re: Big 12 might boycott Texas Tech

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This hopefully kills the Big 12.
OkState, Kansas, Tech shoulda got out while they could. 45% of the SEC’s/B1G media deal is still higher than the big 12s yearly share.

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We really just need the big football schools to tell the NCAA to f straight off. Form a new group outside of the NCAA and conference model entirely. Let schools go back to regional conferences in the other sports. I think Cal & Stanford each had 4 midweek games in the eastern timezone thanks to being in the "A"CC. It's just absurd....

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Just answer the simple question Do you think Tech should have cut bait with him once they knew everything?

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Yes. Dude is not trustworthy. you can be a great talent all day but if you have no ethical center --- No !

We need to cut this dude off. Pray Hammond gets to 100% and have the D carry the team until the offence can jell. We have very good running back, a good o-line and another strong D. We dont need this kind of crap.

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You are unable to pin that on mean evil Texas & OU full stop

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You can't leave them out of the discussion either, as they were clearly major players in what occurred. Do you really think Mizzou alone had the influence and power to have set all this in motion? Honestly, I don't think TX or OU (or the schools potentially leaving for the PAC) could have cared less what Mizzou did, T Boone Pickens (OSU's then owner - uh, I mean mega-doner) even said as much on June 10, 2010.

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you have a sequencing issue

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It is pretty easy to look up dates based on when things hit the press, but I'm not sure anyone really knows (or ever will for sure) who was talking to who about what first.

We do know the Big10 announced their expansion plans in late 2009 and that is widely acknowledged as the spark that started the realignment fire at that time. So yes, we can ultimately blame the Big10.

In Feb 2010 Larry Scott responded and publicly announced intent to expand the Pac10 (it may not have been explicitly spoken, but this was widely understood to be preemptive and targeting Texas to keep the Big10 from going after Texas and all those TV sets). On June 3rd, no surprise, it broke they were pursuing 6 Big12 teams (TX, OU, aTm, OSU, CU and Tech). It would be pretty naive to think there weren't discussions going on behind the scenes between the PAC and the power brokers in TX and Ok. It stands to reason those discussions would have been ongoing for the first half of 2010 prior to that story breaking in June. It would also be pretty naive to think the other Big12 schools didn't see the writing on the wall.

As for Mizzou and Nebraska's interest in the Big10... it isn't like the Big12 was one big happy functional family and one day Ol Mizzou just up and decided to apply to the Big10 to set the whole realignment thing into motion (in fact they never did apply for membership). Mizzou and Nebraska's interest in the Big10 played a part in the whole chain of events for sure, but that interest was primarily motivated by the Big12 treating them (and other members) unequally in terms of revenue sharing and reading the tea leaves that the Big12 was on the verge of imploding. There was also sentiment (stronger with Nebraska) that schools south of Oklahoma City were getting preferential treatment in other ways. If the Big12 was going to implode, there were going to be those with a landing spot and those without - Mizzou and NU were doing what they had to do to make sure they had a home in a major conference. They would have been foolish to not at least gauge interest from the Big10, as that was the only major conference that had publicly opened the door for them to do so.

I had forgotten about Pinkel's comments. Had to look that up and these were an answer to a reporter's question about what was behind the realignment talk. He is certainly no politician, and usually was very candid. He simply responded that the Big12 revenue approach was absurd (it was), highlighting that unlike the SEC and Big10, the Big12 did not split TV revenue equally. Revenue was split based on a formula that included more for those whose games were televised more - and there was no contract at the time to show all conference games so this created a sort of 2nd class citizenship for a lot of the schools. There was also the very real possiblilty of the LHN which TX was considering as early as 2009. Ultimately, he was right about both; so if stating facts is whining, I guess he was whining.

The governor - well, he is a politician and used to the dynamics of politics and not the power structure in college athletics. He thought grand standing about how we were such a great fit in the Big10 would help position us for an invite, instead I think it turned a lot of the Big10 leadership off. Had he kept his comments to himself I think Mizzou very well may have ended up in the Big10, so ultimately I'm glad he opened his big mouth as Mizzou is much better off in the SEC.

Nebraska, was on an island (like Mizzou) and was looking out for themselves (can't blame them) - they used the leverage of their glory years (at the time it was still fairly recent), and the "N"owledge that got them a short lived Association of American Universities membership to jump in and grab the Big10 invite. They did jump into the mix later than Mizzou (at least publicly) - but they had Tom Osborne leading the charge there, we had Governor Jay flapping his gums. Again - I'm glad it worked out this way, how has this worked out for the nubbers?

And old Larry Scott was thissssssssss close to achieving mastermind status, but as you say ultimately was proven a bumbling idiot because he didn't control letting the cat get out of the bag, couldn't convince TX to let go of the LHN, and he had no real backup plan. He did ultimately sign up CU and UU which got him a championship game - but it was not the seizmic shift he was going for.

Things happen for reason - the Big10 pursuit didn't work out for Mizzou, mainly because it was done out of necessity and not what would have been best. I for one am glad it turned out that way. It did help prepare us up for the following year when it all did finally go down with the move to the SEC. That, along with some good fortune with the SEC needing a second school to join with a&m, we ended up in the best place possible.

Hopefully you can make the trip up to COMO in November.

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This is why boycotting TT should happen immediately.

The Big 12 should take the lead on this. It affects the conference more than anyone else. And if they don't, I would be for expanding the boycott to the entire Big 12. Their inaction only enables TT.

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Amen. I read today that there are all sorts of things Big 12 could do to Tech for violation of bylaws, ranging from barring them from postseason, barring them from TV appearances, cutting into their revenue share, fines, scholarships, some other stuff.

At the very minimum I'd like to see SEC, Big 10, ACC all announce that after careful deliberation they've decided to drop TT from their schedules. I bet that would be enough for TT to show Sorsby the door.

Very nice write up ????

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The Longhorn network was the reason all those teams left.

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Nebraska couldn't possibly have left due to the LHN. The timeline doesn't work.

With the proliferation of online
gambling, how many other players are gambling on their teams ? Drop a half million dollars
into an 18 year old kid’s lap and
most will make stupid decisions.