The old one has AIDS.
Anyways, Chip Brown from Orangebloods.com reports OU may apply to the Pac-12 by the end of the month.
Oklahoma will apply for membership to the Pac-12 before the end of the month, and Oklahoma State is expected to follow suit, a source close to OU's administration told Orangebloods.com.
Even though Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott said Friday the Pac-12 was not interested in expansion at this time, OU's board of regents is fed up with the instability in the Big 12, the source said.
The OU board of regents will meet within two weeks to formalize plans to apply for membership to the Pac-12, the source said.
Messages left Sunday night with OU athletic director Joe Castiglione and Oklahoma State athletic director Mike Holder were not immediately returned.
If OU follows through with what appears to be a unanimous sentiment on the seven-member Oklahoma board of regents to leave the Big 12, realignment in college athletics could be heating back up. OU's application would be matched by an application from Oklahoma State, the source said, even though OSU president Burns Hargis and mega-booster Boone Pickens both voiced their support for the Big 12 last Thursday.
There is differing sentiment about if the Pac-12 presidents and chancellors are ready to expand again after bringing in Colorado and Utah last year and landing $3 billion TV contracts from Fox and ESPN. Colorado president Bruce Benson told reporters last week CU would be opposed to any expansion that might bring about east and west divisions in the Pac-12.
Currently, there are north and south divisions in the Pac-12. If OU and OSU were to join, Larry Scott would have to get creative.
Scott's orginal plan last summer was to bring in Colorado, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State and put them in an eastern division with Arizona and Arizona State. The old Pac-8 schools (USC, UCLA, Cal, Stanford, Oregon, Oregon State, Washington and Washington State) were to be in the west division.
Colorado made the move in June 2010, but when Texas A&M was not on board to go west, the Big 12 came back together with the help of its television partners (ABC/ESPN and Fox).
If Oklahoma and Oklahoma State were accepted into the Pac-12, there would undoubtedly be a hope by Larry Scott that Texas would join the league. But Texas sources have indicated UT is determined to hang onto the Longhorn Network, which would not be permissible in the Pac-12 in its current form.
Texas sources continue to indicate to Orangebloods.com that if the Big 12 falls apart, the Longhorns would consider "all options."
Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe held an emergency conference call 10 days ago with league presidents excluding Oklahoma, Texas and Texas A&M and asked the other league presidents to "work on Texas" because Beebe didn't think the Pac-12 would take Oklahoma without Texas.
Now, it appears OU is willing to take its chances with the Pac-12 with or without Texas.
There seemed to be a temporary pause in any possible shifting of the college athletics' landscape when Baylor led a charge to tie up Texas A&M's move to the Southeastern Conference in legal red tape. BU refused to waive its right to sue the SEC over A&M's departure from the Big 12, and the SEC said it would not admit Texas A&M until it had been cleared of any potential lawsuits.
Baylor, Kansas and Iowa State have indicated they will not waive their right to sue the SEC.
It's unclear if an application by OU to the Pac-12 would draw the same threats of litigation against the Pac-12 from those Big 12 schools.
Stay tuned.
[Reply]
From: Aaron Brandt
To: Boren, David L.
Subject: Leaving the Big 12
Date: Monday, September 05, 2011 8:13:30 AM
David,
I hate the University of Oklahoma. Really, I do! I'm a University of Missouri fan, however the thought of the Big 12 disbanding is something I hate even worse. You control this. Your the most powerful man in College Athletics right now. If you decide to take the University of Oklahoma to the Pac-12, it will leave Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas State, Kansas, and MU out in the cold. Now, I'm a business man, I understand business. You could care less what happens to these other colleges. Hell I would care less too if I was the President of the University of Oklahoma, but would moving to the Pac 12 be a great move for OU? Yeah money money money, a new start, but also more competition longer flights and
less chance of making the BCS. Why don't you let this Big 12 (with 10 teams) play out a few years. GET DAN BEEBE FIRED. Try to recruit Notre Dame Football, BYU, and Arkansas. I personally don't think the SEC wants to expand, maybe they could just switch out A&M for Arkansas (far fetched but still a maybe).
Again, I HATE OU. That won't change if OU heads west in the GOLD Rush of the Pac-12 or stays in the Big 12. Obama got elected on his promise of "CHANGE". America voted and made a change. What has that "Change" done for us this great country? He promised America the grass was greener on the other side and we found out its just as brown as it was before. I emailed Mike Alden before he hired Frank Haith, you can email him ask. I told him my opinion. After he hired Frank Haith, I sent him another email about how much of a mistake he made. I said the hiring of Haith will be Quinn Synder all over again, and sure enough scandal has engulfed him before he has even coached a game. Maybe it was luck, maybe it wasn't. My gut says OU will regret making the move to the Pac 12. Guess we will see if I keep batting a thousand.
Good Luck,
Aaron Brandt
If change is must, fire Dan Beebe and see what happens.
[Reply]
