Dear Big 12: The Time to be Aggressive is Now
If you thought last year’s news of Oklahoma and Texas leaving for the SEC was a bombshell, then I have no idea what to call the news of USC and UCLA leaving the Pac-12. All I know is that this move will effect the entire landscape of college football as we know it.
It is likely that this move will send shockwaves throughout the sport, and I am sure conferences will be scrambling to make even more moves. Well, I am sick and tired of the SEC and the Big Ten making these big moves. It’s time once again for the Big 12 to do something big.
Brett Yormark was just hired earlier this week to become the new commissioner of the Big 12 Conference. He already has a tall task ahead with two teams leaving and four more schools coming in next season. Outside of that, the conference needs a new TV deal in the next few years.
For years, the Big 12 has been one of those conferences who have sat and waited their turn when the food is on the table. Ever since the conference started in 1996, six schools have left. Nebraska, Colorado, Texas A&M, and Missouri have already left years ago and now two more schools (Texas and Oklahoma) are leaving as well.
Sure, the Big 12 was able to add four new schools (BYU, Houston, UCF, and Cincinnati) but it was something the conference had to do or else it wouldn’t exist. Ironically just a year later, the same thing is happening to the Pac-12. Their two biggest schools are potentially leaving as early as 2024.
Did Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff not learn anything from Bob Bowlsby last year? I guess not. Either way, the time is now for the Big 12 to take advantage of this opportunity. Many people thought that the Big 12 without Texas and Oklahoma were still just as good as the current Pac-12. But if the Pac-12 doesn’t have USC or UCLA? I believe that the new Big 12 is in much better shape than the Pac-12 will be without their two biggest programs.
Bob Bowlsby will be gone soon and it’s time for Brett Yormark to make his mark. The Big Ten and the SEC have poached schools they have wanted and it’s time the Big 12 does the same thing.
That means it’s hunting season folks. It’s time to grab the face paint and put on some camo. Get ready to gear up and start poaching some of those Pac-12 schools. Why should the conference do this? If some of the other power five conference want to create these “Super Conferences” then they will likely to be adding even more teams in the near future. This is why the Big 12 needs to act now.
Brett Yormark should have been calling some of these Pac-12 schools as soon as the news broke out. Whether those calls go to Colorado, Arizona, Arizona State, Utah, Washington, Oregon or whoever, his fingers better be going crazy on that phone of his. The time to wait and react to what everybody is doing should be a thing of the past. The Big 12 needs to be proactive instead of reactive. Like I said earlier, the landscape of college football is changing and it’s changing fast. The Big 12 should be going after these Pac-12 schools right now and get them in before anyone else does. Who knows what college football will look like in a few years but if the Big 12 can add more schools, then I would feel a lot better about the future of this conference.
