Big 12 Expansion: David Boren, Recruiting, and Pitch Videos!

Yesterday at the OU Board of Regents meeting, OU president David Boren made some statements regarding expansion.

The first quote from Boren probably shouldn’t have caused as much of a stir as it did, since this has been the public stance of the Big 12 and its presidents since the beginning. However, these quotes do seem to indicate that the presidents are nowhere near agreeing on which schools they’d like to admit into the conference. As has been the case since the beginning, it will be very tough for any of the expansion candidates to get eight votes out of 10, and it’s going to take a lot of negotiating between the presidents before anyone is chosen.

I still believe the league will expand, since there is such a large financial incentive to do so. However, I’d be surprised if candidates are selected before the end of the football season.

Many have used Houston’s recruiting potential as a reason to leave the Cougars out of the league, but SB Nation’s Bud Elliott makes a compelling case for why Oklahoma and Texas should both welcome Houston. I’ve been saying for a while that OU and Texas wouldn’t be impacted (much) by Houston’s acceptance, and I believe OU fans should root for this to happen.

The article also points out, however, a fact that most have believed would keep them out of the conference, which is the fact that it would widen the talent gap between the top-tier programs and the second-tier programs. As I mentioned above, it’s going to take some negotiating to get Oklahoma State, Baylor, TCU and Texas Tech on board with it, and it might be impossible.

Yesterday, The University of South Florida’s pitch videos to the Big 12 surfaced, and they’re actually pretty well done!

I’m really looking forward to seeing some of the pitch videos from other schools once they surface. Seeing footage of SMU’s facilities as someone in the background tries to hide a coke mirror should be entertaining.