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.
Originally Posted by Mizzou_8541:
I appreciate your passion, but Mizzou was proactive to the changing landscape 10 years ago. Your titles mean about as much as our lack of titles, as we are in the most lucrative and stable conference, that is dictating the future of college football. So, you may think my statement is foolish, but we aren’t the ones playing musical chairs right now. You are.
Mizzou CREATED the changing landscape 10 years ago. They are the school that reached out to the B1G (and got left out on the initial round of the mess THEY started). [Reply]
Originally Posted by TomBarndtsTwin:
Hey, if you’re EVER going to be good, it helps to go against the best. No matter how hard that may be.
There’s a reason Kansas won a ridiculous 14 straight Big 12 titles or whatever it was. Helps when you routinely get to beat up on the orphaned step children. But if that satisfies you all, more power to you.
I’d rather have a high chair at the big boys table than a throne at the kiddie pool.
But to each his own . . . . .
And yet a Big 12 team is the reigning champ and the league is routinely at or near the top in all ratings systems. But hey, keep grasping til something works. [Reply]
Originally Posted by hawkchief:
Congrats on winning the conference musical chairs game! That’s evidently a moral victory Mizzou fans can claim momentarily and maybe some day one of your sports programs will actually have a notable accomplishment. KU will be fine, and Allen Fieldhouse and KU hoops will remain a bucket list stop for most sports fans across the country.
I mean….dude. I can feel your fear. The big 12 is done. You don’t know where you will be in 2022. You have numerous recruiting violations hanging over your head. Your confidence is done, but the cumulative impact of all of this is not likely to play out in your favor. My apologies that Mizzou is much more attractive position than ku. I’m sure you didn’t ask to be a fan, you were born into it. But if you were as relevant as you think you are, you’d be in Mizzou’s spot, not the one you are in. From the collegiate landscape perspective, Mizzou, UT, ATM, Nebraska. And Oklahoma is relevant. ku just isn’t. Your titles are irrelevant. I’m not saying that. I wish I had some CBB titles to call my own. The collegiate landscape is saying this. Ku was sought by no one. Mizzou was. I’m sorry that hurts your heart. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Raiderhader:
Mizzou CREATED the changing landscape 10 years ago. They are the school that reached out to the B1G (and got left out on the initial round of the mess THEY started).
Lol! So Mizzou is irrelevant, but they caused all this. Noted.
Come on over to the Tigers. We’ve got room for you [Reply]
Originally Posted by Raiderhader:
Mizzou CREATED the changing landscape 10 years ago. They are the school that reached out to the B1G (and got left out on the initial round of the mess THEY started).
Texas and money created all the instability. Mizzou may have been one of the first to jump, because they saw the writing on the wall and had a place to land, but it's hard to blame them. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Mizzou_8541:
I mean….dude. I can feel your fear. The big 12 is done. You don’t know where you will be in 2022. You have numerous recruiting violations hanging over your head. Your confidence is done, but the cumulative impact of all of this is not likely to play out in your favor. My apologies that Mizzou is much more attractive position than ku. I’m sure you didn’t ask to be a fan, you were born into it. But if you were as relevant as you think you are, you’d be in Mizzou’s spot, not the one you are in. From the collegiate landscape perspective, Mizzou, UT, ATM, Nebraska. And Oklahoma is relevant. ku just isn’t. Your titles are irrelevant. I’m not saying that. I wish I had some CBB titles to call my own. The collegiate landscape is saying this. Ku was sought by no one. Mizzou was. I’m sorry that hurts your heart.
You have no idea who is/was interested in KU. Rumors are rampant about dealings between KU and the B1G as we speak.
Difference between this move and yours will be that KU will strut in and take over the joint, while both of your sad little programs disappear further into obscurity every year. [Reply]
Originally Posted by RaidersOftheCellar:
You have no idea who is/was interested in KU. Rumors are rampant about discussions between KU and the B1G as we speak.
Difference between this move and yours will be that KU will strut in and take over the joint, while both of your sad little programs disappear further into obscurity every year.
Why wasn’t the B1G or SEC seeking out Ku, like they did Mizzou? Sorry bro. What you think is not what the rest of the landscape thinks. I know that hurts…you thought you were something great abs nobody else does. Just take your place at the end of the line, and accept it. Nobody cares about ku. Just deal with that. [Reply]
