Today, Big 12 Conference brass cleared the way to potentially add TCU, a maneuver that could honestly save a league that seemed ready to collapse a few weeks ago. The Big 12 fired commissioner Dan Beebe a couple weeks ago, the first step in trying to rehab the league. Instead of just dissolving, the move would counter-act the rumor that Mizzou is jumping to the SEC.
Although TCU is not meeting expectations this season, they’re still a program on the rise which has more than out-grown it’s mid-major status.
According to the AP:
The Big 12’s presidents and chancellors voted unanimously to authorize negotiations with the Horned Frogs, who play in Fort Worth, Texas, and boast the defending Rose Bowl champion.
TCU was planning to leave the Mountain West for the Big East next year, though the Big East is reeling from the loss of Pittsburgh and Syracuse to the ACC.
TCU Chancellor Victor Boschini Jr. suggested a move to the Big 12 might be a better decision for his school, a former member of the old Southwest Conference that once included current Big 12 members Texas, Texas Tech and Baylor. It also included Texas A&M, which is leaving the Big 12 for the SEC next year.
Right now the Big 12 very closely resembles the old SWC, and not just because of having so many of the same member schools; but also because they seem just as likely to collapse. Like all conference jumping, this is all about college football and its tv revenue, not college basketball. It appears both the Big East and the Big 12 are not ready to close up shop any time soon.
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