It's Official: Oklahoma and Texas Moving to SEC

That was fast! Only nine days after the first reports that Oklahoma and Texas could be headed to the SEC has the change been finalized. Both schools' boards of regents have now officially accepted the SEC's offer to join. According to the linked article:

The next step is to determine when the move will become a reality -- and what happens to the eight Big 12 schools left behind. On Monday, Texas and Oklahoma issued a joint statement saying that they intend to remain in the Big 12 through June 30, 2025, when the current Big 12 media rights deal expires -- but it's possible that the schools will attempt to exit sooner. Each university would have to pay a penalty of at least $75 million to $80 million to break that agreement or hope that the Big 12 dissolves before the contract expires.

Aside from the pun on "exit sooner," the interesting thing to me in that paragraph is the idea that OU and UT would stay in the Big 12 through June 2025. That would mean four more years of the two schools competing in the Big 12 as a sort of lame duck, which doesn't seem realistic. Some commentators have suggested that the $75-80 million-dollar exit fee would not be a major impediment to Oklahoma and Texas leaving earlier.

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About a week after I arrived in Lubbock in 1997 to begin my faculty career at Texas Tech (where I still am), I purchased a Big 12 t-shirt as shown below. Back during the 2010-2011 round of conference realignment, I started marking off schools' departures (on an image of my shirt, not the shirt itself). Losses back then included Texas A&M and Missouri to the SEC, Colorado to the then-PAC 10, and Nebraska to the B1G (Big 10). TCU and West Virginia joined the Big 12 at the time to give it 10 teams. It's taken another 10 years for any new changes to occur, but now they have in the form of Oklahoma and Texas's move to the SEC. Accordingly, I have updated my t-shirt diagram...

OU, UT to SEC Looking More and More Likely

From ESPN.com, things seem to be moving forward with the potential departure of Oklahoma and Texas from the Big 12 to the SEC. If completed, the move would give the SEC 16 teams. Considerable media attention has been focusing on the implications for other prominent conferences. Will the Big 10 (which has 14 teams) and Pacific 12 also try to get up to 16 teams? Will Notre Dame finally join a conference for football (the Fighting Irish are part of the ACC for other sports)?

Here in Lubbock (and in other Big 12 cities, I suspect), people are speculating on what will happen to the eight schools (potentially) left behind after OU and UT are gone (although the Big 12 started out with 12 schools in 1996, it has had only 10 schools since the last major conference-realignment shuffling about 10 years ago). Though the Big 12 could try to build back up, others believe it would dissolve and its teams disperse.

Many are speculating that the Pac 12 might want to bring its membership up to 16. If so, it could absorb up to four Big 12 schools, possibly those that are in the southwestern U.S. (Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, TCU, and Baylor). I have also seen conjecture that Iowa State and Kansas State might be of interest to the Pac 12, along with Boise State and BYU (although some observers see obstacles to BYU joining the Pac 12). 

The University of Kansas (KU) and perhaps Iowa State have been mentioned as two schools that could bring the Big 10 up to 16 teams. Both are members of the academically prestigious Association of American Universities (AAU), as are nearly all of the current Big 10 schools.

West Virginia, which alone among Big 12 schools, is in the eastern U.S., perhaps would land in the ACC.

Oklahoma and Texas May Be Moving to the SEC and the Announcement Could Be Only Weeks Away

Oklahoma and Texas have reached out to the SEC about joining the conference and things look like they may be getting serious, according to reports.

UConn Said to Be Moving Back to Big East

If you've followed conference realignment over the past decade or so, you'll know that the Big East evolved from a basketball-focused conference, concentrated in the northeastern U.S., to a much larger league taking in football schools further to the south and west. It then split back up into a northeastern, basketball-oriented "Big East" and a catch-all conference of the rest of the teams known as the "American Athletic Conference." Connecticut, with a football program, went with the AAC.  I diagrammed the split in this 2013 posting.

Now comes word that UConn, an original Big East member (dating back to 1979), will exit the AAC to return to the Big East. Both in terms of tradition and geographic proximity, I think this is a good move. The one major challenge will be placing Connecticut's football team in a conference, as the current Big East does not sponsor the sport.

NY Times Analyzes: "Is Your College Football Team in the Wrong League?"

The New York Times looks at major programs such as Arkansas, Nebraska, and Texas A&M to analyze how their moves from one conference to another have affected their won-loss records and finances.

Big 12 Expansion Seems to Be Heating Up

The prospects of the Big 12 conference (currently with 10 schools) expanding seem to run hot and cold. Right now, on the heels of the Big 12's football media days, the temperature is as warm as I can remember it being in a long time.

According to this Dallas Morning News article, "The Big 12's board of directors, comprised of school presidents and chancellors, voted unanimously Tuesday in [Dallas suburb] Irving to have Commissioner Bob Bowlsby contact and evaluate schools that have expressed an interest in joining the conference, then reporting back."

ESPN reports conducting an anonymous poll of Big 12 coaches on their top-two preferences (among non-Power 5 schools) to bring into the league. Here are the results:

Houston and BYU each received five votes. Cincinnati and Memphis tied for third with four votes each, followed by Colorado State and UCF with one vote apiece.

I personally favor bringing in the top-four vote-getters (Houston, BYU, Cincy, and Memphis). Bringing in only UH and BYU would do nothing to relieve West Virginia's travel burden (and in fact trips from Morgantown, West Virginia to Provo, Utah are 1,673 miles in the air).

Five 16-Team Super-Conferences?

ESPN.com writer Ryan McGee shares his "utopian" vision of conference realignment.