Jump to content


“The truth is no outside academic leader has dented Nebraska’s athletic and academic standing over the years more than Bob Berdahl."


Recommended Posts

Jon Wefald’s book revisits Big 12’s origins, K-State’s football rise and controversy

 

On the academic rule that limited the number of Proposition 48 qualifiers — the SWC didn’t allow them, the Big Eight did and new league settled on one such qualifier for football and men’s basketball: “It was aimed directly at (Nebraska) Cornhusker football. By the late 1990s, this new Big 12 rule has seriously damaged the quality of Nebraska football. In fact, you could say it brought the era of Bob Devaney and Tom Osborne to a close.”

 

Wefald recalled Berdahl harmed Nebraska after leaving Texas. Berdahl was the president of the Association of American Universities (AAU) in 2011 when Nebraska was voted out of the prestigious group. Wefald said Berdahl could have used his influence to sway a close vote.

 

“The truth is,” Wefald wrote, “no outside academic leader has dented Nebraska’s athletic and academic standing over the years more than Bob Berdahl.

 

“In another irony, if Nebraska had not been a member of the AAU in 2010 when the Big 10 was adding a new school, the University of Missouri, an AAU school, would likely be a member of the Big 10 today.”

 


  • Fire 3
Link to comment

Yeah, I read that little article earlier today. There is a lot of truth to loss of the prop 48 kids hurting NU. It really was a way to let kids get the academic help they need without going the JUCO route. Jarod Tomich, and Jamel Williams were to promonent players that came in as prop 48 guys. Those are 2 I remember I am sure there were others.

Link to comment

I've been harping on this for years. Years and years and years, multiple times, I've posted the article from the Manhattan Mercury News where they interview Wefald about the origins of the Big XII. How so much of it was aimed at curtailing Nebraska.

 

Until this article came out, I had no idea that this Berdahl guy was the AAU president when UNL was ousted. So that's two ways this guy has intentionally harmed Nebraska.

 

I hope there's a special room in hell for him. And that they play "Boomer Sooner" over the loudspeaker for him 24/7 for all eternity.

 

:laughpound

 

:thumbs

Link to comment

I've been harping on this for years. Years and years and years, multiple times, I've posted the article from the Manhattan Mercury News where they interview Wefald about the origins of the Big XII. How so much of it was aimed at curtailing Nebraska.

 

Until this article came out, I had no idea that this Berdahl guy was the AAU president when UNL was ousted. So that's two ways this guy has intentionally harmed Nebraska.

 

I hope there's a special room in hell for him. And that they play "Boomer Sooner" over the loudspeaker for him 24/7 for all eternity.

 

Better yet, I hope they play the shortened version that they played every time Clemson was over the ball during the Orange Bowl.

 

Ba-badada-DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.......................Da Da Da

Link to comment

I'd really like to see the number of prop 48 kids (partial qualifiers) who were admitted to Nebraska and how that compared to other schools.

 

Like county "scholarships," I think their role is greatly exaggerated (almost to the point of myth). I'd be shocked if more than 5% of a recruiting class was a partial qualifier.

Texas is so full of sh#t. That decision had nothing to do with the integrity of academics. It's because Texas had a well oiled JUCO feeder system in those days (still does to a lesser degree), so they didn't care if they sent a kid to a local JUCO rather than helping him get eligible through prop 48.

 

What's appalling is that the exploitive college programs/NCAA actually thinks they are improving the situation by disallowing these "partial qualifiers." How many people have used the opportunity to get on campus to improve their lives dramatically? I'd bet a higher percentage than those who were able to fight their way through JUCO and eventually to a college campus.

  • Fire 2
Link to comment

Initially, Wefald talked about a merger of the 16 schools. But on a conference call in February 1994, Wefald recalled then-Texas president Bob Berdahl shaping the league. “’Here is what we decided,’” Wefald quoted Berdahl.

Why would the TU President Bob Berdahl shape the formation of the Big 12? The front office of the Big 8 must have been a bunch of passive chumps. They sold Nebraska down the river in favor of Texas. :facepalm:

 

You can tell from the quotes in this book that it really pissed off K-State. Probably Kansas too. I'll bet a lot of the blame for Nebraska faring poorly in the B12 stems from Oklahoma. (Just a guess on my part.)

  • Fire 1
Link to comment

 

 

Initially, Wefald talked about a merger of the 16 schools. But on a conference call in February 1994, Wefald recalled then-Texas president Bob Berdahl shaping the league. “’Here is what we decided,’” Wefald quoted Berdahl.

Why would the TU President Bob Berdahl shape the formation of the Big 12? The front office of the Big 8 must have been a bunch of passive chumps. They sold Nebraska down the river in favor of Texas. :facepalm:

 

You can tell from the quotes in this book that it really pissed off K-State. Probably Kansas too. I'll bet a lot of the blame for Nebraska faring poorly in the B12 stems from Oklahoma. (Just a guess on my part.)

 

The story goes that the Big Ten had expanded (adding Penn State) and rumors were flying that the SEC and Pac-10 were going to expand as well. The SWC was disintegrating and the ADs at Kansas State (Wefald), Kansas (Gene Budig) and Iowa State (Martin Jischke) were worried that, if the other conferences poached the power schools from the Big 8 (Colorado, Nebraska, Oklahoma & Oklahoma State) that their schools would be left hanging. KSU, KU & ISU are not marquee schools, and aside from KU's men's BB program, none of them were particularly marketable.

 

They saw the disintegrating SWC as an opportunity, and reached out to Texas for help. Texas brought along Texas A&M and Texas Tech, and they wanted another school that wasn't originally Baylor, but the Texas legislature stepped in and forced Baylor into the mix. Texas was allowed to make a bunch of demands, almost all of which were kowtowed to, and Nebraska was marginalized.

 

For all those people yearning for the "good old days" of the Big 8, they can all suck eggs. Our Big 8 "brothers" conspired with Texas to marginalize and contain Nebraska, basically keeping the Huskers as a pet on a leash.

 

 

That is pretty much how I think it went down. The other school was Houston I believe, but Ann Richards was a Baylor alum and wouldn't go for it unless they were brought along instead of Houston. The rest of the Big 8 was getting their ass kicked by Nebraska and wanted to slow them down. So they went with Texas. The fact that the Missouri AD would not vote for the KU AD as conference commissionor and went with the Texas AD also sent the power to the south.

  • Fire 1
Link to comment

Although reporting by the Journal Star in 2011 found out that the Huskers didn't get any help from a couple of their new Big Ten siblings on the AAU vote either.

If you read that linked report, you'll notice Berdahl's name comes up in a 2011 email from former UNL chancellor Harvey Perlman.

Perlman writes Berdahl with displeasure as to why votes are still being taken about Nebraska's AAU status after the initial voting deadline. This was disadvantageous to Nebraska's cause since any abstentions counted in the school's favor.

"It is preposterous that the announcement of a deadline as clearly as you announced was not intended to be a deadline after all," Perlman wrote in an email to Berdahl, then AAU president. "This is one more instance where the process as defined and implemented has created the impression in my mind, and in the minds of others, that the leadership is determined to achieve a particular result regardless of the rules."

 

LJS

Link to comment

 

Although reporting by the Journal Star in 2011 found out that the Huskers didn't get any help from a couple of their new Big Ten siblings on the AAU vote either.

If you read that linked report, you'll notice Berdahl's name comes up in a 2011 email from former UNL chancellor Harvey Perlman.

Perlman writes Berdahl with displeasure as to why votes are still being taken about Nebraska's AAU status after the initial voting deadline. This was disadvantageous to Nebraska's cause since any abstentions counted in the school's favor.

"It is preposterous that the announcement of a deadline as clearly as you announced was not intended to be a deadline after all," Perlman wrote in an email to Berdahl, then AAU president. "This is one more instance where the process as defined and implemented has created the impression in my mind, and in the minds of others, that the leadership is determined to achieve a particular result regardless of the rules."

 

LJS

 

 

 

I wasn't paying much attention at the time -- was there ever a lawsuit about this?

Link to comment

The funny thing is, all Kansas State and Iowa State did by whoring themselves out to Texas was buy themselves a couple of decades. With conference expansion coming on the horizon again, they're two of the most likely schools to be left out in the cold. The Big Ten has no need of either school, nor does the SEC, and the ACC doesn't make sense for them. The Pac-12 or whatever they are now wouldn't want or need them, so they're looking at middle-tier conferences like C-USA, the MAC or the Sunbelt.

 

In a world of mega-conferences, bringing eyeballs to TV sets is the #1 criteria for inclusion. There are going to be a lot of current D1A schools left out of the big leagues. These guys are on the block.

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...