The Bear is Wounded and Feeling Sorry for Itself

Dear Baylor Family,

The beginning of August marks the return of many of our student-athletes in preparation for their upcoming fall seasons and the fall semester. Unfortunately, the winds of conference realignment have taken the spotlight away from these incredible Baylor student-athletes, but I could not be more excited to see our football, soccer and volleyball teams fling their green and gold in just a few short weeks.

Earlier today, Vice President and Director of Athletics Mack B. Rhoades IV and I traveled to Austin to testify in front of a Select Senate Committee looking into the Future of College Sports in Texas, following the pledged departure of the University of Texas from the Big 12 Conference in 2025. We were joined by Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby, our colleagues from Texas Tech and TCU, and UT President Jay Hartzell.

My message to the Committee was three-fold:

  1. It is imperative that Texas maintain its nation-leading five Power 5 schools, not only for athletics purposes, but for the prestige, academic partnerships and financial benefits such status brings to our universities;
  1. Losing Power 5 status would have devastating financial implications for Waco, Lubbock and Fort Worth – in excess of $569.1 million in annual gross product and 7,615 jobs, according to a report from the Perryman Group – and a state institution should not be able to inflict such harm on Texas taxpayers and communities; and
  2. As institutions of higher education, we uphold a sacred trust with our constituents, and we must be held to a higher standard. We must compete with integrity, respect for our colleagues, and with openness and transparency.

Mr. Rhoades reinforced that any economic upside to UT’s move to the SEC will be felt outside of the state of Texas in neighboring places such as Fayetteville, Arkansas; Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and distant ones such as Columbia, South Carolina. The Big 12 calls Texas home, with the conference office based in Irving, and hosts the Big 12 Football Championship annually in Arlington at AT&T Stadium and has the DFW Metroplex in regular rotation to host the NCAA Final Four – both huge economic drivers and important points of pride for our state.

The bottom line is that a strong Big 12 Conference is good for the state of Texas. And I know our colleagues at Texas Tech and TCU feel the same way. With the commitment of Texas and the University of Oklahoma to stay in the Big 12 until 2025, that will allow the eight remaining conference members time to work strategically and thoughtfully as we chart our shared future. As such, we anticipate the “conference carousel” to slow in the days and weeks ahead.

Mr. Rhoades and I appreciated the opportunity provided by Governor Abbott last Tuesday to discuss with him the current athletic conference landscape and his willingness to assist the Big 12 and its Texas-based members as we move forward. We also send our sincerest thanks to the “Baylor delegation” – members of the Texas Legislature and other state officials who have ties to our University and have tirelessly advocated on our behalf over the past few weeks.

We understand that change and uncertainty are upon everyone involved with intercollegiate athletics. You can be assured Baylor and her leadership are proactively and aggressively engaged in best positioning the University for the future, both athletically and academically. We have a great story to tell.

While media speculation and rumors continue to run rampant – and can certainly be entertaining – we pledge to keep you, as the Baylor Family, informed as specific developments warrant. Thank you for your prayers and ongoing support of our great University.

Sincerely,

Linda A. Livingstone, Ph.D.
President

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“Love and Kisses”
PS: We are Scroomed

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“It is imperative that we maintain five Power 5 schools, but equally imperative that we don’t expand to six or seven Power 5 schools, because that is just too much. I mean, come on, we’re not greedy.”

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I don’t know about those podunk towns of Lubbock and Waco, but Fort Worth isn’t losing much. All the OU/UT fans I knew that went to TCU games already lived in DFW. TCU would rarely have more than 30-35k in their stadium if the game wasn’t UT/OU. They will lose those season tickets that were bought just to get 1 game so instead of announced 42k with 30k in attendance you will have announced 32k or something. If these 3 are worried about losing out of town visitors, UH is the best option by far to get into the Big 12. Don’t whine about economic impact and then add a couple schools a 1000-1500 miles away.

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If it’s true that there’s great benefit in keeping 5 power five schools in state, who says that they necessarily should be one of them?

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Exactly, replace Baylor with Houston and you have five.

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I think we can have FIVE Power Schools moving forward

  1. UT
  2. Texas A&M
  3. Houston
  4. Texas Tech
  5. TCU

Is something wrong with my math?

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NONE of them had a single ounce of regret kicking UH to the curb…Baylor, more than any other, is Dead Man Walking…Waco has a population of 140k, they bring nothing nothing to the table in terms of media presence and growth

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Exactly, where was all the angst and outrage over the negative economic impact to the City of Houston???

Beeoches!

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So not quite as big as Pasadena, but slightly bigger than several other local cities like Sugar Land and Pearland, or The Woodlands area (all around 120k). Got it. I think the Houston market would definitely have a greater financial impact than the Waco/Mart/Marlin metro area.

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Texas just about has almost 30 mil so it can support 6 p5s. La has a pop of 4.7 and 1 p5. Miss has a pop of less than 3 mil with 2 p5s. Mack is wrong.

Word to Baylor: Boo Hoo! Cry me a river.

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Texas and their fans carried the financial burden for Waco, etc. That was the justification for dividing the money differently at the end of the SWC and the reason UT et. al. bolted the old SWC and left us, TCU, Rice, SMU behind. The difference this time is that Baylor is getting it in the shorts along with Tech and the TCU Corndogs. Boo effing hoo.

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Two of the schools mentioned are not even public universities.
Since they are so concerned with the STATE OF TEXAS, they MUST also be pitching that the school located in the heart of Texas’ largest city, The University of Houston, should be included?

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You’d think a savvy politician would place the economic interest of a large public institution ahead of a pair of religious schools. We’ll see. One thing’s for sure–Ann Richards and Bob Bullock aren’t around to help Baylor—and Baylor knows it this time.

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Don’t forget West, they have West, that’s got to count for something. :wink:

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Lmao! Boom! Lol!

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More evidence that the Bear is wounded badly. Mack Rhoades probably should come up with a better rip on Texas than the one he made up. Mack, they went to the SEC for the money and they were tired of you and Baylor living off of their Sugar Daddy benefits.

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BCLjQi2

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Maybe Mizzou wasn’t so bad, mmmkay?

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