More Semi-Reliable Big Ten Expansion Buzz (Texas)
For the expansion-deprived, here is yet another article on the murky topic. This one, however, may be a little more reliable.
The Columbus Dispatch submitted a FOIA request to OSU and received emails from the OSU President discussing expansion talks with Texas:
http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/sports/stories/2010/06/04/e-mails-…
Make of it what you will.
Have we not learned that the only reliable information will come from Delaney himself?
The article quotes e-mails written by Delaney.
"I did speak with Bill Powers at Texas, who would welcome a call to say they have a 'Tech' problem," Gee wrote in an e-mail that was among several obtained by The Dispatch through a public-records request for documents and correspondence related to Big Ten expansion proposals.
Texas Tech is one of Texas' rivals in the Big 12 conference. Ohio State officials declined a Dispatch request to explain the "Tech" problem
The whole article is making assumptions about what they are talking about. We knew 4 months ago they were looking at Texas. Hell, the second that expansion talks started we knew they were going to be talking to lots of schools. My point is don't get excited over them talking to a school until Delaney himself says something about it.
He's alluding to that the Texas State Legislature is likely not going to let Texas go anywhere without Texas A&M or Texas Tech. Given A&M's interest in the SEC, Tech is the problem. Similar to what happened with Virginia to get Virginia Tech in the ACC.
hell, i don't want any of those schools. part of that is regional identity; i don't think we're culturally similar to, say, lubbock, texas, but people use conferences to form those impressions.
beyond that, i can't imagine that it'd be fun to have texas tech around (fans, academics, football program, whatever), texas a&m doesn't feel like it fits, and i think some people are blinded by the glamour of the university of texas. we should expect the same ego and entitlement from texas that we'd get from notre dame, and unlike texas, notre dame's rivalries and geography make it far less likely that there will be a power struggle in the big ten like the one that has pissed off schools like nebraska and missouri.
Amen. That's why I think at the end of the day Texas will not join any of the other BCS conferences, because they'd have to share the limelight, $$, and power in a way that they won't have to do if they stay in the B12. Most Texans subconciously regard Texas as a separate country rather than as just one of fifty states in the Union anyhow.
And when the world crumbles around them, is UT going to headline its own conference like Boise State or go independent like ND?
this is a photo of OSU's President. Is it me, or does he remind of you of the failed candidate for the 1988 Democratic Presidential Nomination, Paul Simon? Either way, he is disturbing.
the offspring of Orville Redenbacher and a turkey.
Orville Redenbacher and Stephen Hawking.
I am sure he got Orville's smarts
He used to be the Chancellor at Vanderbilt and, I think, Brown University before that. He's quite smart and has moved his way up to larger and larger universities. I think he tends to adopt the interests of the institution he is running. When he was at Vanderbilt I believe the athletic department administration was disbanded almost entirely or nearly disbanded. He cared little about growing the athletic department and focused largely on constrction of campus facilities. Vanderbilt likes being in the SEC (founding member) but does not care to change its academic identity (ie, operate its athletic like other SEC schools).
That's the first time anyone has ever linked Stephen Hawking to OSU.
I actually thought Bud Selig... 
Comparing Delany's and Gee's messages is pretty funny. One full of modern mobile device corporate short-hand. The other, like something you'd hear in Ken Burns' Civil War, a letter from Jefferson Davis to Robert E. Lee.
Delany:
"We are fast-tracking it but need to know the $ and observe contracts. Also need to make sure we leverage this to increase chances of hr additions. Finally double chess # of moving parts including not harming brand as we executy."
Gee:
[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."
Hilarious and 100% apt comparison.
I can also picture them as emails from Pete Carroll and Lloyd Carr
and not look like a total jackass is Dhani Jones.
Ouch, I be pwned. How's this:
There are very few men on the planet who can wear a bow tie and not look like a total jackass. Dhani Jones is one of them.
Sean Connery accepts your apology and will no longer be forced to contemplate smothering you in your sleep.
If Sean Connery wants to take me out, he doesn't need to wait until I'm asleep; he'll kick my ass while I'm wide-awake. Not that there'd be much functional difference to him.
"Suck it, Trebek... Your mother's a whore...."
Careful what you say, or you will make Chuck very mad. Beware of roundhouse kicks to the face!
I think what we're seeing is that Texas, not ND, is the belle of the ball.
Not only does Texas bring a great university, college town, academics, and athletics...it brings huge media markets in Dallas and Houston. Unfortunately, there seems to exist the problem of Texas also lugging the red-headed stepchildren - Texas Tech and A&M. Yes, ND is geographically closer, but distance isn't such a problem given the advent of the aer-o-plane.
Unless these emails are a really sneaky ploy to trick ND into joining the Big Ten, it seems that losing Texas to another conference would be a loss that hurts. Losing ND...eh...no one else is even asking her out.
I think the Tech problem is more likely that Texas and Texas A&M can't go anywhere without Tech being invited, for political reasons, and that being an issue for the Big Ten because Tech isn't an AAU member and is downright horrible academically. This isn't good news for the Texas to the Big 10 scenario, it's good news for the Texas schools to some other conference as a bloc scenario.
If you have to bring A&M, Tech, or both, you're just cutting what Texas brings into half or thirds. Tech or A&M don't bring a single TV set that Texas doesn't bring.
Great point.
Maybe Texas is such a coup it would be worth it anyway?
It makes no sense for them coming into the Big Ten geographically. I think if anyone grabs them its the Pac-10 even though I'm surprised they aren't looking at the SEC more seriously.
I think you overplay the importance of geography. Check out the Sun Belt or Mountain West, for example.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_NCAA_conferences
Moreover, getting the Big Ten Network in Texas homes would pay for a lot of charter buses.
I don't think that you can compare the B10 to the Sun Belt or Mountain West. The B10, much like the SEC and Pac 10, has an identity that is largely tied to its geography. I am not saying that this could not change or that we wouldn't jump at a chance to land UT, but I do think that geography factors in for the B10. For the Sun Belt or Mountain West, despite their geographic sounding names, there is no real identity.