Good news for the "Little 8" members of the Big 12 Conference! It appears that the University of Texas is burning potential bridges with other conferences that most likely would hinder their opportunities for movement in the near future.
Maybe the Big 12 Conference will survive after all!
We are all aware of the arrogant Horns' bailing out of their signed agreement with the University of Minnesota for a home-and-home series against the Gophers in 2015 and 2016. According to media reports, DeLoss Dodds wanted broadcast rights to the game in Minneapolis in September of 2015 so he could show it on his Longhorn Network, in spite of the fact that broadcast rights to games are always at the discretion of the home team and in the Big 10 Conference, those rights go to the Big 10 Network. But of course, this is the University of Texas, and if you are unwilling to bow down to UT, the Horns want nothing to do with you. So Texas, in spite of a signed contract, now says they won't be playing Minnesota.
It is obvious that Minnesota athletic director Joel Maturi (and no doubt Big 10 Commissioner Jim Delney) is none too happy with the University of Texas and made this comment in a recent Associated Press story:
"We have a signed agreement. If we wanted to go to court, we'd win. But that's not our style."
You and I know that if UM would have chosen litegation, the Big 10 Conference would have been involved up to their necks in it. I'm confident that really would have impressed Jim Delaney.
Now, to make matters worse, Pac 10 Commisioner Larry Scott said some very unflattering things about UT at the recent Pac 10 media days, which would lead you to believe that there isn't much of an option with the Pac 10 any more.
In an article by Dennis Dodd of CBSSports.com, Scott was pretty clear that what he called "Texas politics" had a great deal to do with destroying his plan to bring six members of the Big 12 into the Pac 10 Conference:
Scott said he got an education about Texas politics in trying to get Texas, the main target in the expansion plan. To do it, Scott knew he had to take some expansion chattel. The commissioner intimated that the Texas' legislature's debate over which schools came to the Pac-10 together affected the expansion process.
When it was mentioned that Colorado was included in the Pac-10 expansion, Baylor officials attempted to work state house politicos in Austin for inclusion. Similar political dealings got Baylor into the Big 12 14 years ago along with Texas, Texas Tech and Texas A&M.
"Texas and Texas A&M separating with Baylor created a tsunami effect," he said, "It got way too hot for the politicians."
There is little question though, that Scott's biggest beef is with the University of Texas:
"We weren't trying to publicize what we were doing," Scott said. "We were going about it for four months quietly behind the scenes. It's really Texas [that] leaked the plan as they were going into those Big 12 meetings in Kansas City, I think, hoping to keep Nebraska, hoping to keep the Big 12 together."
When pushed regarding who actually might have leaked the information to Orangebloods (and ultimately to the world), Scott seemed to point a finger at the UT athletic department:
Asked what person or persons may have leaked the information Scott said, "I don't know ... It could only be a small [amount of people] who knew what was going on."
And of course, we all know where those "small amount of people" spent their 8-to-5s!
By the way, here is a link to the CBS article:
Pac-10's Scott blames Texas for his plan's demise - NCAA Football - CBSSports.com
So take heart "Little 8." If Texas keeps up its self-destruction tour, before long they won't have any options left at all.
I would say they would have some explaining to do to Jim Delaney if they were ever to hope to get an invite into the Big 10, and my guess is that as long as Larry Scott is the Commissioner of the Pac 10 that won't be an option for them.
There really aren't a lot of options remaining for the arrogant slobs. I guess they could hope the SEC would want them bad enough they would drop their drawers (ain't gonna happen) or they could become an independent. Beyond that, I'm not sure where they could go.
Who knows maybe the most dysfunctional conference in the history of college athletics may survive. But only because it has to survive for the sake of the Universityof Texas!
Maybe the Big 12 Conference will survive after all!
We are all aware of the arrogant Horns' bailing out of their signed agreement with the University of Minnesota for a home-and-home series against the Gophers in 2015 and 2016. According to media reports, DeLoss Dodds wanted broadcast rights to the game in Minneapolis in September of 2015 so he could show it on his Longhorn Network, in spite of the fact that broadcast rights to games are always at the discretion of the home team and in the Big 10 Conference, those rights go to the Big 10 Network. But of course, this is the University of Texas, and if you are unwilling to bow down to UT, the Horns want nothing to do with you. So Texas, in spite of a signed contract, now says they won't be playing Minnesota.
It is obvious that Minnesota athletic director Joel Maturi (and no doubt Big 10 Commissioner Jim Delney) is none too happy with the University of Texas and made this comment in a recent Associated Press story:
"We have a signed agreement. If we wanted to go to court, we'd win. But that's not our style."
You and I know that if UM would have chosen litegation, the Big 10 Conference would have been involved up to their necks in it. I'm confident that really would have impressed Jim Delaney.
Now, to make matters worse, Pac 10 Commisioner Larry Scott said some very unflattering things about UT at the recent Pac 10 media days, which would lead you to believe that there isn't much of an option with the Pac 10 any more.
In an article by Dennis Dodd of CBSSports.com, Scott was pretty clear that what he called "Texas politics" had a great deal to do with destroying his plan to bring six members of the Big 12 into the Pac 10 Conference:
Scott said he got an education about Texas politics in trying to get Texas, the main target in the expansion plan. To do it, Scott knew he had to take some expansion chattel. The commissioner intimated that the Texas' legislature's debate over which schools came to the Pac-10 together affected the expansion process.
When it was mentioned that Colorado was included in the Pac-10 expansion, Baylor officials attempted to work state house politicos in Austin for inclusion. Similar political dealings got Baylor into the Big 12 14 years ago along with Texas, Texas Tech and Texas A&M.
"Texas and Texas A&M separating with Baylor created a tsunami effect," he said, "It got way too hot for the politicians."
There is little question though, that Scott's biggest beef is with the University of Texas:
"We weren't trying to publicize what we were doing," Scott said. "We were going about it for four months quietly behind the scenes. It's really Texas [that] leaked the plan as they were going into those Big 12 meetings in Kansas City, I think, hoping to keep Nebraska, hoping to keep the Big 12 together."
When pushed regarding who actually might have leaked the information to Orangebloods (and ultimately to the world), Scott seemed to point a finger at the UT athletic department:
Asked what person or persons may have leaked the information Scott said, "I don't know ... It could only be a small [amount of people] who knew what was going on."
And of course, we all know where those "small amount of people" spent their 8-to-5s!
By the way, here is a link to the CBS article:
Pac-10's Scott blames Texas for his plan's demise - NCAA Football - CBSSports.com
So take heart "Little 8." If Texas keeps up its self-destruction tour, before long they won't have any options left at all.
I would say they would have some explaining to do to Jim Delaney if they were ever to hope to get an invite into the Big 10, and my guess is that as long as Larry Scott is the Commissioner of the Pac 10 that won't be an option for them.
There really aren't a lot of options remaining for the arrogant slobs. I guess they could hope the SEC would want them bad enough they would drop their drawers (ain't gonna happen) or they could become an independent. Beyond that, I'm not sure where they could go.
Who knows maybe the most dysfunctional conference in the history of college athletics may survive. But only because it has to survive for the sake of the Universityof Texas!
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