The Big 12 may be toast in a couple of years. The SEC is cherry picking their two top teams. Now the ACC, Big 10 and PAC 12 are having high level discussions on an alliance.
It looks like the Big12 schools are voting this Friday to approve the addition of Houston, UCF, Cincinnati and BYU. That should start a cascade as the AAC looks to fill holes, likely poaching teams from C-USA, and down the line it will go.
I’m surprised BYU doesn’t go Pac12.
@LousyLefty posted:I’m surprised BYU doesn’t go Pac12.
There is no way PAC-12 would touch BYU with a ten foot pole. The only way BYU gets into BIG 12 is that Texas is leaving.
Curious as to why? I don’t really follow this much. I still call it the PAC-10 half the time.
@LousyLefty posted:Curious as to why? I don’t really follow this much. I still call it the PAC-10 half the time.
Yay, this is really inside baseball (figuratively) stuff. First, PAC12 puts a high emphasis on being research schools. BYU is not a R1 research institution which all PAC12 schools are. Second, BYU does not fit in culturally. At the start of this school year, BYU had a LDS apostle give a talk on campus stating that the BYU professors and faculty needed to “ pick up their muskets” and defend the church from the LGBT+ community. He said that if that BYU lost credentials from that, so be it. Many still remember Stanford (and maybe other PAC10 schools) refusing to play BYU due to their church stance on blacks up to 1978.
Which leads to any conference allowing BYU in. They will not play on Sunday. And that hurts scheduling and revenues. This is why Texas was against them joining the BIG12 several years ago.
@LousyLefty posted:I’m surprised BYU doesn’t go Pac12.
One reason is academic snobbery. All of the PAC 12 universities are research universities. BYU is not.
The second reason is religious bigotry. The Mormon Church supports very conservative principles. They don’t fit in with west coast liberal ideology. The PAC 12 presidents didn’t want protests every time BYU came to town.
BYU would have been a natural from a rivalry perspective to join along with Utah. Every other PAC 12 team has a cross city/metro area or cross state rival. But when expansion came up the PAC 10 bypassed BYU and went straight to Colorado.
Curious to see how this plays out from a baseball perspective. Houston is historically very good. Good as in could compete in the Big 12 good. This past year they were historically bad for some reason.
UCF has been good (for the past decade) with some down years sprinkled in.
Both schools recruit from talent rich areas and are schools with a lot to offer that have traditionally fit the mold of a P5 school.
BYU and Cincy, not so much. Their student pop is high, but I don't think either really offer what the other two do. Cincy is still a cold weather program. BYU is a different animal in terms of campus life and image. I can't imagine anybody considering any of these schools is going to choose Cincy/BYU over the others. T
Obviously cash is king and the Big 12 football money is going to speak but from a baseball perspective I can't imagine this is better for the baseball programs. Other than being able to sell the Big 12 to recruits. But a case can be made that the AAC isn't that far off from the Big 12.
From a football perspective I want to say this makes the conference weaker, but odds are every one of these teams would have beat Texas in the past 10ish years.
Texas football isn’t what it used to be. Unless they ramp it up they will get buried in the SEC. I don’t know how they ramp it up. Traditionally it’s been where Texas high school kids want to play.
@PABaseball posted:Curious to see how this plays out from a baseball perspective. Houston is historically very good. Good as in could compete in the Big 12 good. This past year they were historically bad for some reason.
UCF has been good (for the past decade) with some down years sprinkled in.
Both schools recruit from talent rich areas and are schools with a lot to offer that have traditionally fit the mold of a P5 school.
BYU and Cincy, not so much. Their student pop is high, but I don't think either really offer what the other two do. Cincy is still a cold weather program. BYU is a different animal in terms of campus life and image. I can't imagine anybody considering any of these schools is going to choose Cincy/BYU over the others. T
Obviously cash is king and the Big 12 football money is going to speak but from a baseball perspective I can't imagine this is better for the baseball programs. Other than being able to sell the Big 12 to recruits. But a case can be made that the AAC isn't that far off from the Big 12.
From a football perspective I want to say this makes the conference weaker, but odds are every one of these teams would have beat Texas in the past 10ish years.
Seems like Houston has changed their recruiting strategy over the last couple of years. Bringing in more transfer players
2018 Season
2019 Season
2020 Season
2021 Season
In 2021, they brought in 27 new players, more than half were transfers.
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@CollegebaseballInsights posted:Seems like Houston has changed their recruiting strategy over the last couple of years. Bringing in more transfer players
2018 Season
2019 Season
2020 Season
2021 Season
In 2021, they brought in 27 new players, more than half were transfers.
The HC at the University of Houston (Todd Whitting) is on the hot seat and has really shaken up the roster in an effort to save his job. UofH is notorious for over recruiting and and there has been a lot of turnover there over the past few years - see transfer portal. UofH has been good when they have successfully recruited the greater Houston area. Lately the better Houston area HS players don’t want to go to UofH (or Rice) and the program is on a downward trend.
Texas got embarrassed by Arkansas, the next to the bottom of the barrel in SEC yesterday in football. Not a good sign.
After last nights game I was thinking of Texas ….. Be careful what you ask for. You might get it.
Speaking Football:
You know everyone likes looking at the immediate result, but if you look at the bigger picture Texas has traditionally been the dominate brand in TX and has been able to get any recruit they want in the state. But since A&M joined the SEC the tide changed and A&M has recruited way above their weight in the state. I have a sneaking suspicion that Texas joining the SEC will tilt the recruiting scales back in the Longhorns favor.
*as I reread this it sounds like I am a Texas homer, but I am the furthest from that. I’m more of a PAC-12 transplant into SEC/ACC territory.
Texas still gets the best recruits but does nothing with them. Those of us in the Big 12 have known they didn't deserve the hype for a long time...I'll be happy to watch it all play out.