By Clayton Grossman
The conference realignment of the early 2010’s left a sour taste in many collegiate sports fans’ mouths. It left rivalries in tatters, states divided and shifted conference powers for a decade.
Most importantly, though, it left the Big 12 in its’ weakest state since the Big 8 and Southwestern conference merged in 1996, creating the Big 12. The Big 12 finds itself behind every other power 5, with only 10 teams since 2012. The conference has made the College Football Playoffs three times (each by Oklahoma) and losing in the first round of each of those appearances. In the four other highest earning collegiate sports (men’s basketball, men’s ice hockey, women’s basketball, and baseball), the Big 12 has only two championship victories, Baylor in women’s basketball, since 2012. This reality was brought on in 2011 and 2012, as Nebraska, Colorado, Texas A&M, and Missouri left the Big 12. The replacements for some of the Big 12’s most historied programs were subpar at best. TCU and West Virginia are reputable athletic programs, they but still leave a lot to be desired. The big problem for the Big 12 right now, is its geography and small size.
West Virginia, for example, is a full three states away from their nearest conference foe, Iowa State. While it’s easy for football and basketball to travel to West Virginia, it becomes a financial burden on the Big 12 for less popular sports to travel to Morgantown. And while TCU is great for the Big 12 in securing a market in Dallas, it still doesn’t expand the territory of the conference like the addition of A&M and Missouri did for the SEC.
So what can Tech fans expect from their conference moving forward? Well to this point, the Big 12 has done little in preparing the conference to expand. The Big 12’s network ended in 2014 and profits for the controversial Longhorn Network go to UT. Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby said as recently as July of this year that Big 12 has no intention of expanding soon. If the Big 12 is not willing to expand, it could mean a further and faster decline from relevancy. But if they did choose to expand, there is a mixed bag of teams that could fit the list. BYU has been talked about as a possible addition for many years now. Cincinnati would offer the Big 12 access to the big football market in Ohio and give West Virginia a much closer conference matchup.
But if the Big 12 wants to reassert itself as a top dog in college football, it will have to take some teams from other Power 5 conferences. They could bring back A&M and Missouri, reinstating two of the biggest rivalries in college athletics: Kansas-Missouri and A&M-Texas. However, this is unlikely, considering how much money both of those schools rake in from the SEC. The best option and most realistic option for the Big 12, in my opinion, is for them to take in Arizona and Arizona State from the Pac-12. Arizona would make the Big 12 easily the best men’s basketball conference and adding the Phoenix market would bring in a lot more money for the conference.
However, Bob Bowlsby has his mindset on non-expansion for the time being. So that leaves two options for the conference moving forward: 1) Stay put and hope that programs can develop or 2) the conference dissolves. If the conference stays put, they could see limited improvement in some programs. Texas Tech’s basketball program is blossoming and Kansas recently hired Les Miles as a head coach, bringing hope to a football team that’s never been successful. This could work, but the Big 12 won’t ever earn as much money as any of the other conferences. The second option would be for the conference to break up entirely. That almost happened in 2011, as Texas and Oklahoma were both in talks to move to the Pac-12. Nothing came of those talks, but if either Texas or Oklahoma were to move from the Big 12, it would likely be the end for the conference.
For now, Tech fans and Big 12 fans alike must wait and see for the future of their conference. Hopefully, the Big 12 can regain national status and not be the bottom feeder of the Power 5 conferences, but that will take expansion from its small size and limited geography.
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