Big 12 directs commissioner to evaluate expansion candidates

“Not a decision yet”.

The idea of Big 12 expansion has been mulled upon for over a year now and there are plenty of interested schools who wish to join a P5 conference.

Also, Bowlsby suggested an expanded Big 12 could come into being as early as 2017, which suggests that a team like BYU, not now affiliated with a conference, could be a target as well.

“We’ve been contacted by a number of institutions, and after this news breaks, we likely will be again”, he said.

Baylor officials told Big 12 presidents on Tuesday that the school doesn’t have a full written report from Pepper Hamilton, the Philadelphia law firm it hired last fall to examine the way it handled allegations of sexual assault, and that releasing a written report would violate federal law protecting student privacy. I’m not sure that holds with the Big 12 because I don’t trust the individual leaders to maintain the same mindset for more than 30 seconds, but it’s at least possible.

We were left to read between the lines of the few words that Boren spoke, before the conversation stunningly shifted to impending Big 12 expansion.

The reconstituted Big 12 in 2014 hailed its round-robin football schedule as the way to produce “One True Champion”, but the slogan looked silly when it ended up with co-champions that season.

In 2015, the Bears finished 10-3 overall and 6-3 in the Big 12 before edging out North Carolina 49-38 in the Russell Athletic Bowl under former head coach Art Briles.

“I’ve said this for a couple years, the thing I don’t like about not having a championship game is having these games, these regular season games that first week of December”, Holgorsen said. It would seem the new media deal between the ACC and ESPN helped encourage the powers that be in the Big 12 to decide more is better for the conference.

At one point, when explaining why he kept some of Briles’ assistants even though some had to be aware of the assaults and the attempted coverups he said he had heard of no bad doing by them and added, “We don’t have a culture of bad behavior at Baylor University”.

Boren said the vote was unanimous on the motion to have Bowlsby get back to the potential candidates. Who’s in our conference right now that could go someplace that would be better than where they are? The only bigger surprise than Tuesday’s news would be if the league doesn’t expand. “As other conferences have grown other advantages have come to them”. Financial advantages. Competitive advantage. Opportunities to play for national championships.

We welcome strong opinions and criticism of our work, but we don’t want comments to become bogged down with discussions of our policies and we will moderate accordingly. A football-only move also could further entice a far-flung school like U-Conn., because the Huskies’ non-football teams could either stay in the AAC or move to the Big East (a much more comfortable fit, basketball-wise) and not have to worry about added travel costs. None is guaranteed to deliver both highly competitive teams especially football teams as well as large new markets to increase the value of future media deals.

“We’re looking for members that will grow over time as we grow and bring stability and have a high top end”, Bowlsby said.

Now Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby can actively search for schools that he believes will be deserving of joining the conference.

David Boren, the Oklahoma Sooners president and board chair, said it’s a positive step for the conference.