STILLWATER – Lots of realignment rumors, news, information. These days you kind of have to decipher through all the material and then use your best judgement to apply it to your situation which for all of us is Oklahoma State and its future.
Nicole Auerbach of The Athletic is reporting that the possible alliance with the Atlantic Coast Conference, Big Ten, and Pac-12 first reported a week ago on Aug. 13, is moving closer to being announced. Her sources said that announcement could come as early as next week.
While that situation may look to be a negative for Oklahoma State, the truth is the alliance has more to do with governance than it does scheduling or competition. Meanwhile, the new Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff did an interview with his hometown newspaper, the Las Vegas Review-Journal, that discusses potential expansion for the Pac-12 and a timetable for it.
The story was an interview with the new Pac-12 leader and they flat our asked if the Pac-12 was interested or involved in expansion?
“I think we’re really, really happy with the 12 that we have in the league. The opportunity to revisit that following Texas and Oklahoma has certainly presented itself. I am not actively poaching any school or convincing anyone to leave their existing conference, but I wouldn’t be doing my job if I wasn’t listening to schools that wanted to go in the Pac-12, and we’ve had a lot of them reach out,” explained Kliavkoff. “Probably all of the ones you would expect and several you’d be surprised by.
“We have taken initial meetings with everyone that has expressed an interest,” he continued. “We have a working group … who are together deciding on what to recommend … At the end of the day, they’ll make the decision about whether or not to offer admission to the Pac-12 to any other schools.”
Pokes Report knows that Oklahoma State has been in talks several times with the Pac-12, some by phone and some we believe in person. Those talks have been as recent as earlier this week.
Okay, the Review-Journal asked Kliavkoff if there is a deadline? His answer was kind of vague and exact all in one.
“There’s no hard deadline related to any of this, but I would say I don’t think it’s good for college athletics given the vibration that’s going on as a result of the Texas and Oklahoma news,” answered the Pac-12 commissioner. “The quicker we can dampen that vibration, the better. We will have a decision on whether we intend to expand or not in the next couple of weeks.”
Now as for the alliance, sources from various publications and outlets including The Athletic claim the three conferences are sending a message to the SEC and its commissioner Greg Sankey and that is they are going to join together and create a voting block that will not allow him and his conference to become the lead force and top powerbroker and decision maker in the future of college athletics.
That is more what the alliance is about than anything else.
The face of college football is ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit, and he has been vocal about not liking the place college football is in right now. He spoke on a radio show and mentioned Oklahoma State and some of the remaining schools in the Big12.
Joe Faraoni / ESPN Images
Kirk Herbstreit
“Well, I don’t know what to make of it. I think it’s a great idea," said Herbstreit of the reported alliance between the ACC, Big Ten, and Pac-12. "I think the SEC power play, where they brought in, you know, they were already considered the premier conference for college football and now you bring in two more brands in Texas and Oklahoma. I know on one hand it’s exciting for the SEC if you want to look at it through that lens. But if you choose to look at it through a different lens -- What’s going to happen, not just to the ACC and the Big Ten, but most specifically, what’s going to happen to Kansas State and Iowa State and Texas Tech and Oklahoma State? These are good brands. Where are they going to go? Are they going to try to keep that Big 12 together? Are they going to pick up a Houston maybe?
The truth is picking up Houston or any other Group of Five school couldn’t do it. The Big 12 lives only as long as they are making money off Texas and Oklahoma.
We know Oklahoma State is involved and the process is moving down the road, maybe faster than before.
