Realignment Megathread (All The Moves)

  • After Iowa State won the Big 12, a Cyclone made a wonderful offer to We Will that now increases our match. Now all gifts up to $400,000 between now and the Final 4 will be matched. Please consider giving at We Will Collective.
    This notice can be dismissed using the upper right corner X button.

2speedy1

Well-Known Member
Jan 4, 2014
5,081
5,815
113
NW a much more prestigious gig for a university prez. He was probably in the running before and lost out to the lady who had to step down due to her health diagnosis.
I think what is surprising is how different the 2 schools are. Seems like a strange match.
 
  • Like
Reactions: FriendlySpartan

AuH2O

Well-Known Member
Sep 7, 2013
10,992
16,728
113
BYU is a larger school with a potentially larger fanbase than OU (and Utah). The state population is similar too. Utah is fastest growing state (although it faces a unique possible impending ecological disaster).

If they'd have been in a major conference with a major TV deal for years I think they'd be a powerhouse in terms of ratings draw.

Love 'em or hate 'em Texas is Texas and tough to replace. But I genuinely think BYU/OU could easily end up being a push (or an upgrade) so it's more talking about adding Houston/Cincy/UCF combined to replace Texas in terms of comparison.

If we all ignore that Texas football has sucked getting beat regularly by KU and blown off the field against Iowa State....and this is about TV/streaming viewership...we can't also give Oklahoma all these points for regularly making the CFP. If OU had been in the MWC/WAC for decades and BYU had been in the Big 8/Big 12 would they really have that different of a brand?
I'm high on Utah as well for the reasons you state. I think building a conference with a huge in-state rivalry in a fast growing state that has good programs with rabid fans is a great thing.

As for the future, when the SLC area has to be abandoned, Phoenix runs out of water, Texas secedes and most of the ACC and PAC schools are underwater, I'm fully expecting ISU's enrollment to jump to like 150,000. That's a lot of eyeballs. Big 10 should be playing the long game here and add ISU immediately.
 

Gonzo

Well-Known Member
Mar 10, 2009
23,189
25,258
113
Behind you
Read the tea leaves and decided his future prospects would be better in another conference?
The presidential search at NW started in April 2021. They named Blank the president in October 2021, but she stepped down in July 2022 before filling the role. I'd be willing to bet the Oregon guy was a candidate they were interviewing and considering in spring/summer of 2021, if that's the case it wouldn't have had anything to do with conference realignment.
 

BCClone

Well Seen Member.
SuperFanatic
SuperFanatic T2
Sep 4, 2011
61,414
55,962
113
Not exactly sure.
I'm high on Utah as well for the reasons you state. I think building a conference with a huge in-state rivalry in a fast growing state that has good programs with rabid fans is a great thing.

As for the future, when the SLC area has to be abandoned, Phoenix runs out of water, Texas secedes and most of the ACC and PAC schools are underwater, I'm fully expecting ISU's enrollment to jump to like 150,000. That's a lot of eyeballs. Big 10 should be playing the long game here and add ISU immediately.
Not to venture into politics but what is the SLC issue? Water? No plans move there so I don’t pay attention.
 

Jer

Opinionated
Feb 28, 2006
22,324
19,882
10,030
OSU may have been upwards in pay from Vanderbilt, but yeah, WVU was a step down after he got pushed out at OSU
Was he missing teeth or was his sister also his wife? If so, might have just been trying to find a 5-star culture fit.
 

AuH2O

Well-Known Member
Sep 7, 2013
10,992
16,728
113
Wouldn't think a President would care too much about Conference affiliation, but I could be completely wrong.
Yeah, if you are a university president, going from NW to Oregon is like being a football coach and going from Rutgers to Ohio State. They could say Oregon is going to the big 10 and NW is shutting down sports, and it isn't making one ounce of difference. You're making that jump as a university pres.

Oregon is probably one of the more extreme in terms of athletics being a high portion of overall university operations, and it's still less than 10%. For most it's like 5%.

It was one of the funny things about the Canzano feud with the Arizona guy. Canzano thought there was no way an AD would see a TV dollar offer before a President, like the Presidents are personally the lead contact or negotiators here.

Do people realize the grants/gifts on the research and academic side that are in the millions of dollars that are applied for and come in, and the Presidents often don't even know they exist until the university receives them, if at all? Individual faculty are bringing in grants in millions of dollars all the time, and the presidents have no role, and usually no knowledge until after the fact.

Obviously college sports are a big deal, and the media deals are important, and the Presidents are going to be involved and aware. But the idea that a $25M/year TV deal is going directly to the presidents and bypassing ADs is pretty silly. College sports are indeed a big business, but I don't think people grasp what behemoths these large universities are.
 
  • Like
Reactions: FriendlySpartan

StPaulCyclone

Well-Known Member
SuperFanatic
SuperFanatic T2
Oct 9, 2008
2,079
1,664
113
Duh!
Another amazing data driven article by the 365 website. The data dismantles John Wilner's latest puff piece. Just more proof he's just a Pac-10 shell.

Absolutely fantastic analysis and article. Again, some of the sports media lose credibility with me. News is dead, everything is now an opinion piece with a narrative.
I also appreciate that he says the media partners have more data and better analysis.
 
  • Like
Reactions: cyatheart

AuH2O

Well-Known Member
Sep 7, 2013
10,992
16,728
113
Yeah the journey of a university prez can be a strange one. Gordon Gee went from Brown, to Vanderbilt, to tOSU, to West Virginia. Talk about weird.
How in the hell does this happen? At some point maybe one of these schools decides not to catch what seems to be a falling knife.

Well, on the bright side, I guess Kirkwood has identified their next President when the time comes.
 
  • Like
Reactions: CascadeClone

HFCS

Well-Known Member
Aug 13, 2010
67,178
54,237
113
LA LA Land
Not to venture into politics but what is the SLC issue? Water? No plans move there so I don’t pay attention.

I don't think it's even political because even the people who are usually anti-environment acknowledge the risk, it's a looming problem that is known. Basically the Great Salt Lake has lost 2/3 of its water, if it dries up there are toxic metals that could end up in the air and poison people with dust storms. Possible they'd have to wear N95s on windy days in worst case scenario. You can view it separately from other environmental issues because at least some of it is from the rapid growth of the area.

That's in addition to the typical water issues that the entire western half of the US has.
 
  • Informative
Reactions: agentbear