STILLWATER – Just an update after San Jose Mercury sportswriter and Pac-12 beat expert Jon Wilner broke the story that conference realignment, an annual summer blockbuster, is back for 2022. You might want to give Oklahoma State head football coach Mike Gundy some credit too. Gundy has never stepped off his stance that conference realignment wasn’t done and that there would be more movement sooner rather than later, no pun intended. The news is that USC and UCLA are looking to join the Big Ten in time for the 2024 football season and the 2024-25 academic calendar. Wow!
An update on the Oklahoma State end of this. School President Dr. Kayse Shrum was in Oklahoma City on business and was back in Stillwater later in the day. She was being kept aware of the news. Athletic director Chad Weiberg and deputy athletic director Reid Sigmon was also in the athletics center on Thursday. The department’s resident expert on the Pac-12, senior associate athletic director Kevin Klintworth was not in the office, but was in contact with Weiberg. Klintworth worked at Cal-Berkeley and while not surprised with the move of USC and UCLA still found it interesting especially since UCLA and Cal-Berkeley are in the same system. I bet Cal people feel a little like Oklahoma State folks felt last summer.
One athletics staffer said while it did not feel like last summer you could tell some tension in the air. Last year the threat level went to DEFCON one. This move today brought it up somewhere between DEFCON three and four. The movement of the Trojans and the Bruins could trigger the final dominoes in bringing together a super level of college football and schools like Oklahoma State want to get a seat at the table.
What allowed USC and UCLA to depart is that the Pac-12 grant-in-rights concludes after the 2023 season when the league’s current multi-media rights deal concludes. One Pac-12 administrator claimed his conference had just been Sooner’d and Horn’d. They were. Just like Oklahoma and Texas held any future in the Big 12, such as a new grant-in-rights agreement at an arm’s length; USC and UCLA also did the same with regards to an extension of the Pac-12 grant-in-rights. When will conference officials and other schools administrators learn they are being passed over for a better deal.
Wilner claimed that he thinks this is a FOX Television inspired move as they paused the negotiations with the Big Ten and the pause may have been to get the Los Angeles market into the Big Ten before finalizing the new television deal. FOX, in essence, maneuvers a deal to strengthen the Big Ten much like ESPN was in behind the Texas and Oklahoma move into the SEC.
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Lincoln Riley is going to coach in a real football conference afterall..
Okay, as Oklahoma State fans you don’t care about USC and UCLA. It will be fun seeing former OU head coach Lincoln Riley go to a league where he may have to play more than two or three legitimate strong football programs. He will see some competition in the Big Ten. What is important to Oklahoma State University President Dr. Kayse Shrum, vice-president Kyle Wray, athletics director Chad Weiberg, and Gundy is getting Oklahoma State in the best possible place.
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For Yormark, time to get to work.
I would advise new Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark to drop everything, even the last several weeks of Beyonce’ World Tour and get to work on the future of the Big 12. With the announcement of USC and UCLA going east to the Big Ten, he needs to either beef up his conference or he’s likely going to see some of his programs look for some other options.
Just exactly what are the best options for Oklahoma State with regard to the Big 12 or any other development:
Option No. 1
By far the best option for Oklahoma State is to get the SEC to expand again and be one of the teams to get in. SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey may see this development and get antsy to add some more to the SEC. Dr. Shrum has stayed in touch with Sankey and let him know that her school is eager to compete in that league. The SEC and Big Ten are now way in front of the other conferences that were known as Power Five. If you aren’t in either of those two conferences, then you are in a precarious position.
Option No. 2
Oklahoma State needs to hope and see the SEC, Big Ten, and other legitimate schools that are in the top 25-30 in all of college football come together to forge a super association of college football. The schools in the SEC and Big Ten, even Vanderbilt, Rutgers, Maryland, Purdue, and Missouri will be included because they are in the umbrella of the SEC and Big Ten. Outside you would have Clemson, Oklahoma State, North Carolina, Baylor, Miami (Fla), Florida State, Oregon, Washington, and Utah that would seem to be legitimate members of that super football league. Unfortunately, this enhanced conference might be somewhat skinny, skinny enough that some good football schools would not be included.
Option No. 3
The Big 12 and the Pac-12 finally get together. This was supposed to happen, was even very close seven-years ago, but now it would be out of desperation. I would not advise keeping everybody. Oklahoma State, Baylor, Texas Tech, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Houston, Cincinnati, BYU, West Virginia, UCF, Utah, Oregon, Washington, Stanford, Oregon State, Washington State, Colorado. Why leave out TCU, California, Arizona, Arizona State? I don’t know how much football value they truly have. Get out the spread sheets, television ratings history, and make decisions accordingly.
Option No. 4
This is my favorite if Oklahoma State isn’t brought in to the SEC or a super football league isn’t formed. Simply go get Utah (best football program in Pac-12) and Oregon (most valuable and most watched program in the Pac-12) and bring them into the Big 12. With Utah you get the “Holy War” rivalry, the best football rivalry in the Rockies and west. Utah plays football like a high level Big 12 program. Oregon brings all the flash and a big brand courtesy of Nike. What about Washington? Sorry, only taking two and they aren’t in the top two.
