Big 12 football: Missing the Cornhuskers

[knapplc]

And I'm guessing Baylor won't sustain their current level. That's a tough school to remain consistently good in.

 

Texas ought to come back to prominence if Smart is able to negotiate the politics surrounding that job. But it's set up to be, and probably will remain, a conference dominated by Oklahoma and Texas, with the second-tier teams occasionally making waves.

[ShawnWatson]

And I'm guessing Baylor won't sustain their current level. That's a tough school to remain consistently good in.

 

Texas ought to come back to prominence if Smart is able to negotiate the politics surrounding that job. But it's set up to be, and probably will remain, a conference dominated by Oklahoma and Texas, with the second-tier teams occasionally making waves.

 

Once Briles leaves, Baylor will be back to being Baylor.

[AgMarauder04]

And I'm guessing Baylor won't sustain their current level. That's a tough school to remain consistently good in.

 

Texas ought to come back to prominence if Smart is able to negotiate the politics surrounding that job. But it's set up to be, and probably will remain, a conference dominated by Oklahoma and Texas, with the second-tier teams occasionally making waves.

 

Once Briles leaves, Baylor will be back to being Baylor.

 

Still can't believe Texas didn't back a Brinks truck up to his house and give him the job. He was the smart hire. Hell, he made BAYLOR competitive. BAYLOR.

[BigRedBuster]

And I'm guessing Baylor won't sustain their current level. That's a tough school to remain consistently good in.

 

Texas ought to come back to prominence if Smart is able to negotiate the politics surrounding that job. But it's set up to be, and probably will remain, a conference dominated by Oklahoma and Texas, with the second-tier teams occasionally making waves.

 

Once Briles leaves, Baylor will be back to being Baylor.

 

Still can't believe Texas didn't back a Brinks truck up to his house and give him the job. He was the smart hire. Hell, he made BAYLOR competitive. BAYLOR.

 

 

That would require the egos at Texas to actually admit Baylor has a quality coach and a decent program right now.

[TGHusker]

This writer called Texas the "Conference Killer" and said the Big 8 should have listened to Tom years ago.

http://republican-times.com/2011/09/09/texas-the-conference-killer/#.UuazlLTnapo

 

 

This is a letter I sent to the Tulsa world in response to a Aug 2011 article attacking NU has cowards. The OKLA papers cry a good cry when we were leaving but they weren't there to push for NU's stay at the time.

Sorry for the length

 

Dear Editor,

I appreciate it if you would publish the below as a refutation of Dave Sittler’s article referenced above.

 

For over a year now, Dave Sittler has groundlessly accuse Nebraska of being cowards, babies, etc because Nebraska has had the good foresight to leave the Big 12 conference for the Big 10 Conference. But Sunday’s article was beyond my tolerance for not responding. Sittler’s article is both childish and without support (as most of his articles are concerning Nebraska football.) As a member of the Oklahoma Cornhusker Club, I could not allow this poorly written article to go without a response. Sittler, as he has done all year, blamed the potential breakup of the Big 12 on Nebraska. He has often claimed that NU was leaving because we couldn’t beat Texas or because we lost 2 conf championship games in a row or in this case, we think of Texas as a bully. Nothing could be further from the truth and a good reporter would know better and not show his blatant biases so openly. It is obvious that Sittler has not done his homework by interviewing NU officials – he is probably reading only what Conf Chairman Bebe tells him. I noticed that last year, Sittler showed so much bitterness towards NU that he always predicted that NU would lose to their conference opponents in his weekly predictions. And I understand he is from Nebraska (or worked in Omaha) and even attended the Oklahoma Cornhusker Club a few times – years ago.

 

The conference had the seeds of its own breakup when it was formed – as warned by Tom Osborne. The Big 8 allowed a camel (Texas) into its tent and before long the camel would occupy the whole tent.

NU did not start the process of conference breakup. Before UN made a move to change conferences, 6 other Big 12 schools, including Tx and OU were threatening to move to the Pac 10. Missouri already voiced interest in the Big 10. Other schools were willing to jump (Texas flirted wt Big 10, Pac 10 and SEC) prior to NU making a move. Then Colorado did jump to the Pac 10 to start the ball rolling.

 

Fortunately for NU, the Big 10 saw NU as a very favorable addition to their conference. NU also saw that they would be in a conference of equals. A conference that gave them advantages academically as well as financially. NU saw the hand writing on the wall and was the only conference member that had the foresight to not tie their future to that of Texas. The move to the Big 10 was a great business decision and great academic decision by Nebraska. Nebraska fans are thrilled to be a part of the conference. We feel sorry for our Big 8 brothers who tied their future to Texas. Texas just cares for Texas. A&M has seen the light. I am thankful to Osborne and Chancellor Perlman for having the foresight to cut the cord from a conference dominated by Texas – the same Texas that broke up the old SW Conf (see Aug 1, 1990 below.)

 

 

I see the only baby in this situation, are those schools unwilling to let go of the sow’s (Texas) nipple and sports writers who cannot separate bias and fantasy from facts – see the list of historical facts below.

 

One final thought: Sittler’s articles that cut down Nebraska remind me of the jilted lover who’s boy friend wisely dropped her. Out of revenge she publicly spoke mistruths about her former lover to make him look bad – thus to make her new ugly partner more palatable to live with. Since Nebraska made a wise long term business and academic decision to drop its unstable partner (the Big 12), the ex lover and the homers that support them (like Sittler’s love for all things OU) like to look beyond the wisdom NU showed in leaving this shaky/corrupt conference because they don’t want to upset their ugly big money partner – Texas of whom they are all dependant. I thought OU had more independence – it appears not. I’m glad A&M is seeing the light.

 

 

Long long historical view of NU leaving the Big 12.

Feb. 25, 1987: SMU receives the death penalty from the NCAA. The SWC becomes a less important conference.

July 1, 1989: Jim Delaney becomes commissioner of the Big Ten.

June 4, 1990: The Big Ten expands by adding Penn State.

Aug. 1, 1990: Arkansas accepts an invitation to the SEC. Arkansas fans cite problems working with UT administration as one of the causes.

Late 1993-1994: UT and OU administration meets secretly in an East Coast hotel to discuss adding UT to the Big 8 conference. Tentative agreements are made.

Early 1994: UT receives overtures from the Pac-10 to join their conference, Texas A&M receives overtures from the SEC.

Early 1994: Texas Legislature gets involved in the conference realignment and demands that Texas Tech and Baylor be included in the new Big XII.

Early 1994: Southwest conference schools not included in the realignment are left out in the cold with no conference affiliations. Schools that formerly had ties to bowls and scheduled games struggled to maintain their prestige.

Feb. 25, 1994: The Big 12 Conference is founded. Four former SWC teams join the Big Eight. Nebraska votes against the conference being formed, and points to issues with UT administration and the plan for the conference.

August 29, 1994: Many proposed changes to the Big 8’s rules are discussed. Tom Osborne is against playing the conference title game in Texas, and restrictions on partial academic qualifiers in the league. Osborne states: "To me, the people down there (Texas) joined the Big Eight. When they (SWC schools) joined up, my understanding was that they were going to accept the Big Eight's rules and play by the Big Eight's rules and they were happy to get in the Big Eight." Nonetheless, the league follows Texas' desires on both issues, and league offices are relocated to Dallas.

June 21, 2006: The Big Ten forms the Big Ten Network. The new network will exclusively air programming and games of its member schools. Fox Network and the Big Ten Conference share ownership with the conference owning 51% and Fox 49%.

Aug. 30, 2007: The Big Ten Network becomes reality, and though initially going through growing pains, after a few years becomes a blue print for conference television, conference members sharing in over $20 million dollars each in revenue. Big XII commissioner Kevin Weiberg becomes the director of the BigTen Network.

Sept. 5, 2007: Dan Beebe is named the Big 12's third commissioner, replacing Kevin Weiberg.

Oct. 13, 2007: Athletic director Steve Pederson is fired and replaced with Osborne on an interim basis. Osborne fires football coach Bill Callahan after the season and eventually replaces him with Bo Pelini.

Dec. 19, 2007: Osborne's status as athletic director is moved from interim to permanent.

Jan. 12, 2009: Jay Nixon is inaugurated as Missouri's 55th governor. Nixon becomes a big proponent for Missouri leaving the Big 12 for the Big Ten.

July 1, 2009: Larry Scott is hired as Pac-10 commissioner. He says his conference will explore expansion.

Dec. 5, 2009: A controversial late-game call by officials helps lift Texas to a 13-12 win over Nebraska in the Big 12 Championship at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, sending the Longhorns to the BCS National Championship game. The result of that game galvanizes Nebraska public opinion about Texas’s influence in the conference.

Dec. 15, 2009: The Big Ten Council of Presidents and Chancellors announces plans for expansion, with a 12 to 18 month timeline for study.

December 16: Pac-10 commissioner Larry Scott in an interview states that; “Expansion, is something we will take a look at.”.

December 17: Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick makes a statement; “Our strong preference is to remain the way we are. Independence is a big part of the tradition of the program and our identity. We’d sure like to try to maintain it.”

Dec. 18, 2009: Missouri Governor Nixon explains why Missouri should join the Big Ten. Nixon states: "I'm not going to say anything bad about the Big 12, but when you compare Oklahoma State to Northwestern, when you compare Texas Tech to Wisconsin, I mean, you begin looking at educational possibilities that are worth looking at."

January 24: Kansas City Star story asks, “Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence will rattle tonight when Missouri takes on Kansas in basketball. But are the days numbered for this 100-year-old rivalry, at least as a Big 12 Conference game?”

Early February: Wisconsin Athletic Director Barry Alvarez talks to BigTen Commissioner Jim Delaney and suggests that Nebraska is a very attractive target for expansion. Delaney suggests that they should follow-up with examination of Nebraska, and determines the possibilities of acquiring Nebraska.

Feb. 8, 2010: Big 12 presidents and chancellors meet in Dallas and discuss conference realignment. (This must have been an interesting meeting, and it would be interesting to know what were the details of those conversations.)

February 9: Pac-10 Commissioner Scott announces that a search committee is in place. He adds, “To me, the logic if the Pac-10 is going to think about expanding, now is our window.” Much later it is disclosed that talks had already begun with the University of Texas, early speculation points solely to Colorado joining the Pac-10.

February 19: Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez tells the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel that the Big Ten has hired a firm to explore a list of 15 potential candidates. Alvarez doesn’t name any of the 15 schools on the list, but he states that Texas isn’t among them. He adds, “I think there may be a re-alignment, and I think people are out there trying to position themselves, saying: ‘When the music stops, we better have a chair.’”

March 23: CBS Sports interviews Pac-10 commissioner Scott. Scott announces that he is exploring a conference championship game in football.

April 10: Jim Delaney announces that the Big Ten’s initial timetable of 12 to 18 months is still in tact. “There are no announcements here and there are no notifications here,” he says.

April 19, 2010: Emails between Ohio State President Gee and mails Delaney disclose Gee encouraging the Big Ten to move with expansion plans. "I am of the mind that we control our destiny at the moment, but the window will soon close on us, agility and swiftness of foot is our friend." It is also disclosed that Texas president Bill Powers had discussed with Gee UT having a "Tech" problem.

April 20, 2010: Athletic director Tom Osborne visits with Jim Tressel while Tressel is there ostensibly for a charity event. Later Tom emails Nebraska chancellor Harvey Perlman: "I spent some time with Jim Tressel from Ohio State yesterday, and think it would be a good idea if we met sometime soon regarding the expansion landscape." In my opinion this is the first informal contact that the BigTen had with Nebraska regarding possible opportunities of joining the BigTen.

April 24, 2010: The Omaha World Herald interviews Chancellor Perlman of UNL. Perlman states that; “My instinct and Tom's instinct isn't just to sit around and wait to see what bad things happen to you, we're certainly talking about what options we have." Perlman also states that UNL has not been approached formally by any conference. However Perlman also states that; “I don't think anyone can dismiss anything out of hand, if you take the wildest predictions about mega-conferences — 16 is the number you see most, but 24 has been floated though not publicly — we certainly have to act in the interest of Nebraska."

Perlman also made a prescient point: “If you start pulling us apart at the outer edges — say Missouri or Colorado goes somewhere — there are not a lot of options for us to find schools that are compatible and bring us back to 12, in that sense, I worry a lot about what's going to happen."

In discussing the Big XII’s financial future Perlman stated; “It has a lot of potential in its current configuration, the Big 12 isn't likely to generate the revenue the Big Ten and the SEC do just because of population and eyeballs on TV sets and seats in stadiums.” Continuing he commented; “That has to be a concern. We can't let the gap in revenue become too large without losing some competitive advantages. But you want to maximize revenue while keeping the collegiate model intact and protect student-athlete welfare."

May 5-6, 2010: Representatives of some Big XII universities meet with Pac-10 representatives ostensibly to discuss a joint TV contract. It is my opinion that this was a Trojan horse; the real reason for the meeting was to allow Pac-10 representatives to meet with UT, OU, UTT, and T A&M representatives about conference realignment.

Mid May: Reports later show that Pac-10 officials made visits to the University of Texas, Texas A&M, and the University of Oklahoma. These discussions were to formalize the nature of agreements between the various universities and the Pac-10.

May 31: Cal-Berkeley chancellor Robert Birgeneau speaks at an alumni banquet in Wellesley, Mass. He informs alumni that he would be “surprised if something did not happen that revolutionized college athletics.”

May 27, 2010: Texas communicates with Oklahoma State through UT regent Bob Stillwell; "I cannot imagine any scenario where UT/Aggies (Texas and Texas A&M) are not coupled with OSU/OU," OSU athletic director Mike Holder writes back; "We just want to be with Texas when the dust settles!"

June 1, 2010: At the Big Ten meetings. Delaney suggests a possible southern shift in strategy for expansion. (This is to put more pressure on Nebraska to consider the BigTen opportunity.)

June 3, 2010: Internet articles appear stating that the Pac-10 is targeting OU, OSU, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech and Colorado for expansion.

June 3, 2010: Big XII conference meetings are being held.

June 4, 2010: Texas legislators tied to Baylor argue that Baylor must be considered in Pac-10 realignment; "We'd love to see the Big 12 stay the way it is but if it doesn't, we want to be where the Texas schools are."

June 4, 2010: Big XII meetings end, surprisingly, Big XII commissioner Beebe and UT President Powers refuse to speak at press conference. The private meeting between the schools contained conversations about what were the various schools intentions. Commenting later on reports that UT and other schools are looking at joining the Pac-10, Beebe stated; “Well, I don’t blame those other conferences for looking at our institutions, they’re valuable institutions with a lot of great history, and tradition, and could add a lot to any conference. But I think we have a compelling case about why these 12 should stay together.”

AD Tom Osborne later stated that at the meeting; “Some of the schools that were urging us to stay, we found some of them had talked to not only one other conference or two but even three,”

Later it is disclosed that during the meeting Nebraska was pigeon holed by UT President Powers and others to commit to the Big XII. In response Chancellor Perlman asked a series of specific questions:

“What if Nebraska stayed and potential Big Ten target Missouri left? Would those six schools stay in the Big 12? The answer was yes.”

 

”What if Nebraska stayed and Colorado left for the Pac-10, would those six schools stay in the Big 12? Yes.”

 

What if both Colorado and Missouri left? The answer: The six schools could not make a commitment that they would stay in the Big 12.

 

CRUCIAL POINT HERE!! Nebraska knew that Colorado wanted to go to the Pac-10, and Missouri had been vocal about their position as well. If Nebraska agreed to stay that meant the conference would fail according to the statements of the South schools and especially UT’s President.

 

Perlman then inquired; “I then asked what would be the nature of the commitment that they would expect from an institution in order to stay in the Big 12 and what they talked about was a public statement; unequivocal commitment to the Big 12 by the president and chancellor of the university.”

 

Perlman then inquired whether or not all conference members were willing to assign media rights to the conference? In response:

 

“The University of Texas made it clear they were not able to do that,”

CRUCIAL POINT #2!! Without the agreement to give media rights, Perlman knew that the Big XII’s long term TV contracts would never equal the value of other conferences that did so.

June 5, 2010: Big XII conference Commissioner Beebe arrogantly demands a commitment from Nebraska and Missouri to stay in the conference, while making NO other demand on other schools that are also in the process of negotiating conference moves. But not from the other schools – including Texas who was flirting with moving to other conferences.

June 6, 2010: Pac-10 conference has meetings and the various member presidents and chancellors give Commissioner Scott the authority to expand the conference.

June 7, 2010: Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune and ESPN reports that the BigTen "all but acknowledged Sunday they intend to follow a turbocharged timetable for expansion." Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delaney and Big Ten Council of Presidents/Chancellors Chair and Michigan State Univ. President Lou Anna K. Simon "declined to discuss the specifics of the timing and which schools could be involved," This comes as a DIRECT result of the ultimatum from Big XII conference Commissioner Beebe.

June 8, 2010: Colorado regents agree to hold a meeting to discuss conference realignment.

June 9, 2010: The sunshine act requirement is fulfilled for the Nebraska Board of Regents to discuss a move to the Big Ten. The statement reads “Subject: Conference Affiliation UNL”.

June 10, 2010: Discussions between Texas A&M and the SEC are leaked. Reports suggest that A&M is seriously considering the offer. The Austin American-Statesman later reports “A&M will have 72 hours to accept a formal invitation from the Pac-10 once it's made, or the offer will be pulled off the table. The Pac-10 is rumored to be considering Kansas and Utah as possible replacements for the Aggies.”

June 11, 2010: Colorado Board of Regents unanimously votes to leave the Big 12 for the Pac-10. While at Boulder, Scott states that; "I've been authorized to pursue other opportunities if they arise. A lot of that depends on what happens elsewhere in the country and what individual schools want to do."

June 11, 2010: Nebraska Board of Regents meets in private meeting to listen to Chancellor Perlman and AD Dr. Osborne discuss BigTen offer. Both detail the conversations and questions asked at the Big XII meeting the previous week. Perlman and Osborne make it clear that they are concerned about the status Nebraska would be left in if other schools left, and the lack of commitment Nebraska felt specifically UT was willing to provide. The vote held afterward was unanimous for moving the school to the BigTen.

BigTen Commissioner Delaney spoke afterwards at the announcement, here is the report from Huskers.com:

The Big 12 meetings in Kansas City expedited the timeline and accelerated the process "to get Nebraska and be where we are today," Delaney said, adding that Big Ten presidents voted unanimously to make Nebraska "whole financially" and move the Huskers into the enviable position to begin competition in the new league in 2011.

Asked about other potential candidates for future Big Ten expansion, Delaney declined to name any school to protect confidentiality. He said right now, he's more interested in going back to talk to his league presidents, athletic directors and then will "take a deep breath."

"A conference is like a family - like a small company," Delaney said.

If a mistake was made fully integrating Penn State into the conference in 1990, Delaney said it was not spending enough time in Happy Valley. "We could have done better in Pennsylvania with alumni and media markets," he said.

The Big Ten's approach will likely be different for Nebraska. "There will be a lot of emphasis on early integration," he said, adding that Nebraska sports will be brought onto the Big Ten Network as soon and as much as possible.

The challenge to select Nebraska sooner than either the conference or the school imagined was not an overly difficult task. When Delaney met with Perlman and Osborne to discuss vision, goals and values, the chemistry was instant and the philosophical mindset was almost identical. "We were ready to move more quickly and make sure this integration would work successfully," Delaney said.

Given the timeline of the events above, given the value of the offer from the BigTen, and the inherent stability it provides, how could Nebraska have made any other choice? What is left out of this conversation is the other values that the BigTen offered Nebraska academically as well. Our former conference failed to acknowledge the value of seeing a conference as more than just being about athletics. The Committee on Institutional Cooperation is a member organization for BigTen universities; Nebraska will join this august group simultaneously with our membership in the BigTen. This will impact the research and growth, not only of our university, but also of our state. The CIC includes an opportunity to collaborate and cooperate with research being done at other member institutes, all through a high-speed fiber optic infrastructure.

[Fuzzy]

I get the vibe from Husker fans that miss the Big 12 their reasons behind that mindset is that they miss the "sure" wins that came when competing for the Big 12 North title. They miss the easy wins that SHOULD occur against teams like Iowa State, Colorado, Kansas and Kansas State, and only having a must win game against Missouri to really lock ourselves in as the North contender for the title game.

 

The Big 12 misses Nebraska because when they left, they took the last conference championship game with them.

[VectorVictor]

Wasn't one of the reasons why we lost AAU status was because the research done at UNMC doesn't count towards what UNL does for research even though they are affiliated? If they had counted that, UNL is easily in the AAU.

 

Yea something about the medical school not being co-located with UNL. AAU isn't a huge deal, it's important to the B1G powers that be and is a factor in expansion but I wouldn't invest too much in the designation, heck KU and ISU are members and they're not stellar schools, not terrible but far from elite...and who knows, maybe NU can get back in, the CIC should help with time.

 

Also, I don't believe the AAU factors in agriculture research. I remember reading something that ag research funded by the FDA or USDA isn't accounted for by the AAU. Pair this with the fact that the Med Center isn't counted either and it's amazing that we were able to hang on as long as we did.

 

STL Husker hit the nail on the head. This was bigger than UNMC not being co-located, and it will impact a lot of other schools down the road.

 

---

 

The Big 12 misses Nebraska because when they left, they took the last conference championship game with them.

 

Not true. The Big XII could have very easily gotten their membership back up to 12 so they could have another title game. They chose not to, as they wanted a path of least resistance to BCS bowls.

 

Of course, this may come back to bite them in the ass now that we're in the Playoff era.

[Bowfin]

After Cotton got his "stuff" pinched in the bottom of a pileup, I was ready and willing for Nebraska to initiate another remake of the Southwest Conference meltdown and put everything related to an about Texas in the rearview mirror. To tell you the truth, I don't even remember which Texas team did that, but after a while, they all started looking ad sounding alike to me.

 

We are a better fit in the B1G than whatever it is they call themselves down there now.

[VectorVictor]

After Cotton got his "stuff" pinched in the bottom of a pileup, I was ready and willing for Nebraska to initiate another remake of the Southwest Conference meltdown and put everything related to an about Texas in the rearview mirror. To tell you the truth, I don't even remember which Texas team did that, but after a while, they all started looking ad sounding alike to me.

 

We are a better fit in the B1G than whatever it is they call themselves down there now.

 

 

Always remember. Never forget.

[AgMarauder04]

Aw, c'mon guys, he was just saying "Howdy"

[Bowfin]

Aw, c'mon guys, he was just saying "Howdy".

 

Not amused. That will always be the signature moment in Nebraska / Texas football history for many of us. It defined what kind of people with which we we're dealing.