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.
Highly placed Big 12 sources told the Tulsa World that there is a consensus among Big 12 leaders to ask commissioner Dan Beebe for his resignation. Those sources confirmed that former Big Eight commissioner Chuck Neinas has been targeted to serve as the interim commissioner until Beebe’s replacement is identified. http://eye-on-collegefootball...._fb_na_txt_0001 [Reply]
Originally Posted by patteeu:
I don't think it's safe to take any of the public statements at face value. It appears to me that Pac12 was interested in taking Texas and OU and something one or both of them demanded (probably UT) was too much for them to accept. So it could be just as true that Texas told them to back the hell off as it seems to be that the Pac12 did. If the Pac12 didn't want something here, they would have never entertained the idea of taking OU/TX in the first place.
...
Originally Posted by jAZ:
From my source...
"It was a done deal until things got messy and difficult.* Even Scott, the biggest proponent of the superconferences did not think he could make this work seemlessly.* I just spoke to a well placed Pac Ten official who told me that the expanded league would have been as messy as the Big 12 has been with big egos and the desire for special status.* The presidents who were on board as of last week were turned off by having to compromise to add schools they wanted (OU and UT) and were not thrilled with having to take OSU and TTech.* So instead of humiliating anybody with a rejection, they just decided to stand pat until this thing blows up again in a couple of years.* The Big 12 survives again. For now while the Pac 12 will flourish as 12."
Originally Posted by patteeu:
Yeah, I understand that. They probably didn't want UT's Longhorn Network either. What I'm saying is that you can't really say that the Pac12 rejected UT and OU without at the same time acknowledging that UT and OU rejected the Pac12 because it seems pretty likely that OU and UT were making demands that the Pac12 just wouldn't accept.
From what I have posted and read from "my source" (heh)... Pac-12 feels like they have the cards. They are VERY satisfied with where they are today. They felt like UT and OU (even with TT and OSU) would improve things, but not overwhelmingly. They had a plan to let UT save face by "keeping" their network (in name only, basically) but allowing all teams to have equal money ultimately (because the Pac-12 media deal is better than what the Big-12 overall can get... and all teams in the Pac-12/6 are and would make more money than UT would in the Big-12).
But Pac-12 wanted UT, OU, KU and MU ideally. And the politics and demands of UT were becoming complicated. So the Pac-12 cut off further discuss.
They *were* interested. But on their terms.
You are right that UT felt like they wanted to get certain things and they weren't happy without those things. So in that sense UT was still holding out. But as I understand it, it's the Pac12 that walked away. Not UT. [Reply]
Originally Posted by jAZ:
From what I have posted and read from "my source" (heh)... Pac-12 feels like they have the cards. They are VERY satisfied with where they are today. They felt like UT and OU (even with TT and OSU) would improve things, but not overwhelmingly. They had a plan to let UT save face by "keeping" their network (in name only, basically) but allowing all teams to have equal money ultimately (because the Pac-12 media deal is better than what the Big-12 overall can get... and all teams in the Pac-12/6 are and would make more money than UT would in the Big-12).
But Pac-12 wanted UT, OU, KU and MU ideally. And the politics and demands of UT were becoming complicated. So the Pac-12 cut off further discuss.
They *were* interested. But on their terms.
You are right that UT felt like they wanted to get certain things and they weren't happy without those things. So in that sense UT was still holding out. But as I understand it, it's the Pac12 that walked away. Not UT.
I don't care about all this "interest". We are the Big12. We run things over you (PAC 12) not the other way around.
This is how I've perceived the silence from KSU and KU especially.
BGL and Zenger have actually played this masterfully. Not spouting off like OU. Not "leaking info like MU. Very well done. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Wickedson:
Why does everyone keep bowing down to the PAC12? Who the **** cares??
The Big 12 is and will always be here.
I'm not staying up til 3am watching basketball.
Everyone know this. **** em
Settle down big boy...
Nobody is bowing down to anybody... We are just talking about better options than the cesspool Big 12...
Like most fans here, everyone is sick of the Big 12, sick of Texas and basically as a KU fan, I hope those little fuckers get into a BCS home.. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Wickedson:
I'm not staying up til 3am watching basketball.
Everyone know this. **** em
Well shoot, Wickedson won't stay up til 3am to watch basketball. There goes that conference alignment dream. All AD's consider what Wickedson would do, you know, WWWD? [Reply]
Originally Posted by kstater:
Yeah thats why they were silent. Had nothing to do with not having anywhere else to go.
Maybe...maybe not.
But as an alum I want my President and AD discussing these matters behind closed doors. Not getting played in the media like some of the other schools. [Reply]