GSG
Assistant Coach
Since the collapse of Nebraska, Colorado and Kansas State, which ruled in the mid-to-late '90s, will the Big 12 North ever be able to cycle the power back from the "big money" schools in the South?
--Bret, Omaha, Neb.
If you look at it from a historical perspective, the current situation was probably inevitable. When the divisions were set up, the South got two of the most dominant programs in history, Texas and Oklahoma, and a third, Texas A&M, with long-standing tradition. The North got one such juggernaut, Nebraska, along with two programs, Colorado and K-State, whose track records were much more recent and limited. At the time the conference started in 1996, the Longhorns and Sooners were admittedly down, but with their resources and built-in talent pipeline from the state of Texas, it was only a matter of time before someone came along and kicked them back into gear, in this case Mack Brown and Bob Stoops. Meanwhile CU and K-State have fallen on hard times, and none of the other three North schools (Missouri, Iowa State and Kansas) have yet been able to reach the upper tier.
That's not to say it will be this way forever, though. All things are cyclical in this sport, especially the balance of power among conferences. Though I do think both UT and OU will remain strong as long as their current coaches are in place, Nebraska is too proud a program not to rise up again, be it under Bill Callahan or someone else. And Colorado has had everything that could go wrong happen over the past few years. Dan Hawkins may be the guy to return the Buffs to the days of Darian Hagan and Eric Bienemy. You never know.
It's on the second page
Link
--Bret, Omaha, Neb.
If you look at it from a historical perspective, the current situation was probably inevitable. When the divisions were set up, the South got two of the most dominant programs in history, Texas and Oklahoma, and a third, Texas A&M, with long-standing tradition. The North got one such juggernaut, Nebraska, along with two programs, Colorado and K-State, whose track records were much more recent and limited. At the time the conference started in 1996, the Longhorns and Sooners were admittedly down, but with their resources and built-in talent pipeline from the state of Texas, it was only a matter of time before someone came along and kicked them back into gear, in this case Mack Brown and Bob Stoops. Meanwhile CU and K-State have fallen on hard times, and none of the other three North schools (Missouri, Iowa State and Kansas) have yet been able to reach the upper tier.
That's not to say it will be this way forever, though. All things are cyclical in this sport, especially the balance of power among conferences. Though I do think both UT and OU will remain strong as long as their current coaches are in place, Nebraska is too proud a program not to rise up again, be it under Bill Callahan or someone else. And Colorado has had everything that could go wrong happen over the past few years. Dan Hawkins may be the guy to return the Buffs to the days of Darian Hagan and Eric Bienemy. You never know.
It's on the second page
Link
