Big12_Pac10_Big10 and all other conferences as applicable expansion thread

[PFSIKH]

PAC10 Commish given carte blanche to expand.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=5257774

Huskers and Mizzou given deadline...maybe

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=5257088

Expansion Talk

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=5251329

Texas Legislator..."not without Baylor"

http://sports.espn.go.com/dallas/ncf/news/story?id=5256377

Maybe Big12 is the first to bite the dust?

[uart]

Big XII apocalypse may save the Big East. I'm psyched.

[PFSIKH]

Big XII apocalypse may save the Big East. I'm psyched.

It will be interesting.

If the Big10 can get Notre Dame off their high horse....then watch out. Mizzou and Huskers defintely....Rutgers or Cuse/Pitt to Big10. SEC making a run at ACC teams.

While a stretch, a Big East North division with an ACC South Division or a new mega conference.

[nickademus]

everything with the pac 10, big 12, big 10, big east, pretty much all of college football depends on notre dame right now. If they go to the big 10 and make it 12 teams all the rest of the country stays the same. they stay indy and dominoes fall everywhere. big 10 then expands to 16 teams and all hell breaks lose.

[uart]

It will be interesting.

If the Big10 can get Notre Dame off their high horse....then watch out. Mizzou and Huskers defintely....Rutgers or Cuse/Pitt to Big10. SEC making a run at ACC teams.

While a stretch, a Big East North division with an ACC South Division or a new mega conference.

I honestly don't see Notre Dame moving to the Big Ten without losing the Big East as an option.

Also, this: http://www.bringonthecats.com/2010/6/7/1506558/adventures-of-the-big-12-twelve

[Greenranger]

everything with the pac 10, big 12, big 10, big east, pretty much all of college football depends on notre dame right now. If they go to the big 10 and make it 12 teams all the rest of the country stays the same. they stay indy and dominoes fall everywhere. big 10 then expands to 16 teams and all hell breaks lose.

What I have heard is that the Big Ten has offered invitations to Nebraska, Notre Dame, Rutgers, and Missouri. If ND declines than the Big Ten will be a 14 team conference, if they accept they will add one more team (maybe Texas, Pitt, Syracuse, or UConn) and go to 16 teams.

[Otter]

As it stands right now, the Big 10 has 12 teams, the Pac-10 has 11 teams and the Big 12 has 10 teams. Maybe the Big 10 and Big 12 can trade names.

[uart]

What I have heard is that the Big Ten has offered invitations to Nebraska, Notre Dame, Rutgers, and Missouri. If ND declines than the Big Ten will be a 14 team conference, if they accept they will add one more team (maybe Texas, Pitt, Syracuse, or UConn) and go to 16 teams.

This is false. The Big Ten still wants ND, but has not made any more extensive offers. This rumor appears to be sourced to a Northwestern message board and has no merit.

I've been writing extensively about expansion over at VUhoops.com. My latest is at: http://vuhoops.com/2010/06/10/expansion-apocalypse-rumors/

The Big Ten's priorities look like this:

1) Notre Dame and/or Texas

2) Nebraska

3) Rutgers and/or Maryland

They jumped on Nebraska, which made Notre Dame less interested than they already were in joining. They'd have prefered to be the 12th member of a 12-team Big Ten.

The Big Ten is going to make a pitch for Texas and Texas A&M, but the inclusion of Texas Tech is off-the-table for them, which means that those two will not go to the Big Ten.

Right now the Big Ten is planning to sit at 12 until they are either forced to move or until they finish their review period and have a plan of action.

[uart]

Here's a bombshell: Big East officials were spotted in Lawrence KS today...

[Lil Bit Special]

Reports: Nebraska joining Big Ten

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=5276551

As expected, Nebraska officially accepted an invitation to join the Big Ten Conference, multiple media outlets are reporting.

Nebraska departs the Big 12 to become the 12th member of the Big Ten. Earlier this week, a source told ESPN.com that no other schools are imminent to accompany the Cornhuskers into the Big Ten.

The future of the Big 12 is in jeopardy after Colorado agreed Thursday to jump to the Pac-10. The Pac-10 is also reportedly interested in inviting Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech to form a 16-team league.

University of Texas regents will meet next week to decide whether the Longhorns will remain in the Big 12 or switch to another conference.

The regents announced Friday that they will hold a meeting by telephone Tuesday for "discussion and appropriate action regarding athletic conference membership."

One Big 12 football coach, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told ESPN.com's Mark Schlabach this week that if Nebraska left the Big 12, the conference would dissolve, according to his athletic director and university president.

[Lil Bit Special]

Boise State moves to Mountain West

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=5276064

Boise State has given the Mountain West Conference a 10th program.

Boise State is leaving the Western Athletic Conference, a league the Broncos have dominated for a decade in football, the MWC confirmed with a statement Friday.

"We are pleased and excited to welcome Boise State University to the Mountain West Conference," commissioner Craig Thompson said in the news release. "Since our inception just 11 short years ago, the Mountain West has experienced tremendous success, and the addition of Boise State will further enhance that strength. The MWC continues to strategize regarding potential membership scenarios and bringing Boise State into the Conference is an important part of that evolution."

Boise State becomes the second institution to join the Mountain West in the past six years, after TCU was added in 2005. The conference was founded in 1998 with eight members.

The Mountain West also includes Brigham Young, Utah, Air Force, Wyoming, UNLV, San Diego State, New Mexico and Colorado State.

"It will be a privilege to compete and partner with such a successful group of member institutions," Boise State president Robert Kustra said in a statement. "This move is in the best interests of Boise State's future, and the university is excited to be part of one of the nation's most outstanding conferences."

Thompson had said Monday the Mountain West would hold off on expansion until the dust settles in the other conferences.

WAC commissioner Karl Benson figured Boise State was bound to bolt for the Mountain West. So much so that as the WAC board of directors and athletic directors assembled in Las Vegas for the conference's annual meeting this week, they discussed contingency plans.

The conference didn't want to be caught off guard.

"I think everyone was anticipating and expecting it," Benson said in a conference call Monday night. "All the signals out there were pointing in the direction that any invitation would come today. ... This is an unbelievably volatile period. The poker playing that is going on I think is unprecedented.

"Regardless of what changes might occur, we are poised to move forward either with our existing membership or with any membership changes that may occur."

Benson said there wasn't any bitterness toward Boise State officials at the meeting, the relationship remaining quite cordial.

The WAC is keeping its options open, too, scouring for schools. Benson said there are five or six candidates from the Football Championship Series the conference is keeping an eye on.

However, Benson wouldn't elaborate on which schools might potentially be in the mix.

"Regardless of what the Mountain West might do, or Boise State might do, the WAC is going to continue to be a credible and recognizable conference," Benson said.

Broncos football coach Chris Petersen, who has compiled a 49-4 record and won three WAC titles in four years, said Monday the decision doesn't change anything about his plans for next season.

"We have a very challenging non-conference and conference schedule ahead of us and we are not planning to change our goals because of today's decision," he said.

[Lil Bit Special]

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=5271438

Colorado leaves Big 12 for Pac-10

The Pac-10 announced Thursday that the University of Colorado has agreed to leave the Big 12 to join its conference.

"This is the dawning of a new day for the Pac-10," commissioner Larry Scott said shortly after announcing Colorado as the league's 11th member tentatively beginning in 2012.

"The University of Colorado is a great fit for the conference both academically and athletically and we are incredibly excited to welcome Colorado to the Pac-10."

Colorado president Bruce D. Benson said his school was a "perfect match" for the Pac-10.

Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe said in a statement that he was aware that Colorado had accepted the Pac-10's invitation and is working toward solutions to keep the Big 12 together in some form.

"I continue to work through the process that was agreed upon last week by our Board of Directors to address membership issues, and are working tirelessly towards the long-term viability of the Big 12," Beebe said.

A source with direct knowledge of the Pac-10's discussions about adding more Big 12 teams told ESPN's Joe Schad on Thursday that from the Pac-10's perspective, it's "simply a matter of who signs next."

UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel, who coached at Colorado earlier in his career, said he was "thrilled" to have the Buffaloes in the Pac-10. Colorado was put on two years' probation in 2002 mostly for recruiting violations that occurred while Neuheisel was the coach there.

Neuheisel said he has a "fond place in my heart for Colorado."

"From a proximity standpoint, we used to say, it's closer to Los Angeles than Seattle is.

"So it's got a lot of natural geographic relationships with the current Pac-10 and I think it's going to be a natural fit," Neuheisel said.

MILLIONS OF REASONS

One Big 12 football coach said the Pacific-10 keyed on Colorado because it has the Denver TV market, something important to a conference with one of the smaller annual TV contracts.

BCS conference Amount of contract

Big Ten $242 million

SEC $205 million

Big 12 $78 million

ACC $67 million

Pacific-10 $58 million

Big East $33 million

As for whether any other schools might be coming on board, Scott couldn't elaborate.

"No invitations have been issued," he said. "There are still several different scenarios that we may or may not pursue."

Scott had no timetable for when this process of possibly adding more schools may play out or an answer for whether the Pac-10 would stop at just 11 teams.

"I'm authorized to pursue several different scenarios," he said. "What direction it goes in from this point, I can't say because I don't know."

Colorado's move might spell the end of the Big 12 Conference. Nebraska is also poised to announce its move from the conference to the Big Ten.

Texas president William Powers Jr., athletic director DeLoss Dodds and women's athletic director Chris Plonsky met with Texas A&M president Bowen Loftin, athletic director Bill Byrne and other university system officials Thursday in Austin, Texas, to discuss the future of their athletic programs and the Big 12.

A person briefed about the discussions said the situation was "still fluid" and the Texas schools could stay in the Big 12. The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the situation, said everyone was waiting for Nebraska's expected announcement Friday.

Among topics discussed was how the Big 12 could operate with fewer teams, the person said, and the consequences such as possible litigation should there be a mass exodus that could leave some teams behind.

U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards, a Democrat from Waco, the site of Baylor, urged Texas lawmakers to immediately hold public hearings on any potential move by the schools.

"These decisions are too important to be decided solely by a small handful of people behind closed doors without public input," Edwards said.

Dodds has said he wants to keep the Big 12 together, and Texas A&M spokesman Jason Cook said the meeting Thursday included "several topics of mutual interest to both institutions" but that "no decisions were made or agreements reached."

Baylor and Texas Tech officials have said that even if the Big 12 breaks apart, they want to remain with Texas and Texas A&M as members of the same conference. But Baylor, the only private school in the Big 12, could get left behind.

"Baylor is working feverishly to keep the Big 12 together," Baylor athletic director Ian McCaw said Thursday. "It is of special importance to keep the four Big 12 schools from Texas together."

A Big 12 football coach, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told ESPN.com's Mark Schlabach on Wednesday night if Nebraska left the Big 12 the conference would dissolve, according to his athletic director and university president. The coach said Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Colorado would join the Pac-10, leaving Baylor, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri and Iowa State behind.

The coach said the Pac-10 favored Colorado over Baylor because of the Buffaloes' presence in the Denver TV market.

"Nebraska is the key," the coach said.

Another possibility has Texas A&M looking at joining the Southeastern Conference, sources told Orangebloods.com. That angle is being pushed by A&M regent Gene Stallings, who coached Alabama to a title in 1992, the sources said.

Oklahoma State said any report about an immediate announcement by the school about leaving the Big 12 was "without merit."

"There are no announcements planned by Oklahoma State University," Gary Shutt, the school's director of communications, said in a statement. "We remain committed to the Big 12 Conference. If there are additional defections, we will have to evaluate our options."

The Pac-10 has given some preliminary thoughts to possibly changing its name after bringing in Colorado.

But that's down the road.

"From my perspective, the name of the conference, the brand -- what it stands for -- ought to reflect the membership," Scott said.

"Until our deliberations are concluded about what is the constitution of our membership, we won't go about the process of thinking about the logo or the name."

One area the league wants to take a long look at is scheduling.

More specifically, ways to reduce travel to minimize missed classes. That could mean two divisions based on geographic location.

"We are determined in whatever scenario we wind up with, through the use of divisions and creative scheduling, to make sure that any of these expansion scenarios -- including the most extreme that you've heard of -- do not result in significantly greater travel distances nor more missed class time," Scott said. "I'm confident that in any of the scenarios we're contemplating, that will not be the case."

The Pac-10 expanded for the first time since 1978, when the conference brought in Arizona and Arizona State.

A source close to the Nebraska program told ESPN's Chris Mortensen that athletic director Tom Osborne informed some staff members the Cornhuskers were going to make the move to the Big Ten.

A source with knowledge of the Big Ten's plans confirmed to ESPN.com's Adam Rittenberg that Nebraska will join the Big Ten by the end of this week or early next week. The source said the formal process of accepting a candidate either has started or would be under way shortly, as Nebraska must formally apply for admission to the Big Ten.

"It's going to happen, unless something crazy happens in the final hours," the source said. "I think by this weekend, it's going to be wrapped up."

Besides Nebraska, no other candidates are imminent for the Big Ten, which could stay put with 12 members, the source said.

Meanwhile, a University of Missouri curator said Thursday that the school has not been invited to join the Big Ten Conference, an acknowledgment made as the school's conference fights for its survival.

Curator Warren Erdman told The Associated Press that Missouri had not been asked to join the Big Ten. Erdman noted that he had been out of state the past week but wasn't aware of any change in the situation. He said the curators did not discuss conference affiliation during a closed-door morning meeting.

"Anything could happen, but we're working hard to stay together," said Missouri chancellor Brady Deaton, who added that he had called Texas president William Powers to discuss the conference's future after learning of Colorado's exodus.

Judy Haggard, chairwoman of the Missouri governing board, suggested that Missouri's fate remains unclear.

"It's too soon to say," she said before the closed meeting. "We're going to be getting a lot of information these next two days."

The Mountain West Conference, which also reportedly was interested in Colorado, said it is monitoring the "developments" in conference expansion. Boise State of the Western Athletic Conference, is also a candidate to join the Mountain West if it expands.

"We remain in communication with key parties and are continuing to implement our internal strategies. These deliberations are ongoing and will be remain confidential until the appropriate time," commissioner Craig Thompson said in a statement.

Information from ESPN's Joe Schad and Chris Mortensen, ESPN.com's Mark Schlabach, Adam Rittenberg and The Associated Press was used in this report.

[Lil Bit Special]

3 moves down, 117 more teams to go.

[Greenranger]

With the PAC-10 becoming the PAC-16, look for the Big Ten to become the Big-16, and look for the ACC and the SEC to go to 16, probably taking the BIG XII and Big East down.

[PFSIKH]

ESPN and Dallas Morning News is reporting UT, TT, OU and OSU to PAC11+ pending formal offers.

A&M wants SEC.

Paging Baylor.

[uart]

Montana will end up in the WAC.

EDIT: But not before they lose another National Championship game to Villanova.

[uart]

ESPN and Dallas Morning News is reporting UT, TT, OU and OSU to PAC11+ pending formal offers.

A&M wants SEC.

Paging Baylor.

If A&M doesn't go to the PacXX, they'll offer Utah. Baylor is headed for C-USA or MWC

[PFSIKH]

If A&M doesn't go to the PacXX, they'll offer Utah. Baylor is headed for C-USA or MWC

A&M makes so much sense to SEC. The SEC gets a footprint in Texas (not that they need it), but it is still there.

[uart]

A&M makes so much sense to SEC. The SEC gets a footprint in Texas (not that they need it), but it is still there.

The TX markets are big and it makes sense for them to get in.

[vanDoug]

ESPN and Dallas Morning News is reporting UT, TT, OU and OSU to PAC11+ pending formal offers.

A&M wants SEC.

Paging Baylor.

As a PAC 10 fan, this I'd like to see very much.

[PFSIKH]

As a PAC 10 fan, this I'd like to see very much.

Nice thing with the Pac16, the original 8 can form one division with the AZ schools and new schools forming the East Division.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=5279018

Mountain West looking at KU and Mizzou.

[LoneStarLady]

A&M makes so much sense to SEC. The SEC gets a footprint in Texas (not that they need it), but it is still there.

I thought that A&M would want to stay with UT, but the Oklahoma-Texas rivalry has overtaken the old UT-A&M rivalry. It's crazy down here when OU plays UT.

A&M has talked about their natural rivalry with Arkansas and LSU. I think SEC would like to get into the TX market--better for recruiting down the line. Plus, there are a lot of Aggie fans, who would probably drive to the closest games.

Even the TX governor is an Aggie alum, though he says he's not going to sway any decisions. He says he doesn't want politics to be involved.

The Austin paper today said that it's pretty much a done deal that UT and the other 4 will go to the Pac-10. There's a meeting on Tuesday with the UT regents but the meeting sounds like it's just happening to verify the decision. We'll see. It'll sound weird to say that Texas is in the Pac-10.

[PFSIKH]

I thought that A&M would want to stay with UT, but the Oklahoma-Texas rivalry has overtaken the old UT-A&M rivalry. It's crazy down here when OU plays UT.

A&M has talked about their natural rivalry with Arkansas and LSU. I think SEC would like to get into the TX market--better for recruiting down the line. Plus, there are a lot of Aggie fans, who would probably drive to the closest games.

Even the TX governor is an Aggie alum, though he says he's not going to sway any decisions. He says he doesn't want politics to be involved.

The Austin paper today said that it's pretty much a done deal that UT and the other 4 will go to the Pac-10. There's a meeting on Tuesday with the UT regents but the meeting sounds like it's just happening to verify the decision. We'll see. It'll sound weird to say that Texas is in the Pac-10.

What did they say when the Southwest conference died?

[uart]

Apparently Texas made some last-minute demands of the Pac-10, and when they were told no, they went back to the drawing board. The ten-member Big XII will stay alive. Their new TV contract (negotiated this weekend) locks the members in.