Now what happens?
Late Tuesday night, the Pac-12 Conference announced it will not expand.
No super-conference for commissioner Larry Scott. No Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas and Texas Tech. No new additions at all.
Instead, the Pac-12 told the country that 12 teams is all it wants — and essentially shut the door on Oklahoma.
After the OU Board of Regents on Monday gave President David Boren the authority to decide Oklahoma’s conference affiliation, it seemed like OU’s train was on the track for a move west.
“We’ve had conversations with the Pac-12, and those conversations have been very warm,” Boren told reporters.
Very warm? The Pac-12 must have missed the memo.
After Tuesday night’s announcement, it appears Boren’s train to the west has been derailed.
It’s a surprising move by the Pac-12, no doubt.
As of Tuesday morning, the general feeling from top Pac-12 officials was that Scott would be able to convince the conference presidents to approve the addition of Oklahoma and friends.
Scott has said all summer that he wasn’t interested in expanding his league unless the landscape of college sports shifted enough to force the Pac-12’s hand.
When Syracuse and Pittsburgh left the Big East during the weekend for a new home in the Atlantic Coast Conference, it appeared the first domino had been pushed and that Scott would move.
The hot rumor on Tuesday was Oklahoma was willing to stay in the Big 12 if the league replaced Dan Beebe as commissioner.
It seemed like a parting message. A nice way to say, “Hey, we’d love to stay, but ... well, you know, we want a new boss.”
It seemed like the deal was done.
And yet here we are. It’s Wednesday, and OU is left standing in an awkward position.
No entry to a new West Coast home. No real commitment to the Big 12.
A crazy thing, this realignment stuff is.
One second, Oklahoma is two feet out the Big 12’s door. The next? Well, good luck figuring that one out.
Chris Lusk is a journalism senior and the editor in chief of The Daily. You can follow him on Twitter at @ChrisLusk.
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bettythedogman 8 months, 1 week ago
i'm sure it was not unnoticed what excellent players stoops pulled out of california last year. maybe usc and ucla weren't so enthusiastic about increasing bob & co.'s exposure to their fertile high school fields.
ma1561 8 months, 1 week ago
ok