[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

I don't really see anything wrong with WVU. Let's be honest- unless you're the Big Ten, you're only paying lip service, at best, to academics. And even then, didn't they just accept Nebraska into the fold? Not exactly a "get" academically. Hell, of the four schools that have left the Big XII, didn't the Pac-12 get the best academic institution? So let's dispense with the academic side of the argument.

Financially, their endowment is down with Texas Tech, Kansas State, and Oklahoma State at the bottom of the conference so that's disappointing. Enrollment is 30K, similar to all other Big XII schools not named Texas (or Baylor). The basketball arena and football stadiums are in the middle of the pack

Now, TCU is another matter. They just seem so much smaller to me (enrollment of 9000) and in danger of becoming Baylor II. However, endowment is $1.2B!! I never would have guessed that. That makes them on par with Oklahoma and Kansas, only trailing Texas (14B!) in the money department.

Does either really bring any media markets to the table? How many in Dallas are turning into a TCU game? Over Texas or Oklahoma? And how many does WVU bring?

So, let's be honest: when the conference looked battered and bruised, this is who would accept their offer to remain stable. I think WVU will fit in nicely as a middle of the road program and there aren't any others of those in the Big XII footprint (it's not like Illinois or Minnesota or Arkansas were leaving, for instance). Yes, the distance is a bit of a problem but any program of a similar caliber would be even further.

And if the Big XII hadn't picked up these two programs, would anyone from the ACC even be fielding their calls? Or would the ACC and PAC be picking apart the carcass of the weaker conference (Big XII)? I think if the conference doesn't add WVU and TCU (or if they had gone after, say, Louisville- I'm still not keen on the TCU pickup) they're in no position for other conferences to even look at them unless they had made a daring play for 4 teams from the ACC, similar to the rumors of 5 or 6 to the PAC from the Big XII. And those are really hard to coordinate all of the competing interests.

SI

In the end, Neinas has managed to steady the ship and that's all that was really required of him. They brought in generally the best schools that were available and they entered the deal with the SEC. That keeps them stable. Now they have to work through the issue of Texas wanting the status quo as opposed to adding more teams. If they can get Texas to move in the proactive direction, they'll be in good shape.