You seem to believe that the Big XII is courting/interviewing so many schools because they need to sell people on adding teams from non P5 conferences..... Well TCU wasn't from a P5 conference. The Big XII doesn't really need to sell the public on the schools they add; time will decide if the additions were good (like TCU) or regrettable (like WVU over Louisville). WVU left a conference that many felt didn't deserve any recognition as a power conference and while solid, WVU wasn't a powerhouse. I think Cincy and Houston will excel in the Big XII if they are choosen. Both are in locations with a lot of talent. Already K-State and OK ST have spoken out about adding UH will severely hurt recruiting talent out of the city of Houston.
I agree that the Big XII has lost stronger programs than gained. It is part of the reason I think they should go to 12 teams and not 14. UH and UC are likely to be good long term in high revenue sports and have large student bodies. At some point they can pick off another large program or two when available. Obviously long term; adding Notre Dame would be a power shifter closer towards catching the SEC.
Have heard this from a lot of UH folks but without much substantiation behind it. Not saying it wasn't true but never read anything that proved it. Anyways, came across this article on the merger with a ton of info and quotes. Found a few that I had never heard before...
Again, TCU carried national prestige and a decade of dominance that is not available this go around by any available team. You seem to be pivoting on, West Virginia. They were from a major conference that had as much of a placement in the BCS as the other conferences. It fell in stature when teams like West Virginia started to leave and teams like Tulane came in to replace them. Louisville was not seen as a strong football choice at the time since of the big 12 decision (Fall 2010). Louisville was coming off a 3 year span where they were a combined 5-16 in conference play while West Virginia was 15-6. Beyond the numbers, the feeling and way people are talking about this around is not the same at all. It looks more desperate and there are no slam dunk teams that help the conference. I mean, if there were then the big 12 would not be interviewing 12 different teams. Maybe the last expansion wasn't a great PR move for the conference but this one is worse and this is a strategy to help that. I don't know if you'll see any teams from the SEC or Big 10 become available. An ACC team is definitely no longer available. I think they're likely to extend media rights like the ACC did sooner than later. It is my opinion (not a personal thing) that neither UH or UC add that much to the conference. Big cities with little interest behind them and tiny stadiums. UH says they can expand their's but it sounded like they said 2 weeks ago that they are spending too much money now and need to get into a major conference to make up for it. I don't know how eager they will be to expand the stadium since the return on 10 or 15 k additional seats that they sell 6 days a year is going to pay for that construction anytime soon. I also don't think there is anyway to say that either team would be successful in the big 12. That's nothing against these 2 teams. I just don't think you ever know. I'll say what I have been saying about UH. Just keep winning. They can't 2 good seasons (10+ wins) back to back. Last year was great. They just need to do it again this year. Beating OU would just blow everyone out of the water and probably help the school with their draw in Houston.
The two teams I would pick to join the Big12 would be UH and Rice. Why? Because I'm a football fan and I live in Houston. I went to many SWC games at Rice stadium and the Astrodome and it was awesome. I don't give a damn about money or tv viewers. I just care about games being played between teams I care about. Kansas, Kansas State, West Virginia, and Iowa State may as well be from another universe because I don't give a flip about any of those schools. I don't know one person that went to any of those schools. You can't convince me that UT fans from Houston would rather watch the Horns play Iowa State or West Virginia when they could be attending games in person against Rice or UH in Houston.
Rice is the correct choice if you want a high quality academic school in the league. That's what we bring. Some of the other schools being discussed are just embarrassing from an academics point of view. If high quality academics are not of value and you just want eyeballs watching TV, there are other schools for that. Very long shot for Rice, since it's all about tv.
There's not really all that much to be excited about the Big 12 conference. As a UT fan, I care about the OU game. I miss the A&M game. I'd probably be happier without conferences. A lot happier than being obligated to play Rice and UH every year. I am not slighting Rice as a university. This isn't about academics. This is about the product I consume heavily in the fall every year called college football, and Rice just happens to always suck at it - may not even be their fault. I just want to see good matchups. Watering down the conference even more sucks. Say what you will about how bad UT has been, but they have the best chance of winning a championship in the next generation out of the conference along with OU - and that's just a fact. The way college football is.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">.<a href="https://twitter.com/TilmanJFertitta">@TilmanJFertitta</a>'s opinion is if <a href="https://twitter.com/UHCougars">@UHCougars</a> land <a href="https://twitter.com/Big12Conference">@Big12Conference</a> invite,<a href="https://twitter.com/American_Conf">@American_Conf</a> buyout will not be an issue <a href="https://t.co/fAnoJjMFgt">pic.twitter.com/fAnoJjMFgt</a></p>— Mark Berman (@MarkBermanFox26) <a href="https://twitter.com/MarkBermanFox26/status/768985943084634112">August 26, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Once UT is back to being a powerhouse, which shouldn't be too long from now, that won't be an issue for UT. Can't say the same for some of these other schools though, especially the out of state ones that rely quite heavily on Texas recruits.
UT shouldn't have an issue recruiting anywhere. The fact that UH scares the rest of the Big 12 outside of OU is funny. They want to increase the Big 12 brand but not if it is going to force them to try harder at doing something they're already getting outclassed at. UH is already pulling more local talent from those schools in addition to what the SEC is getting since Aggies left. What do they think is going to happen when UH goes to the ACC if B12 doesn't extend an invite? Now you're going to have Florida State, Clemson and Miami in southeast Texas.
Exactly. That's why IMO the Big 12 would be foolish to not pick up UH in order to start to take back the Houston market from the SEC. Texas is pretty much all they have, they can't afford to have THAT much competition for ratings and recruits in the 2nd biggest market in the state. It's a no-brainer.
OkState, Tech, Baylor are the schools who would be fighting with UH for recruits. TCU once Patterson (the best coach in DI football) leaves.
From a pure football standpoint, you're right. From a media/tv/bs standpoint there are a bunch of monetary reasons to take other schools instead. I hope they take 4. My preference, because I don't care about media rights etc, would be BYU, UH, Cincy, Memphis.
