In 2011, Big 12 / Big East Leftovers Merger Planned

[CyFan61]

I had heard this as well from some ISU officials but this is the first time that it was publicly stated, to my knowledge. (Perhaps it has been officially out there already, though.)

Oliver Luck (WVU AD) said today that if conference realignment would have ended the Big 12 in 2011 when the Pac-12 was looking to take UT, OU, TTU, and OSU, the leftovers from the Big 12 would have merged with the Big East to create a new Big East.

Schools would have been Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas, and Kansas State from the old Big 12 along with Cincinnati, Louisville, Rutgers, UConn, USF, and West Virginia from the Big East, and then would have tossed in TCU and UCF to create a new 12 team football conference under the Big East moniker.

This is from ESPN's Brett McMurphy on Twitter.

How different things might have been...

 

[azepp]

Barf.

 

[cyfanatic]

Yuck...some great basketball games...but that would have been disappointing! Although...better than being left out completely!

 

[CyFan61]

Here are details from a story written by McMurphy:

While conference expansion has slowed considerably, Luck revealed a plan he had three years ago that would have merged teams from the Big 12 and Big East conferences.

In September 2011, the Big East was stunned by the departures of Pitt and Syracuse and the Big 12 was in danger of losing four schools to the Pac-12.

"My favorite story that hasn't been written," Luck said. "After Syracuse and Pittsburgh (announced they were leaving for the ACC), that was in the same time frame that Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State were playing footsie with (Pac-12 commissioner) Larry (Scott) and the Big East was a mess."

So Luck began cold-calling athletic directors at Baylor, Kansas, Kansas State and Iowa State with a proposal.

"I didn't know those guys from Adam," Luck said. "I knew the schools. I told them 'your conference may fall apart. You guys look like you might get left behind. Why don't we take all of you and TCU, which was kind of homeless."

Luck's plan, which also had the support of Louisville athletic Tom Jurich, was to also add UCF for a 12-team Big East divided into two divisions. The West: Baylor, Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State, TCU and Louisville, and the East: UConn, Cincinnati, Rutgers, West Virginia, South Florida and UCF.

"I remember thinking - that's not a bad conference," Luck said. "And we would have kept the affiliation with the (Big East) basketball schools, because they loved the addition of Kansas. They (the Big 12 schools) also liked it. They were nervous as hell, too. We had a series of phone calls. That was sort of our best option."

Luck said he had three or four phone discussions with the Big 12 schools. Then Big East commissioner John Marinatto was not involved in the discussions and no formal offer was extended, but the Big 12 schools - if left behind by the schools headed to the Pac-12 - were prepared for the merger.

"At that point in time," Currie said. "We were ready to flip the switch."

Of course, the merger never happened. Although Texas A&M and Missouri would leave the Big 12 for the SEC, Texas and Oklahoma remained in the Big 12. The Big 12 would survive, but the Big East would eventually lose a number of schools, including - ironically - West Virginia to the Big 12 a year later.

"I think (the proposed merger) that may have helped us get in the Big 12 later," Luck joked. "They were like 'hey, I've talked to that Luck guy before.'"

I have nothing to prove that I know what I'm talking about, but I do know that JP and ISU were on board with this proposal.

 

[CycloneErik]

Better than the MAC or whatever else was out there.

 

[CyFan61]

Better than the MAC or whatever else was out there.

Some have mentioned the MAC or the Mountain West as where ISU would have ended up, but this proves that those were never really in contention. This new Big East would have been the farthest that we'd have fallen.

 

[Triggermv]

While in hindsight, I'm glad things worked out the way they did with the Big 12 keeping alive as a 10 team conference, I do agree that option would have been our best option providing the Big 12 did colapse. It sure would have seemed weird having all those basketball-only schools still in the mix and it would have made for a monstrous scheduling mess for sure.

 

[GTO]

Yuck...some great basketball games...but that would have been disappointing! Although...better than being left out completely!

Would seem about average for both Football and Basketball. Not too bad of a conference:
Basketball - Baylor, ISU, Kansas, KState, Louisville, Cincinatti, and Uconn
Football - Baylor, KState, Louisville, TCU, and UCF (with some average success from WV, ISU, Rutgers, Cincinatti, USF)

We would probably make a bowl in Football every year playing in that type of conference. Probably send 6 of the 12 teams to the big dance in Basketball pretty consistently. Not the sexiest conference, but I think I would have been okay with it.

 

[KnappShack]

Considering the circumstances this would've been about the best possible result.

This board has a lot of love for Louisville and Cincinnati. Well this is what it could've looked like

 

[OPButtrey]

Bill Self mentioned that once as well. It actually wouldn't be a bad league as a second option but I'm glad things turned out the way they did.

 

[QCCyclone]

While in hindsight, I'm glad things worked out the way they did with the Big 12 keeping alive as a 10 team conference, I do agree that option would have been our best option providing the Big 12 did colapse. It sure would have seemed weird having all those basketball-only schools still in the mix and it would have made for a monstrous scheduling mess for sure.

Definitely agree that this would have been our best option. It's nice to see that there was a plan that incorporated all of the Big 12 schools left out of the Pac 12 merger.

 

[isuforlife]

Basketball would have been great, well we are a basketball school

 

[Cyballzz]

Would seem about average for both Football and Basketball. Not too bad of a conference:
Basketball - Baylor, ISU, Kansas, KState, Louisville, Cincinatti, and Uconn
Football - Baylor, KState, Louisville, TCU, and UCF (with some average success from WV, ISU, Rutgers, Cincinatti, USF)

We would probably make a bowl in Football every year playing in that type of conference. Probably send 6 of the 12 teams to the big dance in Basketball pretty consistently. Not the sexiest conference, but I think I would have been okay with it.

Luck made it sound like that basketball would have kept the non football Big East schools like Georgetown, Notre Dame, Marquette, Nova, St, John's. Would have continued to be an awesome basketball conference.

 

[RustShack]

We'd win a lot more football games per year.

 

[isukendall]

I actually would have been very okay with this.

-A football conference where we could be competitive, and probably have a better chance of making bowl games every year. Let's face it, the chances of us making a BCS bowl in our current B12 schedule is close to zero, and even making bowl games period is pretty hard right now.
-A very competitive basketball schedule. Really good teams in there.

I can see why JP would have been okay with this also. While not the B12, this really could have been a decent option.

 

[HFCS]

Some have mentioned the MAC or the Mountain West as where ISU would have ended up, but this proves that those were never really in contention. This new Big East would have been the farthest that we'd have fallen.

That scenario would have been better for uconn, cincy and USf than what actually happened. WVU, Louisville, tcu and the 4 big 12 schools were helped the most by PAC 12 expansion being stopped. Rutgers B1G would have happened anyway so tossing tcu at least would have been the league's first mistake.

 

[Al_4_State]

I remember thinking in 2011 that this was our most likely option, and I was ok with it.

 

[ISU42]

Would seem about average for both Football and Basketball. Not too bad of a conference:
Basketball - Baylor, ISU, Kansas, KState, Louisville, Cincinatti, and Uconn
Football - Baylor, KState, Louisville, TCU, and UCF (with some average success from WV, ISU, Rutgers, Cincinatti, USF)

We would probably make a bowl in Football every year playing in that type of conference. Probably send 6 of the 12 teams to the big dance in Basketball pretty consistently. Not the sexiest conference, but I think I would have been okay with it.

You need to re-read what it said about basketball. The basketball conference would have been loaded.

 

[CycloneErik]

We would still hate Kansas, too. That's something I would hate to lose.

 

[UNIGuy4Cy]

Not a bad conference really