Author: Jack McHenry
Widespread desire to enhance their athletic programs has resulted in universities from coast to coast changing from one athletic conference to another. While realignment is one of the biggest buzzwords in college athletics as of late, it will not be found played out on gridirons, hardwoods or the many other sporting venues across the United States. Instead, conference realignment is being determined in board rooms and press conferences between school executives and administrators. The landscape of collegiate athletics is changing rapidly, and with all indications coming out of the Big 12 conference, more drastic moves shifts are on the way.
Last year marked the beginning of the most serious realignment college football has seen in decades. The Big 10 conference was one of the major conferences to add a team, as Nebraska joined from the Big 12. The former Pac 10 conference became the Pac 12 after the additions of the University of Colorado from the Big 12 and the University of Utah from the Mountain West Conference. Both the Big 10 and Pac 12 conferences became large enough to include themselves in the upper echelon of college sports divisions, joining the likes of the Big 12 and the Southeastern Conference (SEC). These larger conferences divide into two divisions and host their own championship games at the end of each season, which can determine a national title contender and are held at high profile, neutral stadiums.
The Big 12 is the centerpiece of this year’s realignment chatter. Its two marquee football powers, Texas and Oklahoma, share a bitter rivalry known as the Red River Shootout. In order to not spoil the rivalry, these schools aim to relocate to the same conference should the ever-bickering Big 12 dissolve. To further complicate matters, each of these powerhouses carry a sort of little brother with them. Texas has Texas Tech while Oklahoma has Oklahoma State. Thus, the general consensus is that these four schools will move as a block and make any conference they join a legitimate super conference.
The Big East also comes up in the realignment discussions for the near future. While it is a massive conference consisting of 16 colleges, it has struggled to produce strong teams over the past few seasons. Schools in this conference are now discussing leaving so as to raise their football credibility. Syracuse is currently in the process of transitioning from the Big East to the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), where they feel they will have more opportunities to win. It is this plot, as well as the aforementioned and seemingly eminent breakdown of the Big 12, that have the college sports world anticipating major realignment. As there are with any kind of serious changes, there are some serious question marks and challenges facing the proposed changes. One is related to academics. The quartet of Texas, Oklahoma, Texas Tech and Oklahoma State are widely assumed to be in discussions with the Pac 12.
While this would make for an unbelievable football conference in terms of competition, university officials question whether or not the newcomers will be able to stay on par with academic standards of a conference that includes Stanford University, University of California Berkeley, UCLA, University of Washington and other academically rigorous institutions. It is feasible that Texas is the only school out of the four potential newcomers that would not mar the conference academically. Another concern is that the debate about realignment has been almost entirely football-centric and has left out other sports. Take the Big East, whose football program has struggled to remain competitive, where basketball is a different story.
In both men’s and women’s basketball, the Big East is unmatched in its depth of talent. Their conference is highly competitive and is usually the best represented in March at the NCAA tournament. Some schools are willing to leave the Big East to join other conferences that could increase the school’s football exposure. NCAA officials are questioning whether realignment structured around one sport is worth ruining highly competitive environments for other sports. Along with academic standards, these are the kinds of questions university and conference officials must ask as football season wears on and the hour of realignment draws near.
While the impact of realignment is only beginning to be felt this season, it stands to change the face of college sports in the coming years. Universities and their fans could be thrown into new, highly competitive super conferences in the near future.
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