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Got 2 separate stories for you guys, one on a possible merger of the Big East and Big 12, in which would form the 4 Super conference.
Big Ten
SEC
Pac-12
ACC
Big 12/East
They are discussing it, it isn't final.
In other news.
OU and Texas have been authorized to take attack on the Pac-12.
http://espn.go.com/college-football/...er-report-says
http://espn.go.com/college-sports/st...nts-act-pac-12
More at the site.
Big Ten
SEC
Pac-12
ACC
Big 12/East
They are discussing it, it isn't final.
NEW YORK -- The Big East and Big 12 might join together in their fight for survival.
School and conference officials from the two leagues have been discussing ways to merge what's left of them if Texas and Oklahoma leave the Big 12, a person involved in the discussions told The Associated Press.
The person, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk publicly about what is going on behind the scenes, said Monday there has been dialogue between athletic directors and high-level officials in the conference offices.
"Those conversations are alive and ongoing," the person said.
Syracuse and Pittsburgh have announced they will be leaving the Big East for the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Texas and Oklahoma are both trying to decide whether to leave the Big 12 for the Pac-12, taking Oklahoma State and Texas Tech with them.
The Doug Gottlieb Show
ESPN College Basketball Insider Andy Katz talks about incredibly bad timing by Syracuse and Pittsburgh to leave the Big East for the ACC. Who's next? He also goes through the SEC, Big Ten and a possible PAC-16.
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Both universities' board of regents voted Monday to give their presidents the right to choose a new conference, though the Texas regents still held the right to give a final approval.
If the Big 12 loses those four members, it would leave Missouri, Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas and Kansas State scrambling.
Without Syracuse and Pittsburgh, the Big East still has six football members, Cincinnati, Connecticut, South Florida, Rutgers, Louisville and West Virginia. Plus TCU is slated to join in 2012, giving the Big East a presence in Big 12 country.
Also talking about a merger is the Mountain West Conference and Conference USA.
Mountain West Conference Commissioner Craig Thompson told the Idaho Statesmen that he and CUSA Commissioner Britton Banowsky "resurrected this consolidation concept with Conference USA from a football-only standpoint."
A union between those schools could create one BCS automatic qualifying league, but there's no guarantee some of those schools won't also look elsewhere.
The Southeastern Conference has voted to accept Texas A&M as its 13th member, and speculation has Missouri and West Virginia as candidates to become No. 14.
The ACC might not be done adding Big East teams. The conference reached 14 members with the recent additions, and UConn and Rutgers would allow it to continue to expand its presence in the Northeast.
"I think UConn will be in the ACC, if I had to guess," Syracuse basketball coach Jim Boeheim said today during a speech at the Monday Morning Quarterback Club in Birmingham, according to The Birmingham News. "I think Rutgers could be."
The Big East also has seven non-football members in St. John's, Providence, Marquette, Seton Hall, DePaul, Villanova and Georgetown, and Notre Dame -- which competes in the Big East in everything but football.
According to a source close to Notre Dame, the Irish's first choice is to remain as an independent in football and stay in the Big East in all other sports.
If the Irish decide they can't remain as a football independent then the choice would be to pursue the ACC before the Big Ten.
But the latter is not the ideal scenario for the fiercely independent Irish. The Irish don't want to give up independence unless forced.
Managing the agendas of the football and non-football schools has been an issue for Big East Commissioner John Marinatto, who is in his third year leading the conference.
Big 12 Commissioner Dan Beebe managed to keep the Big 12 together last year when Texas was considering a move to the then-Pac-10 that would have included Texas Tech and the two Oklahoma schools.
However, that might have only been a temporary reprieve for the league.
School and conference officials from the two leagues have been discussing ways to merge what's left of them if Texas and Oklahoma leave the Big 12, a person involved in the discussions told The Associated Press.
The person, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk publicly about what is going on behind the scenes, said Monday there has been dialogue between athletic directors and high-level officials in the conference offices.
"Those conversations are alive and ongoing," the person said.
Syracuse and Pittsburgh have announced they will be leaving the Big East for the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Texas and Oklahoma are both trying to decide whether to leave the Big 12 for the Pac-12, taking Oklahoma State and Texas Tech with them.
The Doug Gottlieb Show
ESPN College Basketball Insider Andy Katz talks about incredibly bad timing by Syracuse and Pittsburgh to leave the Big East for the ACC. Who's next? He also goes through the SEC, Big Ten and a possible PAC-16.
More Podcasts »
Both universities' board of regents voted Monday to give their presidents the right to choose a new conference, though the Texas regents still held the right to give a final approval.
If the Big 12 loses those four members, it would leave Missouri, Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas and Kansas State scrambling.
Without Syracuse and Pittsburgh, the Big East still has six football members, Cincinnati, Connecticut, South Florida, Rutgers, Louisville and West Virginia. Plus TCU is slated to join in 2012, giving the Big East a presence in Big 12 country.
Also talking about a merger is the Mountain West Conference and Conference USA.
Mountain West Conference Commissioner Craig Thompson told the Idaho Statesmen that he and CUSA Commissioner Britton Banowsky "resurrected this consolidation concept with Conference USA from a football-only standpoint."
A union between those schools could create one BCS automatic qualifying league, but there's no guarantee some of those schools won't also look elsewhere.
The Southeastern Conference has voted to accept Texas A&M as its 13th member, and speculation has Missouri and West Virginia as candidates to become No. 14.
The ACC might not be done adding Big East teams. The conference reached 14 members with the recent additions, and UConn and Rutgers would allow it to continue to expand its presence in the Northeast.
"I think UConn will be in the ACC, if I had to guess," Syracuse basketball coach Jim Boeheim said today during a speech at the Monday Morning Quarterback Club in Birmingham, according to The Birmingham News. "I think Rutgers could be."
The Big East also has seven non-football members in St. John's, Providence, Marquette, Seton Hall, DePaul, Villanova and Georgetown, and Notre Dame -- which competes in the Big East in everything but football.
According to a source close to Notre Dame, the Irish's first choice is to remain as an independent in football and stay in the Big East in all other sports.
If the Irish decide they can't remain as a football independent then the choice would be to pursue the ACC before the Big Ten.
But the latter is not the ideal scenario for the fiercely independent Irish. The Irish don't want to give up independence unless forced.
Managing the agendas of the football and non-football schools has been an issue for Big East Commissioner John Marinatto, who is in his third year leading the conference.
Big 12 Commissioner Dan Beebe managed to keep the Big 12 together last year when Texas was considering a move to the then-Pac-10 that would have included Texas Tech and the two Oklahoma schools.
However, that might have only been a temporary reprieve for the league.
OU and Texas have been authorized to take attack on the Pac-12.
The University of Oklahoma's board of regents and their counterparts at Texas granted their school presidents the authority to take action regarding conference realignment on Monday.
The moves clear the way for the Sooners and Longhorns to apply formally to the Pac-12, with whom they have been undergoing discussions in recent days on how to make the schools' addition to the conference work.
After the regents meeting had adjourned, Oklahoma president David Boren admitted he's had "very warm and constructive discussions" with Pac-12 officials, but wouldn't say when the Sooners might apply for conference membership.
But Boren made it clear that OU had not notified the Big 12 Conference it was leaving and that remaining in the Big 12 was "still on the table." He added, however, that the threat of litigation by other Big 12 members had not affected OU's position of exploring realignment.
“
As much as we talk about money, as much as we talk about college football ... we better go back and make sure that we're taking care of the players and that the players and the high school coaches are always considered in the equation.
”
-- Texas coach Mack Brown
"Obviously, we do not want to continue to have these kinds of situations where our membership in a conference has to be revisited every year," Boren said.
On Sunday, those talks were still a long way from the point at which Pac-12 leadership would be comfortable recommending the move to the league's presidents, a source told ESPN.com's Andy Katz. The proposed expansion would include fellow Big 12 schools Oklahoma State and Texas Tech.
"There has been a great deal of movement around the country and press reports around the country concerning conference realignment,'' school president William Powers told the Texas board. "We believe that it would be very helpful if the campus and I, and along the terms that were discussed earlier with consultation the chancellor and the chairman of the board and others, be able to explore options and have the authority to make decision with respect to this including continued participation in the Big 12."
"And we will do that first and foremost with the interest of our student athletes and the long-term interest of the University of Texas in mind.''
Texas coach Mack Brown shared the apparent skepticism of an overwhelming majority of fans throughout Big 12 country when he said the best interests of players should be duly considered in any decisions on conference alignment.
That sentiment was echoed by Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe.
"The actions taken today by the governing boards of the universities of Oklahoma and Texas was anticipated," Beebe said in a statement. "It is my opinion that the case for the Big 12 Conference continues to be as strong today for all of our current members as it was last year, especially considering the welfare of those to whom we owe the greatest responsibility -- the student-athletes.
The Doug Gottlieb Show
ESPN College Basketball Insider Andy Katz talks about incredibly bad timing by Syracuse and Pittsburgh to leave the Big East for the ACC. Who's next? He also goes through the SEC, Big Ten and a possible PAC-16.
More Podcasts »
"We continue to apply all effort and resources toward assuring our members that maintaining the Big 12 is in the best interest for their institutions."
According to the results of a poll released Monday that was commissioned by Baylor and conducted by KRC Research, college football fans prefer traditional rivalries and regional conferences over super-conferences.
According to the poll over the weekend of 1,500 college graduates within Big 12 states, 76 percent of fans said they would be disappointed by the creation of super-conferences.
Brown turned impassioned in the Big 12's weekly conference call with the league's head coaches and media. "As much as we talk about money," Brown said, "as much as we talk about college football, as much as we talk about realignment, as much as we talk about great games, playoffs and all that stuff, we better go back and make sure that we're taking care of the players and that the players and the high school coaches are always considered in the equation.
"Because if not, we're not going to have a game, and they're the ones that are playing. And, for parents to travel all the way across the country is going to put a bigger burden on them."
The moves clear the way for the Sooners and Longhorns to apply formally to the Pac-12, with whom they have been undergoing discussions in recent days on how to make the schools' addition to the conference work.
After the regents meeting had adjourned, Oklahoma president David Boren admitted he's had "very warm and constructive discussions" with Pac-12 officials, but wouldn't say when the Sooners might apply for conference membership.
But Boren made it clear that OU had not notified the Big 12 Conference it was leaving and that remaining in the Big 12 was "still on the table." He added, however, that the threat of litigation by other Big 12 members had not affected OU's position of exploring realignment.
“
As much as we talk about money, as much as we talk about college football ... we better go back and make sure that we're taking care of the players and that the players and the high school coaches are always considered in the equation.
”
-- Texas coach Mack Brown
"Obviously, we do not want to continue to have these kinds of situations where our membership in a conference has to be revisited every year," Boren said.
On Sunday, those talks were still a long way from the point at which Pac-12 leadership would be comfortable recommending the move to the league's presidents, a source told ESPN.com's Andy Katz. The proposed expansion would include fellow Big 12 schools Oklahoma State and Texas Tech.
"There has been a great deal of movement around the country and press reports around the country concerning conference realignment,'' school president William Powers told the Texas board. "We believe that it would be very helpful if the campus and I, and along the terms that were discussed earlier with consultation the chancellor and the chairman of the board and others, be able to explore options and have the authority to make decision with respect to this including continued participation in the Big 12."
"And we will do that first and foremost with the interest of our student athletes and the long-term interest of the University of Texas in mind.''
Texas coach Mack Brown shared the apparent skepticism of an overwhelming majority of fans throughout Big 12 country when he said the best interests of players should be duly considered in any decisions on conference alignment.
That sentiment was echoed by Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe.
"The actions taken today by the governing boards of the universities of Oklahoma and Texas was anticipated," Beebe said in a statement. "It is my opinion that the case for the Big 12 Conference continues to be as strong today for all of our current members as it was last year, especially considering the welfare of those to whom we owe the greatest responsibility -- the student-athletes.
The Doug Gottlieb Show
ESPN College Basketball Insider Andy Katz talks about incredibly bad timing by Syracuse and Pittsburgh to leave the Big East for the ACC. Who's next? He also goes through the SEC, Big Ten and a possible PAC-16.
More Podcasts »
"We continue to apply all effort and resources toward assuring our members that maintaining the Big 12 is in the best interest for their institutions."
According to the results of a poll released Monday that was commissioned by Baylor and conducted by KRC Research, college football fans prefer traditional rivalries and regional conferences over super-conferences.
According to the poll over the weekend of 1,500 college graduates within Big 12 states, 76 percent of fans said they would be disappointed by the creation of super-conferences.
Brown turned impassioned in the Big 12's weekly conference call with the league's head coaches and media. "As much as we talk about money," Brown said, "as much as we talk about college football, as much as we talk about realignment, as much as we talk about great games, playoffs and all that stuff, we better go back and make sure that we're taking care of the players and that the players and the high school coaches are always considered in the equation.
"Because if not, we're not going to have a game, and they're the ones that are playing. And, for parents to travel all the way across the country is going to put a bigger burden on them."
http://espn.go.com/college-sports/st...nts-act-pac-12
More at the site.
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