The idea of Big 12 expansion has been mulled upon for over a year now and there are plenty of interested schools who wish to join a P5 conference. “The board today directed the commissioner to actively evaluate their interest and to report back on those interests at a future board meeting”. Boren also said expansion by either two or four schools is possible. He said the Board of Directors could vote on conference expansion either at its October meeting or possibly earlier. Not having that 13th game to showcase the conference’s best teams the day before the playoff field was revealed put the Big 12 at a disadvantage.
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BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe issued a statement, saying: “We are obviously excited the leadership of the Big 12 has advised Commissioner Bob Bowlsby to review potential expansion candidates”. BYU is known for its academic excellence and I believe we have an exceptional athletic program.
Boren also said the conference will take multiple factors, beyond just football, into account. “I wasn’t aware of all the things that were going on”.
“We were assured of the university’s commitment to keep the conference appraised going forward”. He said “we can not just sit on the sidelines and not be proactive ourselves”.
“I’m an old West Virginia hillbilly, and we got that feeling if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”, Grobe said.
On whether fresh news of an ACC network played a role in Big 12’s vote to evaluate expansion, Boren said, “Of course”.
Boren has been the leading advocate for expansion. The three-year pro is now back on campus to finish his undergraduate degree and work as a student assistant coach this fall for coach Dana Holgorsen. “It indicates we live in a fast-changing world”. The league just chose to pursue the possibilities.
“I think this continues to be exploratory, but it is clearly another step forward and one that our board felt very good about”, Bowlsby said. It’s not yet a decision, if any particular university or college – or even a definite decision about when we expand or the way, the form this would take. “But we intend to be active very soon”.
“We’ve been contacted by a number of institutions, and I imagine after this news breaks we’ll be contacted by them again”, he said.
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Three top Baylor officials spent two hours behind closed doors Tuesday in Dallas, answering questions from members of the Big 12 Conference board of directors about how the university is handling issues stemming from the sexual assault scandal that engulfed the school’s football program.
“Look at the conference itself”, said K-State coach Bill Snyder. Who’s in our conference right now that could go someplace that would be better than where they are?
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In June, the Big 12 announced it would bring back the title game, but said starting a TV network was unlikely.
