Dave Wannstedt Says FOX Meetings Addressed New Conferences for Several Big 12 Teams
Former Pitt Panthers and Chicago Bears head coach Dave Wannstedt stated on the Mully & Haugh Show on 670 The Score in Chicago today that he was in at a Fox Sports meetings in Phoenix “a week ago, and we were all talking, and a lot of the Big 10 people were all there[. . .]and it sounds like Oklahoma State and Kansas State are going to the Pac-12, so that’s done. It sounds like West Virginia is going to end up in the ACC[. . .], and it sounds like Iowa State and Kansas are going to join, they’re the two schools that are going to join the Big 10.”
Here’s the audio of what Wanndstedt said.
While rumors of WVU going to the ACC and of ISU and KU joining the Big 10 have circulated since it was learned that Oklahoma and Texas are departing for the SEC, Wannstedt’s claim is somewhat shocking in that Texas Tech is not included as a team joining the Pac-12. It has been believed by many that Tech is the lynchpin to any expansion of the Pac-12 into Big 12 country due to Tech’s size and access to the Texas market and recruiting.
If what Wannstedt says is true, there is no telling what it might mean for the Big 12’s remaining Texas teams or the legal ramifications of such a move.
A reason to doubt Wannstedt’s claim is that the Big 12 recently retained Oliver Luck, the former WVU athletic director and XFL commissioner, as a consultant. Why hire Luck if the league is about to fall apart? On the other hand, it’s possible that the Big 12 is as unaware of any potential moves by its remaining members as it was of Oklahoma and Texas’ plans to join the SEC.
