[College Football] Big Ten, Texas have initial talks

So it begins...

http://texas.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1251051

August 12, 2011


Chip Brown
Orangebloods.com Columnist


The House Higher Education Committee has scheduled a hearing to take up the issue of Texas A&M's possible move to the SEC at 2 p.m. on Aug. 16.

Committee chairman Dan Branch, R-Dallas, also called a hearing last year when it appeared the Big 12 could break up with Texas and Texas Tech headed to the Pac-10 and Texas A&M headed to the SEC. But the Big 12 came together before the scheduled hearing.

Those being invited to the Aug. 16 hearing will include Texas A&M board of regents chairman, Richard Box, a dentist in Austin; and A&M president R. Bowen Loftin. There's a chance Texas, Texas Tech and Baylor officials would be invited to talk about the potential fallout of an A&M departure. Questions for Texas would undoubtedly include the Longhorn Network, which has been a public concern for A&M officials.

"We want to be in position to have a discussion about a potential move to a new athletic conference for one of our major universities - that it's in the best interest of the state of Texas," Branch said.

"There's a lot of resources in play. These athletic programs have a lot of dollars involved with the TV contracts and the funding that comes from a particular conference. So we want to make sure if there was a decision to go a different direction at Texas A&M, it's the regents' job to make sure this is in the best interest of Texas A&M as one university in that system. And it's the Legislature's job to make sure it's in the best interest in the state of Texas."

I asked Branch if the committee found that such a move wasn't in the best interest of Texas, what could the Legislature do about it?

"Ultimately, these are public institutions," Branch said. "The Legislature is responsible for funding and directing the ultimate policy of our public institutions.

"So I think it's important that the Legislature be advised. And so I want to create an opportunity on a timely basis to give the members of the House of Representatives the opportunity to ask questions and make sure they felt like this was in the best interest of the state of Texas.

"There's an argument that going to the SEC would be a good thing so that Texas' biggest schools would have a footprint in two major conferences, so I'm going into this with an open mind. But it seems to me it's the regents' responsibility to do what's in the best interest of Texas A&M as the flagship of that system. And it's the Legislature's responsibility to make sure it's in the best interest of the state of Texas."

Branch said there are really two points of interest that are critical to the state's view of a possible move by Texas A&M to the SEC.

"Part of that goes to you don't want another major conference coming undone by the action of one," Branch said. "So there's two parts to this. One, is this a good move for Texas A&M?

"And, more importantly, from our vantage point would there be a negative consequence to the University of Texas or Texas Tech University and even our private schools like Baylor - what effect it could have on them?"

Stay tuned.

 

Orangebloods owns this discussion by the way.

 

Add a third to that.

 

http://blog.mysanantonio.com/aggies/2011/08/aggies-out-uh-in-for-the-big-12/

Aggies out, UH in for the Big 12?

Posted on 08/12/2011 by Brent Zwerneman

COLLEGE STATION – Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe has told Texas A&M that Texas holds the key to the long-term future of the Big 12, and that the Big 12 would survive without the Aggies, according to an A&M official.

The Big 12 also believes the University of Houston would be a viable candidate to replace the Aggies, the A&M official said. All signs point to the Aggies bolting the Big 12 for the Southeastern Conference. The A&M regents are meeting on Aug. 22 and an announcement about the SEC might follow soon after.

 

My cousin left Texas to go play for LSU. If A&M were in the SEC, they still would not have been an option for him. If you want to go to the SEC, odds are you will want to go to a better school in a better place (no I'm not considering academics). Going to school in College Station, compared to going in Baton Rouge, or Bama, or FL....it doesn't stack up. Now I agree A&M will have a better shot to land kids who just refuse to leave the state but want the best conference, but how many kids would that be?

I just don't see them outrecruiting UT or OU in the state, even if they are in the SEC. I doubt top kids pick them over LSU which is right next door.

 

...and my deeper concern is that they make it easier for Texas kids to get plucked by schools like Ole Miss, Auburn, etc.

 

But they aren't outrecruiting those schools now either, so that's not a drawback.

I agree - this is more of a problem for Texas than for A&M. Texas wouldn't be adding any new recruiting grounds, while new schools would have a foothold into Texas. But as much as Auburn can start recruiting Texas, A&M would be able to start recruiting Alabama.

 

Yes, I agree with that. I also agree with Major that them moving will give them the ability to recruit a different kind of kid. I just don't think there are that many kids out there like that. It really narrows down when the choice becomes do I go to College Station or Gainsville, Baton Rouge, etc. I mean these are, in most cases, young black athletes that we are talking about.

 

IT began a long time ago...

It would be great for UH but man... the Big 12 is really taking a hit. Nebraska and TAMU leaving. That's big.

Kids go to play in small areas all of the time. I don't see OU having any problems recruiting. Hell, TAMU isn't having any problems recruiting as things are now.

 

thinking about how this affects Texas, Baylor, Tech, UH, TCU

(ok, selfishly, just Baylor and Texas)

 

And they'd fail miserably due to the talent pool in Alabama not being as deep overall and far more insular than Texas.

 

Considering Orangebloods completely had the story wrong last year, sorry, but Chip Brown does not own this conversation. He has it all right if you understand that he is DeLoss Dodds mouthpiece and that is about it. According to Chip Brown, A&M didn't even have an invite to the SEC last year even though Oklahoma confirmed it. Texas does not want A&M going to the SEC and they have/will do anything to prevent it (i.e. dropping out of the PAC-10, promising to drop HS games from their sh**ty network, and crying to the legislature). He is nothing more than a politician for the University of Texas and NOTHING more. And considering how Baylor and Tech suck from Texas' teet, they are Texas' biggest cheerleaders because they have no swag to fight for themselves.

I love how Texas says they are not rivals of A&M, but now that we are leaving they are all up in arms about it. The smear campaign has begun in full force straight out of Austin and it is obvious based on Chip Brown, Bohls, and Fat Ketch spewing vomit. Texas has hired a PR firm to smear A&M (I'm sure A&M has one trying to counter it), and now they are crying to the legislature to stop the mean old Aggies.

One thing that everyone has right. A&M to the SEC right now, or it will never happen. It's obvious, A&M is hell-bent on going and the only thing that could possibly stop it is politics. If that prevents it from happening, then it will never be allowed to happen until Texas decides to go independent, and then the legislature will roll over for them.

 

I just meant the Legislature's involvement in this particular round of A&M talking about stepping out. The Legislature didn't get to address this last year, because the Big XII found resolution before their scheduled meeting.

 

My point is I think the states top kids pick:

- either UT or OU
- one of the other SEC schools

I don't think there are that many great kids that want the SEC but just refuse to leave the state. Most of the kids I know that left the state to go to the SEC either wanted to get the hell out of Texas or didn't mind leaving the state. Going to school in College Station isn't all that convincing to change their minds from doing that (just my opinion). Or for convincing a top kid from another state to come to College Station. You aren't going to beat Bama or Auburn for their kids...to come to College Station. You aren't going to beat LSU for their kids...to come to College Station. You aren't going to beat FL for their kids...to come to College Station. Etc.

 

Disagree entirely.

The same Aggie paysites that said it was a done deal last summer are the very same Aggie paysites saying it was a done deal last night...they were wrong on both accounts.

And while those Ag paysites allude to mystical sources (though it's only ONE source behind AggieYell)....Chip's out interviewing A&M spokesmen and folks in the Legislature telling us that it is indeed not a done deal with an hour or so of the initial report from AggieYell.

 

OU is the top school in the state. A&M is not. And Norman is not College Station, and OU is not that type of conservative school.

 

You act like A&M has had huge problems with recruiting. Our recruiting has been good the last 10 years (though coaching and selection of kids for the system was terrible). A&M has been recruting good over the last 10 years and had periods of great recruiting in the 80s and 90s. There was a time when A&M won as many battles against Texas in recruiting as it lost. Short-term history of success on the field should not affect our long-term decision making.

 

Which was during/right after the period in which they were fed-exing cash and trans-ams.........Coincidence?

 

OK, AggieYell is r****ded, and I don't even visit them. I put as much weight in them as I do Chip Brown. Follow Billy Liucci and you get a much better interpretation of what is going on. He has never said this is a done deal, and he had the story right last year in that we were ready to go, didn't pull the trigger, and bought Texas and the Big XII's lies. Liucci shot down the AY report about 5 minutes after it came out in a tweet.

Chip Brown interviewing folks in the legislature is him as a politician again. He is UT's mouthpiece and of course he is going to play up Dan Brown because they have him as a weapon in trying to get this thing stopped.

I'm not saying Chip Brown doesn't know what is going on. I am saying he is reporting from the UT point of view and is acting as a politician to try to achieve UT's motives. There is no way you can deny that at this point.

 

Yeah, I don't care what his motives are to the extent he's reporting direct quotes from Aggie spokespersons and legislators. Those have been his last updates on all this. There's substance to that.