The PAC 10 expansion groundswell

[TripletDaddy]

I'm sure an hour or two more on a plane wouldn't deter Texas from making more money and being in a better conference. It obviously didn't stop them from trying to join before. Also, I'm wondering if flying on a commercial jet to LA would take that much longer than some twin prop puddle jumper to Waco (I'm only partially kidding).

The Pac 10 will offer a spot to Texas together with aTm. I doubt it will come to fruition for the Pac 10. Many of the hillbillies in Big 12 country still think they have the best conference in the country and would view it as a step down. Prying Texas away from the Big 12 is a wholly different story from when Texas was trying to leave the SWC.

You keep saying that Texas "tried to join" the PAC 10. Is this accurate? I thought the Pac offered Texas and Texas said no....which is fundamentally different than saying that Texas tried to join up.

Assuming for a brief second that your hypo is accurate, adding texas and A&M to the Pac would vault the Pac to SEC status, I would imagine.

[Color Me Badd Fan]

Texas seems to do ok with it's all Texas recruiting strategy.

Bill Gates was doing okay with just selling computer software. Then he decided that he wanted to get into the video game market. Texas doesn't need California recruits, but would probably like to attract a few of them. There are a helluva lot of 5 star recruits coming out of CA also.

[SCcoug]

Bill Gates was doing okay with just selling computer software. Then he decided that he wanted to get into the video game market. Texas doesn't need California recruits, but would probably like to attract a few of them. There are a helluva lot of 5 star recruits coming out of CA also.

This year Texas signed 3 players not from the state of Texas, one each from Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Ohio. Last few years has been 1 player not from Texas. They are title contenders with a virtually all Texas team. If they want to recruit in other states they will but they don't have to, and for the most part they don't.

[myboynoah]

Kal fans all for it, love the Utes:

http://www.californiagoldenblogs.com...10-expansion-a

Yeah, they sure do. This has got to hurt:

I prefer the round robin for football, but I recognize the monetary impetus to expand for football, and thus wouldn’t protest adding Utah and Colorado.

But if we do that, can we not add them for basketball? Please? Be like the Big East with their 8 football teams and 16 basketball teams. Utah and Colorado simply don’t add anything to Pac-10 basketball.

[SeattleUte]

This is stupid. Texas is the one school that doesn't want anything to do with the Pac 10. It likes being the biggest deal in every way. It feels a responsiblility to the little Texas tech Texas A&M and even the Oklahoma and Kansas chicks under its wing. It thinks of itself as like a nation unto itself. THere was a time when Texas was the hub of a major conference only populated by Texas teams. Texas in the blue blue state pac 10 is laughable. Texas despises and wants to destroy the Pac 10, not join it.

[SeattleUte]

Yeah, they sure do. This has got to hurt:

That's just patently absurd. And from a fan whose conference has not a single team in the top 25, and will likely send one team to the NCAA playoffs. I guess if my perspective wer one year in the past I'd say the Pac 10 is as weak as the Big Sky.

[myboynoah]

That's just patently absurd. And from a fan whose conference has not a single team in the top 25, and will likely send one team to the NCAA playoffs. I guess if my perspective wer one year in the past I'd say the Pac 10 is as weak as the Big Sky.

No doubt. But you were the one pointing to CAL fans' love of Utah.

Funny how Colorado gets thrown into the mix based on that silly speculative report out of SLC. Looks like we are revisting the whole "Whit turned down Tennessee" issue again.

[Color Me Badd Fan]

You keep saying that Texas "tried to join" the PAC 10. Is this accurate? I thought the Pac offered Texas and Texas said no....which is fundamentally different than saying that Texas tried to join up.

Assuming for a brief second that your hypo is accurate, adding texas and A&M to the Pac would vault the Pac to SEC status, I would imagine.

Here's an article from, I believe, a San Antonio newspaper that talks about the whole process of Texas going from the SWC to the Big 12 and what happened in between.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/M..._html8528.html

Here's what the article says:

"First, the Longhorns looked west, to the Pac-10. Berdahl found it appealing that seven of the 10 schools in the Pac-10 were members of the American Association of Universities, a group comprised of the nation's top 62 research universities.

Distance was the main drawback. The University of Arizona, located in Tucson, was the nearest Pac-10 school to Austin — and still 788 miles away. Eight of the 10 schools were in the Pacific Time Zone, meaning a two-hour time gap with most of Texas.

'Texas wanted desperately the academic patina that the Pac 10 yielded,' recalls Berdahl, who went on to serve as chancellor at Pac-10 member California-Berkeley. 'To be associated with UCLA, Stanford and Cal in academics was very desirable.'

Still, expansion in the Pac-10 depended on unanimous approval of the member schools. And Stanford, which had long battled UT in athletics as well as academics, objected. For UT, the way west never materialized."

End Quote.

I believe the Pac 10 later offered Texas a spot, but pretty much after Texas had settled on the Big 12 option.

[byu71]

I am so hoping BYU gets invited to the PAC 10. I will become legend on here. All of you remember I said these Ivory Tower education purists will buckle under and go where the money is.

Even Finderson would buckle under if he truly had the chance to get some serious money and give up his principles.

[Color Me Badd Fan]

This is stupid. Texas is the one school that doesn't want anything to do with the Pac 10. It likes being the biggest deal in every way. It feels a responsiblility to the little Texas tech Texas A&M and even the Oklahoma and Kansas chicks under its wing. It thinks of itself as like a nation unto itself. THere was a time when Texas was the hub of a major conference only populated by Texas teams. Texas in the blue blue state pac 10 is laughable. Texas despises and wants to destroy the Pac 10, not join it.

Pure bullshit, at least in the past. Now it's only part bullshit.

Financially, academically and competively it makes perfect sense for Texas. But, again, the hillbillies in Big 12 country think the Big 12 is better in football. The Big 12 WITH Texas is better in football, but the Pac 10 with Texas is better than the Big 12 with Texas.

You just don't like the idea because it puts a huge roadblock in front of your dream of Utah joining the Pac 10.

[SeattleUte]

Pure bullshit, at least in the past. Now it's only part bullshit.

Financially, academically and competively it makes perfect sense for Texas. But, again, the hillbillies in Big 12 country think the Big 12 is better in football. The Big 12 WITH Texas is better in football, but the Pac 10 with Texas is better than the Big 12 with Texas.

You just don't like the idea because it puts a huge roadblock in front of your dream of Utah joining the Pac 10.

Your post is self-contradictory. The hillbillies don't want anything to do with California. I don't think you know the first thing about Texas.

[TripletDaddy]

Here's an article from, I believe, a San Antonio newspaper that talks about the whole process of Texas going from the SWC to the Big 12 and what happened in between.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/M..._html8528.html

Here's what the article says:

"First, the Longhorns looked west, to the Pac-10. Berdahl found it appealing that seven of the 10 schools in the Pac-10 were members of the American Association of Universities, a group comprised of the nation's top 62 research universities.

Distance was the main drawback. The University of Arizona, located in Tucson, was the nearest Pac-10 school to Austin — and still 788 miles away. Eight of the 10 schools were in the Pacific Time Zone, meaning a two-hour time gap with most of Texas.

'Texas wanted desperately the academic patina that the Pac 10 yielded,' recalls Berdahl, who went on to serve as chancellor at Pac-10 member California-Berkeley. 'To be associated with UCLA, Stanford and Cal in academics was very desirable.'

Still, expansion in the Pac-10 depended on unanimous approval of the member schools. And Stanford, which had long battled UT in athletics as well as academics, objected. For UT, the way west never materialized."

End Quote.

I believe the Pac 10 later offered Texas a spot, but pretty much after Texas had settled on the Big 12 option.

thanks for the link. I was under the assumption that Texas said no thanks.

The article indicates that distance was a factor.

[Color Me Badd Fan]

This year Texas signed 3 players not from the state of Texas, one each from Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Ohio. Last few years has been 1 player not from Texas. They are title contenders with a virtually all Texas team. If they want to recruit in other states they will but they don't have to, and for the most part they don't.

That's because Texas doesn't have a strong connection to any of the other recruiting hotbeds. It's one thing to have the state of Oklahoma in your conference, it's another thing to have California in your conference. Georgia recruits heavily in Florida partly because it's in the same conference with the University of Florida and plays there every year. Right now, the University of Texas has no identification with California or Florida. If it's in the same conference with the California schools, it will be able to pick off a few California recruits just like the non-California Pac 10 schools.

Another thing to consider is that Texas borders SEC country. Texas isn't the only school trying to land Louisiana recruits. It's fighting with the entire SEC West, Oklahoma and the other Texas schools. For kids in Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, etc. the Big 12 actually plays second fiddle to the SEC.

If it gets access to California and is the top dog along with USC of arguably the best conference in the country, then you can could count on Texas landing some of California's 5 star recruits (and USC could land some of Texas's 5 star recruits).

[woot]

Possible scenario (but still unlikely): After surveying all their options and realizing that there isn't a good way to expand, rather than just calling off the search, the Pac10 sacrifices their academic standards to take BYU, who has 2/3 of the criteria, in order to get Utah, which has 3(ish)/3.

Of course, if they're going to sacrifice anything it's just as likely they would sacrifice the natural rivalry and take a school with good athletics and academics (Colorado?).

But yeah 80% chance they do nothing.

[Color Me Badd Fan]

thanks for the link. I was under the assumption that Texas said no thanks.

The article indicates that distance was a factor.

Yes, but Texas was willing to overlook it and Stanford blocked the attempt. But much of Texas's willingness to join the Pac 10 was because of the shittiness of the SWC. Now it's in a significantly better conference than the old SWC.

But another interesting tidbit from the article is that Texas first went to the Pac 10 when it was looking to defect from the SWC. Much of this was due to the UT president favoring the academic association with the Pac 10 schools over his other options.