The Big 12 expansion groundswell

[PaloAltoCougar]

I decided a couple of days ago that I was done making any contributions to that other board at least until this whole expansion hooplah was worked out...

Although the message of your post sucks, it's well written, logical and very possibly true. But, foolishly perhaps, I don't think Samuelson's comment, even if it was quoted precisely, is dispositive. The purpose of the meeting was to do something wholly unrelated to sports. And the prof's question had the potential of derailing the meeting into extraneous and unproductive areas. Samuelson's statement was, at the time, literally true irrespective of it's long-term import, and it averted what would have been a huge detour and media uproar.

And you're dead wrong about CUF. It is not quaint. It's very au courant.

[TripletDaddy]

My point is, they have said every time they've been asked - this month, last month, last year, etc. - that they are committed to independence and have no plans to join another conference.

Why would they have to do anything special and make some grand announcement now when they've been saying it all along?

Hypothetically speaking, what would you expect them to say if the B12 were dealing with them behind the scenes and the aTm situation had not yet resolved itself?

[LiveCoug]

My point is, they have said every time they've been asked - this month, last month, last year, etc. - that they are committed to independence and have no plans to join another conference.

Why would they have to do anything special and make some grand announcement now when they've been saying it all along?

I have heard a lot of beating around the bush and nothing that would truly end the speculation. All answers I have heard have been very open ended.

You may be right. I sure as hell hope you are not.

[pellegrino]

I decided a couple of days ago that I was done making any contributions to that other board at least until this whole expansion hooplah was worked out. The amount of traffic that board receives does give it advantages in some situations, and I guess I would be at least partially dishonest if I said I didn't enjoy the having a lot of people read my stuff when I have some worthwhile stuff to put together - I am a former news reporter after all. But, too much noise and too much controversy (of a general adolescent type) hit a tipping point in the last couple of weeks, so, I went on cougarboard vacation and decided to spend my unproductive hours on the more quiet, quaint CUF.

At any rate, I heard about the lunch involving Samuelson from someone I would never consider a "source" - it was a marketing professor at the Marriott School. Apparently a bunch of the business/marketing faculty had a lunch meeting with the president yesterday to discuss some proposed changes to some undegraduate curriculum/program, and they also talked about things like trying to expand the size of the MBA program, etc.

Samuelson opened the meeting up for questions at some point and, naturally, one of the faculty asked if he could comment on the football conference situation.

Now, I don't know if this professor had the quote exactly word-for-word correct, but it was clear that there wasn't a lot of ambiguity in the answer - "We are not joining the Big 12."

Mostly over on the other board (but a little bit here as well), there seems to be this bubble of hype that has turned into a deafening echo chamber. Through different back-channel leaks and Chip Brown-esque links, there's this impression that everything at BYU is in total lock-down mode and there is something building towards an inevitable "official" announcement or hour of decision with gargantuan implications.

When I heard the professor's report about the lunch, what it made me realize more than anything is that this bubble of hype with the expectation of some grand official occurance probably exists merely in our own minds.

As I thought about it more, I realized that nobody at BYU has actually been any more tight-lipped than normal. Nobody appears to be in any kind of lock-down negotiation mode. Holmoe has spoken a couple of times to the media just as he normally does this time of year, and nobody has overtly dodged any questions or denied any request to comment. Over and over again this month the answer has been what it has been for a year - "we're happy with independence and we're fully committed to it" - with the usual, "we'll see what the future holds," caveat.

I think it's reasonable to conclude that the Big 12 and BYU have had some discussions with each other recently, but who's to say one or both parties have concluded that there will be no invitation/acceptance right now, for whatever speculative reason?

Sure, there might be a few additional phone conversations back and forth, here and there, but if the gist of it was that BYU is going to stay independent for now, would there ever be any kind of official yes/no announcement? I think it's extremely doubtful there would be. A few people discredited my "rumor" immediately because they couldn't believe the president would speak so "haphazardly" to a group when "no official announcement has been made!"

Well, in fact, lots of "official statements" have been made since about this time last year, and they've all indicated that BYU isn't going anywhere.

Now, I suppose there could be ongoing discussions/negotiations and the answer could swing from yes to no, or vice versa in the near future. But, my own personal conclusion is that things aren't nearly as hot and heavy over at BYU as some of us have let ourselves believe.

So, to conclude this rambling post, I will defend completely what I posted yesterday. The lunch meeting absolutely happened, and I believe with 99 percent assurity that Samuelson pretty unambiguously said that BYU is not joining the Big 12. I'm sure some may come back with a plate full of crow for me to eat if BYU does accept an invitation soon. Frankly, I don't care. I didn't say it, Samuelson did. So I would recommend speculating on why he would say that if it wasn't actually true, rather than making waves towards some pretty inconsequential message board junky like myself.

thank you for confirming my own feelings. I've always thought CUF was a quiet, quaint message board too.

[TripletDaddy]

CB sleuths turn up charter flight from Addison TX (15 minutes from B12 HQ) to Provo this morning.

This is it!

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/LXJ327

Yeah!

I bet Samuelson was there to greet it, too.

[oxcoug]

Although the message of your post sucks, it's well written, logical and very possibly true. But, foolishly perhaps, I don't think Samuelson's comment, even if it was quoted precisely, is dispositive. The purpose of the meeting was to do something wholly unrelated to sports. And the prof's question had the potential of derailing the meeting into extraneous and unproductive areas. Samuelson's statement was, at the time, literally true irrespective of it's long-term import, and it averted what would have been a huge detour and media uproar.

And you're dead wrong about CUF. It is not quaint. It's very au courant.

Why is everyone ignoring the possibility that CS was just crossing his fingers in suitpants pocket when he said this?

[Blueintheface]

thank you for confirming my own feelings. I've always thought CUF was a quiet, quaint message board too.

We haven't forgotton your unbelief.

[Uncle Ted]

If BYU isn't having conversations with the Big 12, or isn't interested in the Big 12, why wouldn't they just come out and say it with 100% conviction? That would end all speculation and it would be very simple to do.

Yes, good point. Put Samuelson on True Blue live with a call in segment so we can all call in and tell him how "smart" he is for turning down a Big 12 invite.

[pellegrino]

Although the message of your post sucks, it's well written, logical and very possibly true. But, foolishly perhaps, I don't think Samuelson's comment, even if it was quoted precisely, is dispositive. The purpose of the meeting was to do something wholly unrelated to sports. And the prof's question had the potential of derailing the meeting into extraneous and unproductive areas. Samuelson's statement was, at the time, literally true irrespective of it's long-term import, and it averted what would have been a huge detour and media uproar.

And you're dead wrong about CUF. It is not quaint. It's very au courant.

au contraire, mon frere. nous sommes très retard sur le temps

[Maximus]

My point is, they have said every time they've been asked - this month, last month, last year, etc. - that they are committed to independence and have no plans to join another conference.

Why would they have to do anything special and make some grand announcement now when they've been saying it all along?

Maybe they have come to realize what normal fans are saying...how can you be happy with the lack of quality home schedules, bowls, and lack of BCS access? The only good thing independence has brought is espn. We have one good home schedule so far because most of the series line up to have a home game that year. We have announced a grand total of one equal series with a BCS team. We have announced some MWC quality 1-1 series. Hmmmmm

[pellegrino]

Yeah!

I bet Samuelson was there to greet it, too.

he was! my cousin's girlfriend's sister's friend's boyfriend works at the airport and refueled the plane!

[shoganai]

Hypothetically speaking, what would you expect them to say if the B12 were dealing with them behind the scenes and the aTm situation had not yet resolved itself?

And the hammer hits the nail.

That is the great trap, DDD. They would, of course, say basically the same thing. So, we have naturally let ourselves get whipped up into a frenzy because lots of commentators are saying BYU is a top candidate, and a few internet posts labeled as inside info (my own included) have popped up.

So, while BYU may very well be a "top candidate," none of us really has any idea what that means. And, it may very well be 95 percent business as usual at BYU, while the message boards boil over with nothing but a self-created heat source.

[Blueintheface]

Page 100 is upon us. I can't take this anymore.

[UteStar]

You should tweet this.

This is now possibly the funniest post moment in CUF history.

[PaloAltoCougar]

au contraire, mon frere. nous sommes très retard sur le temps

Perhaps, but at my age even a snail's pace seems brisk. My code name at Q-Zar is Sloth for a reason. So I think we're right on top of things.