[College Football] Big Ten, Texas have initial talks

hehehe, power from water, oil companies ruined

 

They're on assignment in the gulf.

 

I'll take that bet.

Once the penalty money from NU and CU runs out and the networks are not willing to pay anything near what Beebe's consultants have projected, the money will not be there and there will be defections.

It will take less than 5 years before we are talking about this again.

 

Pretty badass on Byrne's part but man he's gotta know better...

<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/aCHGLof8KIE&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/aCHGLof8KIE&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>

Here's his apology...http://www.aggieathletics.com/genrel/061610aaa.html

 

I'm pretty impressed by this. I don't agree with his arguments, but I like the fact that he's publicly answering some of the fans biggest criticisms and attacks

 

I like this one the best:

So...are you his lapdog or not?

But I agree that he's did a pretty good job answering all the critics. It takes some balls to answer those kinds of questions.

 

He hired BCG. Any man that hires BCG is fine by me.

 

Seems like a stand-up guy. I absolutely agree with his points about school sports networks. I not entirely sure why DeLoss has had such a hard on for the LSN over the years. Also, he's spot-on about these types of discussions being best held in private.

 

He and Billy also hated each other at the end

 

Of course, this will never happen because UH and their fans want NOTHING to do with such an unstable conference that won't last another 5 years!!!


http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/college/houston/7058391.html

Houston-area lawmakers make push for UH to join Big 12
By STEVE CAMPBELL
Copyright 2010 Houston Chronicle
June 17, 2010, 12:50PM

More than two dozen Houston-area legislators put in writing their support Thursday for the University of Houston to gain admission to the Big 12 Conference.

Texas representatives Garnet Coleman (D-Houston) and Bill Callegari (R-Katy) co-authored a letter asking Big 12 officials to consider UH for a spot in the 10-team conference. The letter will be sent to the Big 12 school presidents and the league office on Thursday. The delegation also sent copies of the letter championing the cause of UH’s admission into a Bowl Championship Series conference to Gov. Rick Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and House Speaker Joe Straus.

“For years, UH has served as the academic cornerstone of a burgeoning metropolis known for its nexus to state, national, and global commerce and culture,” the letter said. “UH is the third largest university in Texas, and is on track to rank among the top research universities in this state. Despite UH's local and statewide prominence, the university does not belong to a strong BCS conference such as the Big 12. The Cougars, the City of Houston, and the State of Texas deserve better.”

The Big 12 teetered on the brink of collapse after Nebraska accepted an invitation last week to join the Big 10 and Colorado bolted for the Pac-10. Frenzied negotiations on Monday led to the league announcing that it would carry on with 10 members. Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe is on record saying the league has no plans to add any teams from within its five-state footprint (Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa). Coleman, whose District 147 includes the UH campus, said the Houston delegation isn’t about to give up that easily.

“I don’t quit,” Coleman said. “I don’t start something I’m not going to finish. If I didn’t think this was a worthy endeavor, I wouldn’t have started it. This is the beginning of this effort, not the end.”

UH was a member of the Southwest Conference from 1976-1995, appearing in four Cotton Bowls and three Final Fours during that time. When the SWC set the terms of its disbandment in 1994, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech and Baylor merged with the Big Eight to form the Big 12 and UH, TCU and SMU were left to fend for themselves. UH has been a member of Conference USA, which does not have automatic-qualifying status for the lucrative BCS bowl games, since 1996.

“The worst thing that can happen is to waste the potential that we have and the assets that we have,” Coleman said. “As a community and a state, UH is an asset. The institution deserves to be on the sports and academics stage. That will help the students in our schools across the state.”

UH last week unveiled plans to build a $120 million football stadium and to undertake a $40 million renovation of the Hofheinz Pavilion basketball facility. The legislators cited UH’s rich athletic tradition, as well as the success of a 2009 football team that climbed to as high as 12th in the nation. Outside the athletic realm, the legislators noted that UH has comparable or larger enrollments and endowments than several Big 12 schools. The letter also touted UH for having received more top-50 American Research University rankings than most of the Big 12.

“Clearly,” Coleman and Callegari wrote, “promoting UH to the Big 12 would put her in a class with her peers.”

The Houston legislators also urged Big 12 officials to consider the admission of TCU, a Mountain West Conference member than went 12-1 and finished sixth in the final rankings last season. A Fort Worth representative, Marc Veasey, has created a Facebook page entitled, “TCU should be invited to the Big 12. Coleman has created a Facebook page, “University of Houston Should Join The Big 12” that had attracted more than 1,100 members by early Thursday.

“I don’t think it’s that big a long shot,” Coleman said “I think the impediment right now is the split of the dollars. Once somebody has divided up a pie, they don’t want to have anybody else come in and get a piece of the pie. But I think UH pays its way in through our media market. I think we pay our way into any scenario by upping the amount of revenue that comes in through sports because of the media market.”

Coleman rejects the notion that Texas and Texas A&M dilute the impact UH would have in delivering the Houston television market to the Big 12.

“If we look at viral networks — viral being the expansion of something based on greater interest — the problem with the argument being made (that Texas and Texas A&M already capture the Houston market for the Big 12) is that it’s based on a static circumstance,” Coleman said. “I just totally disagree that the interest is only in those two schools on television in the Houston region.

“UT and A&M have been trying to claim Houston forever. No disrespect to them, but they don’t have an undergraduate institution in Houston — as much as they may want to have one. We have one.”

The situation reminds Coleman of what UH faced in trying to launch a campaign to achieve Tier One academic status.

“That’s the argument they made to have two Tier One universities, too: We just didn’t’ need any others,” Coleman said. “Excellence is when you have as much excellence as you can find, as much as you can create. There’s no reason to have limited excellence.”

The letter went out one day after a House committee of higher education cancelled a Wednesday hearing about intercollegiate about intercollegiate athletics in general and conference re-alignment in particular. Coleman said he expects the subject to come up during the next legislative session.

“We haven’t weighed in the way Houston can weigh in,” Coleman said. “That’s the first thing we have to do is weigh in in the best interests of the state, the best interests of our region, the best interests of our students. If I had it my way, it would be the Big 14 and you’d bring in Rice and SMU.”

steve.campbell@chron.com

 

UH should just be assimilated by UT or TAMU then. That'd be easier and more enjoyable for the majority. They aren't getting into the Big 12, nobody wants them there outside of themselves.

 

Semi-related.

http://sportsblog.abc13.com/

[rquoter]COOGS TO MOUNTAIN WEST?

Utah has received an invitation to join the Pac-10 and if they accept, the door may have been opened for the Houston Cougars to step-in. We have learned that a couple of MWC AD's told UofH the conference is interested in the Coogs. We have learned this came at a time when the MWC was interested in bringing in the Big 12 members that we thought would be left out if the Big 12 fell apart. The Coogs would be interested in the MWC if it becomes a BCS conference.

Tim Melton[/rquoter]

 

I'm not familiar with the MWC but how would UH fare against the schools in that conference?

 

It'd be stiffer competition for sure. TCU and Boise St. are better than anything C-USA has to offer. The same probably goes for BYU and Air Force as well. The MWC would easily be a step up. Assuming they're not getting into a BCS Conference in the near future, the MWC is the next best thing.

 

http://texas.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1095242

June 17, 2010


Just when it looked like realignment in college athletics might be winding down, multiple sources in the Big 12 told Orangebloods.com Arkansas has put out feelers about a possible move to the Big 12 to reconnect with former Southwest Conference rivals like Texas and Texas A&M.

Those sources said Arkansas currently doesn't have the votes among the Big 12 schools to join the league. But those sources said they would need to see how the television money would work if adding a school or two to know if they'd vote for expansion.

Tom Keegan of the Lawrence Journal-World reported Thursday, according to sources close to Cowboys owner and Arkansas alum Jerry Jones, that Jones wants Arkansas and Notre Dame in the Big 12.

The Big 12 title game is under contract to be played at Cowboys Stadium for the next four years. But after the departure of Nebraska and Colorado, the Big 12 will no longer qualify for a title game after the 2010 season. Under NCAA rules, a league must have 12 schools to qualify for a championship game.

So it would make sense that Jones would want two more teams in the Big 12 so the league would be able to play its title game in Cowboys Stadium for years to come. Jones also helped win a national title at Arkansas in 1964 along with teammate Jimmy Johnson and then-Hogs assistant coach Barry Switzer.

But sources close to Jones said Thursday he has nothing to do with Arkansas' decision making and could't be further from anything having to do with college realignment.

"He's got too much else to do," the source close to Jones said.


SOURCES: ARKANSAS EYEING BIG 12

Orangebloods.com contacted three exeuctive sources in the Big 12 on Thursday and was told by one executive that Arkansas joinining the Big 12 was "a long shot."

Another said, "Arkansas has definitely put feelers out about joining the Big 12."

A third executive said, "If anybody can make the math (money) work, it's Jerry Jones."

That executive went on to lay out the only scenario he thought it might work for the Big 12: if the money can be adjusted by the Big 12 TV partners - ABC/ESPN and Fox Sports Net - to accommodate Arkansas (possibly with the help of Jerry Jones), then adding Arkansas could make sense, the source said.

That source went on to say if Arkansas joined the Big 12 and realignment started back up with the SEC having to replace a school and possibly looking to get to 14 or even 16, Notre Dame could be back in play.

Several sources, including a source close to the discussions that took place between Notre Dame and the Big Ten over the past month, indicated Notre Dame would remain independent unless it appeared super conferences were forming.

And now that the Big Ten is at 12 schools already, Notre Dame might be more interested in joining the Big 12, where it might be the 12th school added to the league (along with Arkansas).

Notre Dame could also explore having its own TV network inside the Big 12, whereas that would not be an option in the Big Ten, which has a conference network that requires everyone to share their inventory.

A source close to Texas said athletic director DeLoss Dodds and Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick have "a very close" relationship. The source said Dodds has helped serve as a mentor to Swarbrick since Swarbrick took over as Notre Dame's AD in June of 2008.


ARKANSAS DENIES LOOKING AROUND

Arkansas athletic director Jeff Long issued a statement Wednesday denying any reports that the Razorbacks are looking around.

"In recent weeks and months there has been much national dialogue regarding conference affiliation in intercollegiate athletics," Long said.

"In the course of that dialogue some have suggested that the University of Arkansas was an institution that may be pursued by other conferences.

"From the beginning, we have been very clear that the University of Arkansas is a proud member of the Southeastern Conference and has no interest in joining another conference.

"Chancellor Gearhart has been unwavering in his support of our institution's continued membership in the SEC. Recent events have not in any way altered our commitment or desire to remain a member of what we believe is the strongest conference in the nation."


BIG 12 STAYING AT 10?

Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe said Tuesday in a teleconference his league is not looking to expand.

But two of the Big 12 executives Orangebloods.com spoke to on Thursday said they fear there will be a push by some, especially in Texas, to add at least two more schools from within the state.

"There will be a push by state schools like the University of Houston, especially among lawmakers and at the regent level, to get into the Big 12," the source said.

According to the Houston Chronicle, that push is already under way.

The Chronicle reported more than two dozen Houston-area legislators put in writing their support Thursday for the University of Houston to gain admission to the Big 12 Conference.

Texas representatives Garnet Coleman (D-Houston) and Bill Callegari (R-Katy) co-authored a letter asking Big 12 officials to consider UH for a spot in the 10-team conference, the newspaper reported.

The letter will be sent to the Big 12 school presidents and the league office on Thursday. The delegation also sent copies of the letter championing the cause of UH's admission into a Bowl Championship Series conference to Gov. Rick Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and House Speaker Joe Straus, the Chronicle said.

Beebe has repeatedly said if the Big 12 was to expand it would be outside the current geographical footprint of the conference.

Arkansas and South Bend, Ind., are certainly outside the current geographical footprint of the new, 10-member Big 12.

Stay tuned.

 

And the plot thickens.

 

FTFY.

 

Take the money and run.

 

Arkansas is not going to come to the new Big XII.

 

Jerryworld needs a championship game. But more importantly, Jerry needs to be able to brag to his local compadres.

If this happens, it's not about academics and not so much about money as it is ego.