New Conference re-alignment thread

[Saulbadguy]

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.

[BryanBusby]

Originally Posted by Eleazar

ACC makes a lot of sense for Kansas, although it’s going to be a lot tougher sledding there than in the Big XII, and the travel will be rough.

No reason whatsoever for UK to leave the SEC.

It would be a step down unless the ACC has some clause that would allow them to tear up that TV deal. That's without including the increased travel costs for all sports.

[Eleazar]

Originally Posted by BryanBusby

https://www.surlyhorns.com/board/ind...c-in-ms-paint/

Nsfw

That’s the funniest damn thing I’ve seen in a long time

[Chief Pagan]

Originally Posted by BWillie

Duke and UNC will still always be the darlings of that conference.

Uh huh...

via MEME

[Prison Bitch]

Originally Posted by Rams Fan

I do not believe UK has any interest in leaving the SEC currently.

Not currently

Plus, a large draw for recruits coming to UK in football is to play in the SEC.

Literally nobody cares about Kentucky football.

It makes no sense for the school to change affiliations. Alumni would not be happy and I think there's something to be said within the state as to looking down as Louisville as inferior-meaning whatever conference that Louisville is in, by default, is inferior to whatever UK is in because it has Louisville in it.

SEC will generate more revenue than the ACC.

Also, **** Louisville.

The only issue to be worked out is getting Vandy and you to walk away from the larger SEC payouts. Not sure it’s workable.

[Rams Fan]

Originally Posted by Prison Bitch

Not currently




Literally nobody cares about Kentucky football.

The only issue to be worked out is getting Vandy and you to walk away from the larger SEC payouts. Not sure it’s workable.

Stoops is pulling in top 30 recruiting classes with a decent amount of his pull coming from Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida along with going toe-to-toe with Ohio St. in Ohio as well as beating Clemson, Ohio St., and Alabama for the best LT prospect in this upcoming recruiting class from just outside of Louisville. Stoops and staff sell their recruits on getting to play in the SEC and being a 6 hour drivable distance from their family.

The university has also invested significantly in improving the program(new training facility, stadium was renovated significantly in the past 10 years, and they invest heavily in Stoops and his staff).

All of that progress would be heavily impacted with going to the ACC.

And there's literally no financial incentive to leave. Kentucky is one of, if not the, highest revenue generating basketball programs in the country. And it's still out earned by football. Moving to the ACC won't change that fact on top of the ACC contract not being nearly as lucrative as the SEC.

[ChiefsCountry]

Kentucky isn't Kansas. They actually do give a damn about their football program.

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by Rams Fan

Stoops is pulling in top 30 recruiting classes with a decent amount of his pull coming from Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida along with going toe-to-toe with Ohio St. in Ohio as well as beating Clemson, Ohio St., and Alabama for the best LT prospect in this upcoming recruiting class from just outside of Louisville. Stoops and staff sell their recruits on getting to play in the SEC and being a 6 hour drivable distance from their family.

The university has also invested significantly in improving the program(new training facility, stadium was renovated significantly in the past 10 years, and they invest heavily in Stoops and his staff).

All of that progress would be heavily impacted with going to the ACC.

And there's literally no financial incentive to leave. Kentucky is one of, if not the, highest revenue generating basketball programs in the country. And it's still out earned by football. Moving to the ACC won't change that fact on top of the ACC contract not being nearly as lucrative as the SEC.

Yeah. There's been absolutely zero chatter I've ever seen about Kentucky leaving the SEC, and it doesn't make any sense.

The model Stoops has used at Kentucky is the same one Drinkwitz is now rolling with at Mizzou. Successful so far.

And that's a model where, if you do get the stars to align, you can actually get into the playoff. Just need to have that difference-making QB to pull it all together.

[ChiefsCountry]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

Yeah. There's been absolutely zero chatter I've ever seen about Kentucky leaving the SEC, and it doesn't make any sense.

The model Stoops has used at Kentucky is the same one Drinkwitz is now rolling with at Mizzou. Successful so far.

And that's a model where, if you do get the stars to align, you can actually get into the playoff. Just need to have that difference-making QB to pull it all together.

Hasn't Kentucky been going into Ohio and selling the non-Ohio State recruits to come play in the SEC?

[Prison Bitch]

Originally Posted by ChiefsCountry

Kentucky isn't Kansas. They actually do give a damn about their football program.

Why tho? KY football sucks ass.


504-563 all time - sure sounds a lot like Kansas’ 530-635.


I’m sure some meth’d out hillbillies go to their games. But nobody with a brain cares about any of these bottom feeders.

[Rams Fan]

Originally Posted by ChiefsCountry

Kentucky isn't Kansas. They actually do give a damn about their football program.

The difference is that Kentucky within the past 10 years or so has really started to spend money on football dating back to before Stoops(more-so in part of the Rich Brooks era leading into Joker Phillips).

We have a very passionate football base, as passionate as basketball, but not as large.

Kentucky will never be a national power in recruiting, but can be a large one regionally. Stoops is a great coach and I don't think he'd leave anytime soon given his contract structure(it auto-renews if he wins 6 games on top of bonuses for additional wins, bowl games, etc). The pressure is low and as long as the team is bowl eligible with an occasional appearance in Atlanta(that should be a realistic expectation now), the program will be where it should be realistic expectations wise.

If Kentucky is basically what Mizzou was for the majority of Pinkel's tenure, a lot of people will be happy.

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

Yeah. There's been absolutely zero chatter I've ever seen about Kentucky leaving the SEC, and it doesn't make any sense.

The model Stoops has used at Kentucky is the same one Drinkwitz is now rolling with at Mizzou. Successful so far.

And that's a model where, if you do get the stars to align, you can actually get into the playoff. Just need to have that difference-making QB to pull it all together.

Yes. I think Mizzou has a higher ceiling program wise given the in-state recruiting advantages with KC and STL, but very similar overall.

Originally Posted by ChiefsCountry

Hasn't Kentucky been going into Ohio and selling the non-Ohio State recruits to come play in the SEC?

Yes, which is why they're getting recruits.

Stoops is basically doing a better job at recruiting out of Ohio now than when Pinkel was recruiting in Texas for a majority of his time in CoMo. And he's also getting really high ranked (4*) recruits over Ohio St. Him and Vince Marrow are kicking ass there.

Originally Posted by Prison Bitch

Why tho? KY football sucks ass.


504-563 all time - sure sounds a lot like Kansas’ 530-635.


I’m sure some meth’d out hillbillies go to their games. But nobody with a brain cares about any of these bottom feeders.

Because there's no school in the state that competes with Kentucky historically in terms of popularity. None. Louisville is a joke. They are little brother in the Bluegrass. And no one outside of Louisville cares about them.

Additionally, Kentucky was somewhat decent back in the day before a span of 30 years of being mediocre to bad.

[Kiimo]

I know some coaches on the Chiefs who care about Kentucky football

[Rams Fan]

Originally Posted by Kiimosabi

I know some coaches on the Chiefs who care about Kentucky football

Matt House ended up helping Stoops turn the program around tremendously.

He (Stoops) had to take over playcalling from D.J. Elliott(current DC at KU) in 2016 because of how bad the team was performing. Stoops would have likely lost his job during that season.

The two biggest differences between Kansas and Kentucky football currently are the following:
1. Kentucky gave Stoops time to build his program and he's actually started producing results, showing that he's been a decent-to-good hire at Kentucky. And has had better results than any coach since Mangino at Kansas.
2. Kentucky is spending a lot of money on improving the facilities. I'm unsure about if that's the case at KU.

Also, a lot of this has to do with overall stability within the athletic department with Barnhart. I'm unsure if there's any Power 5 school that has had all 3 of their basketball, football coach, and AD in place as long as Kentucky has.

[KChiefs1]

I never thought Stoops would turn around UK football but he proved me wrong.

The Mizzou vs Kentucky game should be interesting this season.

[ptlyon]

Originally Posted by KChiefs1

I never thought Stoops would turn around UK football but he proved me wrong.

He stole coach Klein's playbook

[ChiTown]