Big Ten and other Conference Expansion

[Muck]

A news outlet in Oklahoma has obtained emails from both OU & Okie St regarding the aborted Pac 12 move & other aspects of conference expansion.

With the Big 12 Conference on the mend, it appears that even Bob Dole wanted the conference to survive.

In an email to OU President David Boren, Dole encourages his former U.S. Senate colleague and friend to realize OU's importance in keeping the conference stable.

On Sept. 12, Dole wrote: "David. My message is that I hope OU is going to stick with the 'Big XII.' The central part of the country can support its own conference. ... OU is the 800-pound gorilla and your support is critical. Thank you for your consideration David. Have a good day. BOB"

University of Oklahoma press secretary Michael Nash confirmed that Dole's email to Boren was authentic. Dole, who attended the University of Kansas, served in the Senate for nearly 30 years and made an unsuccessful bid for president in 1996.

Under the Oklahoma Open Records Act, the Tulsa World obtained hundreds of electronic messages from the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University involving discussions leading up to each school's attempt to leave the Big 12 Conference in September.

The World requested the emails Sept. 13. OU took six weeks to comply while OSU provided two batches of emails early on and weeks later.

OU officials reviewed 29,470 pages of email to determine what was open under the law, said Rachel McCombs, director of OU's Open Records Office.

Last week, OU released 176 pages of emails and notes involving Boren, OU Athletic Director Joe Castiglione, members of the school's board of regents and others.

The World previously reported on the OSU emails, which revealed the OSU regents had organized an ad hoc group to discuss realignment.

The realignment talk was prompted by Texas A&M's announcement in August to leave the Big 12 for the Southeastern Conference.

In addition to Dole, the emails show a variety of Sooner and Cowboy fans, businessmen, college presidents, bankers, and general citizens registering their opinions on the issue of realignment.

.../cont/...

OU emails
Okie St emails

From what I've read so far I've come to a few of conclusions:

1. Nobody wants to have anything to do with BYU.
2. The entire breadth of thought available to OU fans consists of "I hate Texas, we should join another conference".
3. The OU administration appears to be completely out of the loop regarding anything and everything.

 

[Muck]

Random msg board thread I stumbled across:

Iowa State Fans Dreaming

 

[ScriptOhio]

Not sure that you can have a circle jerk with only two participants.

(Setting you up for the obligatory Jerry Sandusky reference.)

With only two participants it would be a "linear jerk".

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=linear jerk

 

[sepia5]

A news outlet in Oklahoma has obtained emails from both OU & Okie St regarding the aborted Pac 12 move & other aspects of conference expansion.



OU emails
Okie St emails

From what I've read so far I've come to a few of conclusions:

1. Nobody wants to have anything to do with BYU.
2. The entire breadth of thought available to OU fans consists of "I hate Texas, we should join another conference".
3. The OU administration appears to be completely out of the loop regarding anything and everything.

I like that Bob Dole signs his names in all caps. I'm going to start doing that too.

-SEPIA5

 

[PlanetFrnd]

I like that Bob Dole signs his names in all caps. I'm going to start doing that too.

-SEPIA5

 

[Zurp]

Random msg board thread I stumbled across:

Iowa State Fans Dreaming

Big 10 would be
1. easier
2. more money
3. way closer for fans
4. easier to develop rivalries with close schools geographically instead of being a northern outpost now that MU, and Nebby have left
5. better for academics
6. more media coverage in the midwest

Ahhh, but the new commish of college sports, ESPN, says no. And will say no forever.

My first response is .
But I guess I ought to ask the Nebraska fans if they agree that the Big Ten is easier, since they're the only ones who can truly judge this.

 

[MaxBuck]

Interesting. It's like Cyclone fans think ESPN is the only impediment to their being welcomed to the B1G with open arms.

 

[Muck]

Interesting. It's like Cyclone fans think ESPN is the only impediment to their being welcomed to the B1G with open arms.

The Missouri fan is the only one making actual reasoned posts and he gets blasted as a troll for it.

 

[ORD_Buckeye]

UC is in deep financial doo doo, after recklessly spending money on a football product that no one except juggalos and grillz wearers want to see. Their stadium is tiny. They can't realistically compete at an AQ level in the long run.

Exactly. A broke ass school with a tiny antiquated stadium that is only relevant in their corner of the state and is stil only the third tv draw (after Ohio State and UK).

The one thing they have going for them is opening up Ohio (and Cincy in particular) recruiting to B12 schools, but I don't know if that compensates for all their weaknesses.

 

[buckeyegrad]

But I guess I ought to ask the Nebraska fans if they agree that the Big Ten is easier, since they're the only ones who can truly judge this.

Hey, if you join the Big Ten, you get to play all of these easy, academic schools like Northwestern. Just ask Nebraska......oh wait......never mind.

 

[bkochmc]

Iowa State would be a GREAT addition....... from a wrestling perspective. Most other sports, not so much.

 

[Woody1968]

Does the ACC still want Perv State?

 

[Muck]

Iowa State would be a GREAT addition....... from a wrestling perspective. Most other sports, not so much.

They lost Cael Sanderson to Penn State.

That is all that needs to be said about their potential as an addition.

 

[bkochmc]

They lost Cael Sanderson to Penn State.

That is all that needs to be said about their potential as an addition.

I made my post with the assumption that ISU is still a wrestling powerhouse but to be honest I know very little about wrestling, though I did remember Sanderson was one the guy who never lost a match in college. After a quick Google search I see he coached State Penn to a national title last year and ISU hasn't won a Big12 title since he split for Happy Valley so I'll defer to you on that point.

 

[LovelandBuckeye]

Having gone to an ISU home game I will enlightened those who have not.

NOT ONE PERSON GAVE A SHIT! It was just a tailgate atmosphere outside the stadium. Although I got pretty wasted I only heard two or three ISU fans say smack about my tOSU Scarlet and Grey. BTW, it was the same day tOSU lost to Illinois in 2007. They ended up beating Colorado, I believe. The student body does not think they have a Program but they do enjoy Flip Cup, Beer Pong, and just generally getting smashed on Everclear.