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re: What were your thoughts when Ark and SCar joined the SEC?
Posted on 6/23/20 at 2:23 pm to Mithridates6
Posted on 6/23/20 at 2:23 pm to Mithridates6
I am not too young to remember. It felt like a failure.
The plan was to add six teams to form the first two-division Super Conference. Texas, Texas A&M, and Arkansas would come from the west and Florida State, Miami, and South Carolina would come from the east.
That plan fell through and we got none of the big-name schools we wanted.
Arky and USCe were the consolation prizes. They both got lucky and they knew it at the time. Hell, the Carolina AD openly wept with happiness at the presser.
Having said that, both schools have turned out to be fine additions. Arkansas brought a hoops title right away and SCar is strong in many programs.
I am happy that both teams are part of the conference now but back then it sure felt like we were just "settling" without UT, TAMU, FSU, and the U.
The plan was to add six teams to form the first two-division Super Conference. Texas, Texas A&M, and Arkansas would come from the west and Florida State, Miami, and South Carolina would come from the east.
That plan fell through and we got none of the big-name schools we wanted.
Arky and USCe were the consolation prizes. They both got lucky and they knew it at the time. Hell, the Carolina AD openly wept with happiness at the presser.
Having said that, both schools have turned out to be fine additions. Arkansas brought a hoops title right away and SCar is strong in many programs.
I am happy that both teams are part of the conference now but back then it sure felt like we were just "settling" without UT, TAMU, FSU, and the U.
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Posted on 6/23/20 at 2:26 pm to Ronaldo Burgundiaz
Mizzou has already done more in football than SC and then has made Arkansas our bitch head to head in football.
Posted on 6/23/20 at 2:29 pm to RamboMizzou
quote:
Mizzou has already done more in football than SC
lady who hasnt done more in fotball than SC?
Posted on 6/23/20 at 2:30 pm to RamboMizzou
quote:
Mizzou has already done more in football than SC
You need to bend over and let Kentucky have a free one bc if it hadn't been for us stumbling there, we'd have taken at least one of those easts from you. We beat you head to head that year and we finished 4th while y'all finished 5th.
Add in all other programs and we are by far greatly superior to y'all.
Posted on 6/23/20 at 2:31 pm to Jim Sweet
quote:
fotball
New sport?
Posted on 6/23/20 at 2:32 pm to Carolina_Girl
Jim Sweet has to be a CNB alter.
Posted on 6/23/20 at 2:33 pm to SCLibertarian
I would lmao if that turned out to be the case. He could definitely pull it off.
Posted on 6/23/20 at 2:33 pm to LSUGoose
quote:
I'm still not on board with Mizzou. They just don't fit as an SEC school. What have they brought to the table (other than a TV market)? Is there a way to make a trade for another school?
Yeah I was wrong about that. I wanted Mizzou instead of WVU for the TV markets but we would have been in those markets anyway. Should have gone with WVU
Posted on 6/23/20 at 2:35 pm to Jim Sweet
What would you know?
Posted on 6/23/20 at 4:09 pm to TigerintheNO
quote:
I never would have thought that after 18 years that South Carolina would be the one with the better conference record.
No kidding.
Arkansas seemed like a good fit. South Carolina was a logical place to expand, but Clemson seemed to be the better fit at the time.
Posted on 6/23/20 at 4:15 pm to johnnydrama
quote:
I am happy that both teams are part of the conference now but back then it sure felt like we were just "settling" without UT, TAMU, FSU, and the U.
Arkansas and A&M were pretty comparable programs in the SWC. I can see the others though.
Posted on 6/23/20 at 4:21 pm to gohogs141
quote:
Arkansas and A&M were pretty comparable programs in the SWC. I can see the others though.
I don't think anyone thought that A&M was better than y'all, just that, at that time, no one thought Texas would leave without them.
Posted on 6/23/20 at 4:35 pm to johnnydrama
Arkansas for decades prior have tried to join the Big 8 at first. But it is believed that Nebraska threw a wrench in the fan. But those are just rumors from around the 70s and 80s.
Posted on 6/23/20 at 4:59 pm to Mithridates6
I know one thing, that is the SEC was no longer a virgin cause they let the Cocks in, lol!
Posted on 6/23/20 at 5:08 pm to gohogs141
Arkansas and Texas were viewed as the biggest prizes from the SWC I think, but both were struggling at the time in FB. However even with that, I don't think Texas would've been interested in a situation where'd they'd be basically an equal among equals. They wanted the Pac 10 and got an even better deal with the new Big 12 considering how good Neb and Colorado were at the time
Posted on 6/23/20 at 5:10 pm to johnnydrama
quote:
The plan was to add six teams to form the first two-division Super Conference. Texas, Texas A&M, and Arkansas would come from the west and Florida State, Miami, and South Carolina would come from the east.
I have never,ever heard this and I don't think it's true.
I know the SEC offered FSU (Bowden and others have confirmed this)and I also heard rumors about OU but nothing substantiated.
Posted on 6/23/20 at 5:54 pm to RamboMizzou
And yet we still have a winning record against Missouri since they joined the conference.
Posted on 6/23/20 at 6:41 pm to Mithridates6
That FSU and the SEC both frickked up.
Posted on 6/23/20 at 7:29 pm to 4Ghost
quote:
That FSU and the SEC both frickked up.
Don't know about that at least not in the short term.
No way in hell FSU goes it's 90's run if they had joined the SEC. Obviously not a great decision if you're looking at it in the long run.
Posted on 6/23/20 at 8:12 pm to RD Dawg
quote:
I have never,ever heard this and I don't think it's true.
Looks more like four.
LINK
How Texas nearly joined the SEC
As the landscape of college athletics continues to rattle with the looming prospects of major conference realignment, Harvey Schiller was recently recalling what might have been.
From 1986-89, Schiller was the commissioner of the SEC. Light years ahead of his contemporaries, Schiller helped to spectacularly alter the direction of the SEC by moving toward expansion and a championship game in football.
In a recent interview, Schiller reflected back on how Arkansas and South Carolina became the 11th and 12th schools in the league. But the most shocking revelation concerned how close the University of Texas came to joining the SEC.
Schiller, who left the SEC to become the executive director of the United States Olympic Committee and would later serve as president of Turner Sports and CEO of YankeeNets (going from working for Ted Turner to George Steinbrenner), said Texas had virtually agreed to become an SEC member. Arkansas and Texas would join the SEC from the Western side and South Carolina and either Florida State, Miami or Virginia Tech would enter from the East.
"The one that made the most sense was Texas," Schiller said. "I spent some time with DeLoss Dodds (the Texas athletic director) and he really wanted to join the conference."
Done deal. Everything agreed to but the name on the dotted line. Then, it all came apart.
"The state legislature (in Texas) somehow got wind of it through Texas A&M and said we had to bring in both schools or we couldn't take Texas," Schiller said.
The SEC didn't want A&M. Ultimately, the two Texas schools would leave the Southwest Conference and join the Big 12.
The scramble on the other side of the league was just as furious. Schiller remembers Vince Dooley of Georgia was pushing for Georgia Tech. At Florida, officials were pushing for FSU and Miami.
"They felt it was the only way to control recruiting," Schiller said. "We liked Miami, but passed because they didn't have a complete commitment to all their programs. Tulane was passed for the same reasons."
Schiller, who lives in New York and is the chairman and CEO of GlobalOptions Group, an integrated risk management firm, said Virginia Tech simply wasn't a good fit from a geographic standpoint.
Schiller was personally high on Florida State, but left for the USOC before the deal could be consummated. In July of 1990, Arkansas ended its 76-year affiliation with the Southwest Conference to join the SEC. South Carolina would join a few weeks later, but only after a heated courtship pitting the ACC vs. the SEC for Florida State. To this day, many still blame Roy Kramer, Schiller's successor, for blowing the talks with FSU.
As for Schiller, he was not around to see his expansion efforts come to fruition, but it was definitely his baby, even though most in the media today continue to give Kramer all of the credit.
As with the league's title game, which remains one of college sports' most prized jewels, it was all Schiller.
Schiller remembers sitting around one day with one of his assistants, Mark Womack, now the league's executive associate commissioner. He was looking at the NCAA rule book and the idea was born.
"You know, Mark," Schiller said, "we can have a football championship.'" "What you mean?" Womack responded. "I'm looking at a rule book and it says if you have more than 10 institutions, you can effectively have a championship in any sport," Schiller said.
Somehow, Walter Byers, the dogmatic head of the NCAA, caught wind and immediately called Schiller in Birmingham.
"He said, 'what the heck are you doing?'" Schiller said, remembering the fiery conversation. "That (rule) was not meant for you," Byers told Schiller. "It was meant for hockey, volleyball and soccer (and smaller leagues) where they have 12 or 14 or 16 schools."
"But that's not what the rule books says," fired back Schiller, a former combat pilot in Vietnam who later attained the rank in the Air Force of Brigadier General. Schiller once headed the chemistry department at the Air Force Academy and holds a doctorate in the subject.
Schiller said the conversation deteriorated from there, with Byers "calling me an SOB."
"You're not going to do it," Byers demanded.
Oh yes we are, Schiller responded.
In 1992, the SEC made history by holding its inaugural championship game.
"de Tocqueville said the revolution only tells you something that already took place," Schiller said.
Schiller's words spoke volumes about his extraordinary tenure as the SEC commissioner more than 20 years ago. But it may also be applicable to current landscape of college athletics as well.
What will happen over these next few months remains a mystery. However, there is no mystery about the vision employed more than 20 years ago by Harvey Schiller, and how the SEC is still reaping dividends from his genius even today.
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