and Baylor, or you’re not taking anything,” Bullock told them. “I’ll cut your money off, and you can join privately if you want, but you won’t get another nickel of state money.”
I wonder if the comment Abbott made about the B12 must add Houston if they were going to expand, was the real reason they did not expand, because they did not want Houston.
Yes they didn’t really want Houston and there are points that everyone can hide behind. Some legit fear that Houston in the Big 12 could be a real issue in further diluting recruiting in Houston, especially for the middle tier schools.
Some claimed the market was already saturated, that’s debatable of course. The northern schools also claim to be worried about bringing in another Texas school to create a too powerful southern block signed with UT.
Abbot didn’t help that out by injecting the stake level politics into the discussion, which the north definitely balked at being told what to do.
Richard’s I don’t know how she ever kept her nose as clean as she did, because there really isn’t a ton of direct evidence in the role she played good or bad. Bullock on the other hand clearly shafted us for his alma maters.
Still have my SWC coffee mug right here on my desk. Fond memories of my UH days in the SWC of the late 80s and early 90s. CUSA and AAC will never compare, unfortunately.
As the only person that “outranked” Bullock (as Governor), and that could have countermanded him, she appears to have stood idly by and done NOTHING.
That’s almost as bad, in my view.
Our elected leaders should be actively looking out for the best interests of our PUBLIC universities like UH…NOT private CHURCH schools like Baylor.
The fact that that DIDN’T happen with those two…that the OPPOSITE happened with those two…and that those two both…just COINCIDENTALLY (chuckle chuckle) happen to be Baylor grads themselves speaks VOLUMES…and in the WORST possible way, about them.
UH was used as a pawn against the Oklahoma and Kansas schools. They (the Texas schools, specifically UT) knew that UH to the B12 would be a non-starter for expansion, both with the aforementioned northern B12 schools and ESPN. It was win-win for the Texas schools - kill expansion or have another Texas school as a voting bloc regarding the conference.
I’ve said it before, but all the nostalgia for playing Texas schools is meaningless to me. I could careless if we ever play UT, A&M or any other Texas school. They don’t give a crap about us. We may not have a choice if it means a P5 invite, but if there is anyway to avoid them, I’m all for it
I’d much rather play schools who are relevant to the people in my life. The alma maters of my coworkers and colleagues, friends, relatives, and acquaintances. Who cares what the opinions of the administrators are. More fuel for the fire.
No disagreement from me on this point. They should have been. But if you’re relying on people to do the right thing in the world as a key cog in a success plan there’s a good chance you have already lost the battle
I would add…I would return to the days of only regional conferences. Texas is plenty large to have eight major football programs. If you want to make it more of a national fit, pull in LSU as a rival to Arkansas and the two Oklahoma schools.
If we’re bringing back the SWC, I’d like to move that we also return the Ivy League, SWAC, and MEAC back to FBS, and also bring Nebraska and Mizzou back to the Big 8.
That was a fun read. I would love to see the SWC get back together again. A couple of thoughts:
The UH/TCU game they mentioned is in my top 5 most exciting games I’ve seen.
I was at that final UH/Rice game. I never really gave it much thought until today that it was the last SWC game played.
While the feuds, scandals, fan apathy and Arkansas’ departure hastened the demise of the league, the beginning of the end can be traced to a 1984 Supreme Court case in which Oklahoma and Georgia won an antitrust case against the NCAA, seizing control of television deals. Suddenly, market size and TV sets were a big factor in conference affiliation. With the SWC so saturated with 90% of its schools in one state, that hurt its marketability for a big-money TV deal. It was a regional conference in a sport going national.
This is the point I’ve made on other threads. The biggest culprit for the demise of the SWC wasn’t the infighting or sanctions. Those were red herrings. It was TV rights. More specifically, wresting those rights away from the NCAA.
Timing is everything. Even as powerful as the office of lieutenant governor is in Texas, Bullock could not cut A&M’s money off completely both because, as a state school, A&M would be entitled to receive some state appropriated funds every biennium and A&M would still get its share of PUF money as required by the Texas Constitution. Nevertheless, Bullock caught the Aggies by the shorthairs as they and UT were trying to sneak out the back door of the SWC to join the Big 8.
A&M had secured a donation to build a new, badly needed basketball palace to replace G. Rollie Wright Coliseum. But, the new building would be situated on A&M’s campus, which is state-owned land; and the legislature’s permission is required in order build anything on state-owned land. And that is where Bullock had the upper hand because he effectively controlled the legislature. Bullock’s threat to withhold permission for the Aggies to build what they needed in order to become highly competitive in basketball (which they really weren’t then) is what caused A&M to agree to take private school Baylor and irrelevant Texas Tech (from both of which Bullock had graduated) with them to what became the big12. - Thus, UH got screwed by Bullock’s misprision of office. And, Ann Richards, the governor and another Baylor alum, simply averted her eyes and took another drink.
I understand this is a football thread, but I think it would be cool to have some sort of early-season SWC Classic MBB series each year. A neutral venue in Dallas or Houston (even San Antonio for that matter), featuring four former SWC teams each year: pick from UH, UT, TTU, TAMU, Baylor, Arkansas, TCU, and SMU. It would be a competitive event and also pay tribute to the good old days. It would be great for UH to take on UT or TAMU.
