Brett McMurphy of ESPN fame has an article up today about how BYU is looking to join the Big 12 and the Big 12 isn’t interested in expanding. The Big 12 not expanding is a pretty big deal around these parts since Cincinnati is stuck in a league with Tulane and Tulsa and East Carolina for the foreseeable future.
In the article, there was a story about how close the Big 12 was to ending and possibly merging with the Big East. After Pittsburgh and Syracuse left for the ACC, the Big 12 was hit with Colorado leaving for the Pac 12 and there were all the rumors of Texas, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State following suit. This left two conferences in flux.
“My favorite story that hasn’t been written,” Luck said. “After Syracuse and Pittsburgh (announced they were leaving for the ACC), that was in the same time frame that Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State were playing footsie with (Pac-12 commissioner) Larry (Scott) and the Big East was a mess.”
So Luck began cold-calling athletic directors at Baylor, Kansas, Kansas State and Iowa State with a proposal.
“I didn’t know those guys from Adam,” Luck said. “I knew the schools. I told them, ‘Your conference may fall apart. You guys look like you might get left behind. Why don’t we take all of you and TCU, which was kind of homeless.”
Luck’s plan, which also had the support of Louisville athletic director Tom Jurich, was also to add UCF for a 12-team Big East divided into two divisions: West: Baylor, Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State, TCU and Louisville; East: UConn, Cincinnati, Rutgers, West Virginia, South Florida and UCF. “I remember thinking: ‘That’s not a bad conference,'” Luck said.
Cool story, you might say. But would that have kept the basketball schools around?
“And we would have kept the affiliation with the (Big East) basketball schools, because they loved the addition of Kansas.
The Big 12 schools were ready to go.
“They (the Big 12 schools) also liked it. They were nervous as hell, too. We had a series of phone calls. That was sort of our best option.”
The Big East was never in on the discussions and ultimately the Big 12 added TCU, who was suppose to join the Big East, and West Virginia and no one else left. The Big East blew up into a million difference pieces with the only members left being Cincinnati, Connecticut and USF. Syracuse, Pittsburgh and Louisville are all in the ACC, or soon to be in Louisville’s case. West Virginia went to the Big 12. Rutgers is a part of the Big 10. The basketball schools took the Big East name, added Creighton and Xavier and continued along.
Cincinnati and Connecticut, as well as the Florida schools, are trying to exit a league of which they are the cornerstones. They are the major losers in this shake up because they are the only schools that are on the outside of the Big 5 conferences that run college football and get all the glory, TV, and the major opportunities.
Pretty much every bounce that could have gone against Cincinnati in conference realignment happened. We can only do the best with where we are though. Maybe things will shake up again.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
