Texas A&M to SEC...confirmed???

[bilsu]

Assuming the SEC picks off an ACC team, I think that would open the door for Maryland to go to Big 10 and Boston College to return to Big East. I think the most likely senario is that the ACC remains in tack or adds two teams. Ading teams would come at the expense of the Big East, so let us hope the ACC stands pat. The Big 12 has to scatter.

[GGGG]

Another Update:  The timeline is being moved up apparently due to the Texas Higher Education Committee calling for a meeting on Tuesday.

The SEC Presidents are due to meet on Sunday.  The A&M Board of Regents is due to meet Monday.  Rumors are that Florida State is going to be invited too.

[HouWarrior]

Full Disclosure:  Best case scenario is that we stay in the Big East.  Not even a question.

But if the dominoes do fall, I wish that Marquette would get together with other basketball only schools and form their own conference.  You could get DePaul (for the chicago TV market), Notre Dame if they want to stay independent, Georgetown, St. Johns, Nova (depending on if they want their football to stay below D1), Xavier, Providence, Seton Hall, maybe Bucknell (football is less than D1 I think), Butler???.  The list could easily be refined, I just threw some names out there. 

Granted there are lots of challenges, but any conference restructuring poses challenges.  The key is to get schools from decent TV markets and make sure the quality of the basketball competition is extremely good.  Yes a basketball only conference will never be able to get the money like any of the major BCS conferences, but without having to support football, you don't need as large of revenue.  As long as the quality of play is good, and you have multiple teams in the tournament every year, you could make it work.  If you are a good conference, and only basketball, you could pitch that to recruits. 

I will again say, staying in the Big East is a far better scenario.  However, if conference realignment happens, I absolutely believe it would be better to form a great basketball only conference and focus on that niche than being relegated to some other mid-major conference. 

Welcome, here  to your postings on the board.

Your point on realignment, BB only conference, and or catholic univ conferences has been discussed very extensively, in the past, in many other threads.

Here the mods can provide you a benefit..

..by giving you links to some of those threads, especially on conferences comprised of BB only schools..

You may wish to send the moderators an IM, requesting these thread links, and give them a welcome respite from censoring/refereeing on postings.

[HouWarrior]

Another Update:  The timeline is being moved up apparently due to the Texas Higher Education Committee calling for a meeting on Tuesday.

The SEC Presidents are due to meet on Sunday.  The A&M Board of Regents is due to meet Monday.  Rumors are that Florida State is going to be invited too.

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/6857085/sec-high-demand-texas-florida-state-talk-simmers

Thanks for updating--things are moving fast...on various fronts.

The Texas Higher Education Committee is the sub- group of the Texas legislature, with controlling jurisdiction over all Texas state universities, and it  is  calling everyone in ASAP, because this has moved very fast and has caught many here in Texas flat footed. It may try to stop, or delay this action.

I'm not sure if TAMU, and its regents can pull the SEC trigger on their own...or whether there will be some interventions stopping them...the  Tx legislature is not in session, but UT, TxTech, etc all have legislative reps who'll want a say on this.

When not in session, the Gov. is in charge, ....and Perry is an Aggie. Aggies support the SEC move as a nice way to nose thumb UT over its single school sports network and browbeatdown of the other Big12ers, during the last offseason flirtations. Perry wont stop anything.

Although a political ban here limits what can be said, when the sports program of our second largest taxpayer supported state school plans to break from an almost century old playing alliance with the other TX state schools, the possible impact of politics in the sports issue becomes central.

Example: If not for Gov Ann Richards political intervention, Baylor, a private school,  would not have come along to join the B12, when the old SWC broke up.

...and as noted in the linked ESPN article above.

.." it was political pressure and legislature that played a key role in the Big 12 staying together last summer, when parts nearly broke off to join the Pac-12...."



This will be interesting, and politics, unavoidably, will play a role.

[GGGG]

houwarrior, I have a friend from Fort Worth who has a friend on the TAMU Board of Regents.  He told me a year ago that this is how it was going to play out.  That they were going to wait for the Texas legislature to go out of session and that there was a standing offer from the SEC for TAMU.

[brewcity77]

houwarrior, I have a friend from Fort Worth who has a friend on the TAMU Board of Regents.  He told me a year ago that this is how it was going to play out.  That they were going to wait for the Texas legislature to go out of session and that there was a standing offer from the SEC for TAMU.

Not sure if you mentioned this before (probably) or I heard it from someone else, but I do recall hearing before that this was how TAMU was going to play it.

[texaswarrior74]

houwarrior

As you may recall, in 1994 when the SWC fell apart, there were three key players involved in shaping the new conference, Gov. Anne Richards, Lt. Gov Bob Bullock and the Atty General (forgot the name.) The three of them intervened and protected their respective Alma Maters, Baylor and Texas Tech, making sure that they were part of the new conference. TCU didn't have the  political clout and ended up on the outside looking in.

This time around there is nowhere near the political clout trying to mediate this and A&M pulled a real trump card by moving up their Board of Regents meeting from the 22nd to Monday and as you said, the Governor being not only an Aggie but also a former "Yell leader" is certainly not going to try to block this move.

Florida doesn't want FSU in the SEC (nor does Auburn and Georgia) and what the SEC is really looking for is a larger media market which FSU (or Miami) won't deliver....they'd love to have VaTech but after the way that UVA lobbied on their behalf to get them into the ACC I'm not sure that will happen.

Who the 14th member turns out to be is going to be interesting to watch.

[HouWarrior]

houwarrior, I have a friend from Fort Worth who has a friend on the TAMU Board of Regents.  He told me a year ago that this is how it was going to play out.  That they were going to wait for the Texas legislature to go out of session and that there was a standing offer from the SEC for TAMU.

The Tx legislature is only in regular session for one 140 calender day period every odd year...this year, 2011, it began on Jan 11, and ended on May 30, 2011. It was not in session, at all in 2010-- so if the sole timing was the session, TAMU could have done that last year, at any time.
But, any good Aggie engineer takes his time to study and plan, so it appears they snapped to the timing plan, a year later...sounds like the makings of a new Aggie joke. lol

[HouWarrior]

houwarrior

As you may recall, in 1994 when the SWC fell apart, there were three key players involved in shaping the new conference, Gov. Anne Richards, Lt. Gov Bob Bullock and the Atty General (forgot the name.) The three of them intervened and protected their respective Alma Maters, Baylor and Texas Tech, making sure that they were part of the new conference. TCU didn't have the  political clout and ended up on the outside looking in.
.

In 1994....Dan Morales was AG back then, but he was an alum of Trinity Univ. and Harvard...So you may be recalling either ex AG Jim Maddox, a Baylor boy, or Billy Clayton, the deal wielding speaker of the house, who was a key Aggie in the negotiations. Tech joining has made sense..but Baylor(the only  private school) has always been an odd fit in the B12.

[GGGG]

There is talk that the SEC is currently talking to a school from the ACC.  A name being mentioned right now is North Carolina, but that doesn't seem to make sense to me.  NC State makes more sense.  But that could mean Florida State, Virginia Tech or Clemson too.

[Hards Alumni]

There is talk that the SEC is currently talking to a school from the ACC.  A name being mentioned right now is North Carolina, but that doesn't seem to make sense to me.  NC State makes more sense.  But that could mean Florida State, Virginia Tech or Clemson too.

FSU makes the most sense.

[GGGG]

FSU makes the most sense in some respects, but there is talk that Florida doesn't want them in the SEC and it doesn't open up any new markets (Clemson wouldn't either.)  Va Tech, UNC or NCSU does.

[Husker4MU]

VaTech's AD said they would probably turn down the offer if it was extended.

FSU makes sense from a competitive standpoint, but, as mentioned, they don't add a market.  I'm thinking NC State.  Like the Aggies, NC State has a high opinion of themselves and the last 2 decades haven't been stellar on the sports front.  They may be motivated to get out of the big shadows of NC State and Duke.

[Husker4MU]

From the Omaha World Herald - do anyone really wonder why the rats are jumping ship in the Big XII?

Texas Athletic Director DeLoss Dodds, the Big 12 commissioner, said on Friday that the league will be fine but, whatever happens, "We'll (Texas) be in a good place. That's what we do. We're good at that.''

Beebe also allegedly told A&M that Texas was the key to the conference, not A&M.  While probably true, what the hell is Beebe doing?

[2012 Warrior]

looks like its Clemson, Fla St and Missouri are gonna join A&M. 

Anyone think Texas wants this so they can just go independent?

[4everwarriors]

So much for Mizzou becoming the next Big 10 entry.

[bilsu]

looks like its Clemson, Fla St and Missouri are gonna join A&M. 

Anyone think Texas wants this so they can just go independent?

That is a big problem for Big East, if SEC picks off two ACC teams.
The Big 10 did not want Missouri, probably, because they were holding off for Notre Dame, Texas or Maryland. Maybe Texas needed A&M to bolt, so the could go to Big 10.

[GGGG]

The Mizzou rumor is being denied. The NYT just posted something saying that TAMU is by no means a sure thing and that there isn't consensus on a possible 14th team.

[DegenerateDish]

Had heard it out there before, got some second hand confirmation this morning, Texas and Notre Dame would work together to form a new conference if the Big 12 ceases to exist. No clue who else would get in on that (BC?, Miami? Oklahoma? KU?)

[DegenerateDish]

Also saw that if TAMU leaves Big 12, Texas preference to replace the Aggies is ND or Arkansas (both very big longshots), or one from this group: BYU, Air Force, Houston, or Louisville.

Ville would be very interesting.

[bilsu]

Had heard it out there before, got some second hand confirmation this morning, Texas and Notre Dame would work together to form a new conference if the Big 12 ceases to exist. No clue who else would get in on that (BC?, Miami? Oklahoma? KU?)

I would think Oklahoma & Oklahoma St are linked together and Also Kansas and Kansas St are linked together. The Notre Dame part is real interesting. It would indicate to me that the ACC is going to implode and the Big East will be even lower in the football conference rankings. Notre Dame, Texas, North Carolina, Duke, Oklahoma, Oklahoma St., Kansas, Kansas St., Virginia, Maryland and two more to get to 12 or 4 more to get to 14. Big East could lose and pick up teams in this transition. Notre Dame is obvisously the big factor. They did not want to join the Big East in football, so I have to think they would only want selective Big East teams in the new conference. I think this excludes Cincinnati and Louisville.

[bamamarquettefan]

From living in auburn and getting hourly sec updates year round, I can tell you that most long-time sec folks always wanted Flo state and have regretted that they didn't have Bowden. Since Rkansas joined there has always been the though that they needed Texas and m as their rival if Arkansas was going to be permanent. But beyond that, the only big 1/ team I've ever heard discussed was Oklahoma just in an arms race scenario against the big 10 expansion.  I believe 95 percent of sec people would be shocked if Kansas, k-state o Missouri were ever offered.  I wouldn't rule out ga tech, becUs we reall are past the fact that they integrated by now.  I believe their other pick is from the acc with va tech as an option, and I still think we end up looking k-state, mizzou and Kansas at some point.  Then the question becomes if the be and acc can continue as the weaker of 5 remaining bcs conferences, or if the powers insist on 4 conferences of 16 teams.

[Hards Alumni]

Now top story on espn.com.

This should be fun.

[texaswarrior74]

This has been the top story on ESPN Dallas for three days. Today the word is that Houston is NOT under any consideration for a spot.  There were a large number of Houston grads in the state legislature who made a lot of noise last year which is why the name is surfacing again but sources in the Big 12 say they have no interest. BYU, Air Force and Louisville have been the three schools most talked about...TV markets are what is driving this bus and the Big 12 already has Houston and Ft Worth which is why TCU isn't in the mix even if they would be the best school to be brought in.

Some other things from interviews with numerous A&M and Big 12 sources:

Some in the A&M camp were quoted as fearful that to be competitive they would have to lower admission standards and are also reluctant to have to "get down in the mud" again for recruiting after they have "cleaned things up."

DeLoss Dodds the Texas AD actually did say "maybe Texas and Notre Dame will just form our own conference."

What's important to note here is that Dodds is not known to be given to idle chatter and is also a  very close friend of the ND AD.  Most here believe that if Dodds even said it, it has already been discussed.

There is also some concern being mentioned that A&M may not be able to get the necessary votes to join the SEC....reports earlier today were that 30-40% of the SEC presidents were not in favor of the move.

ACC sources and the respective schools are saying that FSU and Clemson are going nowhere.

This may get interesting.

[GGGG]

I seriously doubt that A&M takes it this far without some solid knowledge that they are getting an offer from SEC.  They would be morons to go back to the B12 with their tail between their legs by this point.