UH BOR chair has nuts... really stupid though.

[MeanGreenTexan]

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaaf-dr-saturday/houston-s-board-of-regents-chairman-wants-to-threaten-his-way-into-the-big-12-005802034.html

Lol.

"Let us in the Big12 NOW! or we're going to demand the TX legislature (and all of their A&M, UT & Tech grads) to cut your funding. We're big, and awesome & stuff, we deserve to be in!!!!1!1!" _{"Um, nevermind that we're no longer a relevant football/basketball program anymore..."}

[FirefightnRick]

BTW,...U of H's baseball is ranked in the top 10 as of this week. TCU is #1 in the top of the rankings.

Rick

[untjim1995]

SO this guy thinks that UH will get funding cut in a legislature full of Horns, Red Raiders, and Baptists that have Baylor ties? Not even counting A&M, who would be smart to try and partner up with UH to get them in the Big XII just to create an even bigger albatross on the necks of UT, both on the field and politically, I just don't see any way this could happen. The conference has 4 teams in Texas, two of whom are private. The other 6 teams are in Oklahoma, Kansas, Iowa, and West Virginia. They don't want to share any of the ir money with another school--hell, TCU and WVU still aren't getting full payouts yet. And if and when they do decide to increase their membership, the Big XII is gonna look at other markets they don't already have. I know that TCU got in, so that blows out of the water the previous sentence, but TCU got in for three simple reasons: the other Big XII schools in the midwest wanted to still have another Texas school to replace Texas A&M, the Frogs had become a big winner on the football field, and TCU could easily get into the conference without costing much and without any delay. But now that TCU is in there, UH doesn't have any logical fit for the conference now. If they were to ever get a place at the P5 table, it would be the longest of longshots to get into the ACC or the Pac-12, but I realistically think the chances of those leagues inviting UH are below 1%, even with their size and academic standing.

SMU and UH will accept one day what Rice knows and what UNT and UTEP learned decades ago. The Big 12 has no interest in smaller programs that don't win, don't have much appeal beyond their alumni, and don't offer a market they don't already have a major presence in. UT ain't taking in UH--they barely took in TCU, and that was because they really had no choice--they had to get to 10 teams to keep their TV contracts going. If the league expands, Cincy, Memphis, USF, UCF, BYU, and Boise State are your options. I figure that two or four of these will get in eventually--BYU, Cincy, USF, UCF, Memphis, and Boise State is the order I think has the best-to-worst odds. Even then, I really see the Big XII jsut sitting at ten teams until the GOR is about to expire and the Texoma schools and KU and WVU bolt, making the Big XII basically the Big East 2.0, dropping those left behind into G5 status. I think that's a big reason taht TCU and Gary Patterson didn't bitch much after they got excluded in the playoff. They know their place--they are still getting way more money and prestige in the Big XII than they ever got in the MWC. He doesn't want to rock the boat and not be politically disconnected from Texas, knowing that the only chance they have to stay P5 when the GOR for the Big XII expires is to get included with the Texoma schools to go out west. The Pac-12 might be willing to take TCU, since they are not as outwardly religious as Baylor is, which would never play with liberal West Coast schools.

I think that Baylor, UH, SMU, and TCU will all get to be conference mates again--just not in the setup that any of them want. Welcome to SWC 2.0, boys...would you mind throwing a bone to your old teacher-friends in Denton when this comes around again? We have pined to be a part of the SWC for decades--we would be excellent conference mates, I promise!!

[MeanGreenTexan]

SO this guy thinks that UH will get funding cut in a legislature full of Horns, Red Raiders, and Baptists that have Baylor ties? Not even counting A&M, who would be smart to try and partner up with UH to get them in the Big XII just to create an even bigger albatross on the necks of UT, both on the field and politically, I just don't see any way this could happen. The conference has 4 teams in Texas, two of whom are private. The other 6 teams are in Oklahoma, Kansas, Iowa, and West Virginia. They don't want to share any of the ir money with another school--hell, TCU and WVU still aren't getting full payouts yet. And if and when they do decide to increase their membership, the Big XII is gonna look at other markets they don't already have. I know that TCU got in, so that blows out of the water the previous sentence, but TCU got in for three simple reasons: the other Big XII schools in the midwest wanted to still have another Texas school to replace Texas A&M, the Frogs had become a big winner on the football field, and TCU could easily get into the conference without costing much and without any delay. But now that TCU is in there, UH doesn't have any logical fit for the conference now. If they were to ever get a place at the P5 table, it would be the longest of longshots to get into the ACC or the Pac-12, but I realistically think the chances of those leagues inviting UH are below 1%, even with their size and academic standing.

SMU and UH will accept one day what Rice knows and what UNT and UTEP learned decades ago. The Big 12 has no interest in smaller programs that don't win, don't have much appeal beyond their alumni, and don't offer a market they don't already have a major presence in. UT ain't taking in UH--they barely took in TCU, and that was because they really had no choice--they had to get to 10 teams to keep their TV contracts going. If the league expands, Cincy, Memphis, USF, UCF, BYU, and Boise State are your options. I figure that two or four of these will get in eventually--BYU, Cincy, USF, UCF, Memphis, and Boise State is the order I think has the best-to-worst odds. Even then, I really see the Big XII jsut sitting at ten teams until the GOR is about to expire and the Texoma schools and KU and WVU bolt, making the Big XII basically the Big East 2.0, dropping those left behind into G5 status. I think that's a big reason taht TCU and Gary Patterson didn't bitch much after they got excluded in the playoff. They know their place--they are still getting way more money and prestige in the Big XII than they ever got in the MWC. He doesn't want to rock the boat and not be politically disconnected from Texas, knowing that the only chance they have to stay P5 when the GOR for the Big XII expires is to get included with the Texoma schools to go out west. The Pac-12 might be willing to take TCU, since they are not as outwardly religious as Baylor is, which would never play with liberal West Coast schools.

I think that Baylor, UH, SMU, and TCU will all get to be conference mates again--just not in the setup that any of them want. Welcome to SWC 2.0, boys...would you mind throwing a bone to your old teacher-friends in Denton when this comes around again? We have pined to be a part of the SWC for decades--we would be excellent conference mates, I promise!!

No, no, no.... You're doing it wrong. You're supposed to threaten your way in. Did you not read the article? No begging. Threaten.

[untjim1995]

No, no, no.... You're doing it wrong. You're supposed to threaten your way in. Did you not read the article? No begging. Threaten.

Good point--if we had done that in 1978, maybe things would be different in 2015...

[emmitt01]

I, for one, hope they get in.

Take away Houston and the question "So, who again are you excited about in that American Airlines Conference, SMU?" becomes even more pertinent.

[Cougar King]

Mr.Fertitta, our BOR chairman has a net worth over 2.5 billion dollars. Let's just say that his words hold a little more weight than your average Joe's.

[drex]

Threats spring eternal in the heart of a moron.

[UNT90]

And yet they are getting mentioned on a national sports site as banging on the Big 12 door.

When have UNT and the Big 12 ever been mentioned in the same sentence outside this forum...

Vision, glad to see someone has it...

Of course, the much better path would be rallying the G5s together to file an anti-trust suit against the NCAA, but instead he just wants to be on the have side of the competitive advantage and not the have not side. For this reason I wish him failure.

A whorin we will go, a whorin we will go, high ho a Dairy oh, a whorin we will go.

Edited February 20, 2015 by UNT90

[laxtonto]

Never happen,,,

1 stupid to add another Texas team to a texas heavy conference

2 A&M is more than likely to have to technically sever themselves from the UT system (they are still a part of the UT system on the books. That is why the PUF fund is managed by UT, not by both) before they could ever do this. Reason why it wont ever happen it makes that much more risky about the percentages of the distribution. If they tell the other schools in the state to approve it by reducing the % A&M gets and UT will instead transfer that to the general fund. Its a risk adverse strategy that no one wants to play it.

3 Why the hell would baylor, TT and others help UH anyways

4 pitching a fit like this seems to be a normal thing that happens every decade or

[FirefightnRick]

And yet they are getting mentioned on a national sports site as banging on the Big 12 door.

When have UNT and the Big 12 ever been mentioned in the same sentence outside this forum...

.

.This very thing actually came up during a convo I had with RV after SMU did something similar after the big 12 was about to lose A&M. If you'll remember, their AD held a press conference and a sit down with the DMN editorial board demanding that SMU be considered as a replacement. http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/college-sports/smu-mustangs/20110825-smu-makes-public-its-desire-to-join-big-12-or-another-bcs-conference.ece

Apparently we're concerned people might laugh at us if we were to attempt something similar to that?

Rick

Edited February 21, 2015 by FirefightnRick

[Ben Gooding]

I've said it before...big12 should be the ultimate goal in regards to affiliation. Contrary to what a lot of people may think (some even on this forum) we would be a perfect fit in the big12.

If out administration isn't even at least trying to float our name out there they are failing.

Edited February 21, 2015 by Ben Gooding

[UNTexas]

Mr.Fertitta, our BOR chairman has a net worth over 2.5 billion dollars. Let's just say that his words hold a little more weight than your average Joe's.

He isn't bright to threaten his way in. Zero chance the aforementioned schools budgets get cut for Houston. He sounds desperate too. I hope he has someone to pull him aside and tell him to stop it.

[UNT90]

Funny, UNT tells itself no all the time...

[KRAM1]

Funny, UNT tells itself no all the time...

No no no...that's Wendy talking to you! :-)

[Mean Green Matt]

I guess UH is taking the "shoot for the moon and even if you miss you'll land amongst the stars" approach to realignment.

[DeepGreen]

Don't sell Mr. Fertitta short. Everything he touches turns to gold. As in Golden Nugget. And other enterprises.

[UNTexas]

After reading the article and a few comments it sounds like he lacks class.

[UNT90]

Sounds like he goes after what he wants.

We just lay back and take the crumbs thrown to us.

A whorin we will go...

[Eagle1855]

I mean, whether or not his approach is the best way to go about things, it's still nice to see someone gives enough of a damn to do something. I'd love to have to reel in one of our BOR members for getting mad about our place in the college football world.

Regarding the topic at hand, UH is little threat to UT and A&M (even its close proximity to College Station won't trump the A&M brand vs decades of UH's less-than-desirable image). But if I'm Texas Tech, I am adamantly opposed to this addition, because Tech stands to lose more than anyone.

I think -- and have thought -- that adding BYU and UH makes a lot of sense for the Big XII. The latter, because it allows the Big XII to permanently retain a foot-hold in Houston, a market that has recently been encroached upon by the SEC (with LSU and now, as a new member, A&M).

I also think bringing A&M and Mizzou back into the fold makes even more sense, now that there is a playoff (remind me again why we need 14-team conferences?), but that's a ship that's long-since sailed.

Edited February 21, 2015 by Eagle1855

[NM Green]

I do think UH in the Big 12 makes sense too. SEC has creeped into that town and the Big 12 footprint is waning. Look at how the SEC has begun infiltrating Dallas and now with A&M it has only accelerated it. TCU is not a relevant enough brand to keep the Big 12 Metroplex domination and adding SMU isn't going to do it either.

I don't see A&M coming back to the 12. I keep getting these promos for Texas' big game against Notre Dame this season. It is ONE big game. A&M already has X big games on their schedule every season:

A&M vs LSU

A&M vs Alabama

A&M vs Auburn

A&M vs Arkansas

A&M vs Mississippi

Heck even A&M vs Ole Miss sounds juicier than Texas vs Oklahoma State, and definitely better than Texas vs Kansas, Iowa State. Texas OU will be big again when they both get good. Texas vs TCU is interesting much to the Horns chagrin. Texas vs Baylor, Longhorn can barely take it.

The last think the Burnt Orange ever envisioned was a purple frog coming into the conference and being relevant. The best rivalry in that league at this time is Baylor TCU. Yeah, A&M is not coming back to that.

Sweep Florida! GO MEAN GREEN!!!!!

[Eagle1855]

I don't see A&M coming back to the 12. I keep getting these promos for Texas' big game against Notre Dame this season. It is ONE big game. A&M already has X big games on their schedule every season:

A&M vs LSU

A&M vs Alabama

A&M vs Auburn

A&M vs Arkansas

A&M vs Mississippi

Heck even A&M vs Ole Miss sounds juicier than Texas vs Oklahoma State, and definitely better than Texas vs Kansas, Iowa State. Texas OU will be big again when they both get good. Texas vs TCU is interesting much to the Horns chagrin. Texas vs Baylor, Longhorn can barely take it.

I'll give you Alabama and LSU. But Ole Miss and Arkansas are largely regional, second-tier programs, related to prestige. And entirely up and down, year to year, with respects to winning.

I don't expect A&M to come back either. But I think it's kind of a myopic look at the current state of things and project it as a forecast for the way things will always be. Not long ago Ok State, Tech, OU, Texas were all winning 10+ games a year. Before that, Alabama was floundering in a wasteland of mediocrity (hard to believe it, but they didn't begin their rise back to prominence until ~2007). Before that, LSU also went through a pre-Saban dark ages, of sorts. It's just the cyclical nature of the sport.

I don't buy the idea that UT doesn't want schools around them to be "good." TCU was added because they were good. Period. UT's arrogance is largely based on a shared forgone conclusion that they just expect to be better.

If UT wanted a replacement program located in the Metroplex that they could beat up on year in and year, they could have just added us.

Edited February 21, 2015 by Eagle1855

[Lydia Gooding]

And what the hell prestige does UT or ATM hold in terms of consistently winning? ATM has been a nobody in the grand scheme of things for a long time. UT was consistently good vs consistently bad teams for a long time. Mack Brown won what?...2 Big12 championship there...TWO!! IN 16 years no less. This stigma of these programs being the program to model?? No, not really...not really at all. They are the program to model in terms of donors...if we or any program in the country had their donors we would be sitting at the P5 table along time ago. As far as ATM goes...ONE big12 championship in 1998.

These notion that these 2 programs are the leaders of this state is absolutely moronic. They are the leaders in this state in $. In the grand scheme of things they haven't even been notable in their own conference when it comes to being a dominating program within. People need to see this and understand it. They are NOT what they are made out to be, they just aren't.

[Side Show Joe]

Mr.Fertitta, our BOR chairman has a net worth over 2.5 billion dollars. Let's just say that his words hold a little more weight than your average Joe's.

I'm from Houston, Fertitta certainly has cash, but his words are not really true. Houston is a fine university but not a might force he makes them out to be. You may not like this, but Houston is very similar to North Texas. Both are very large public universities in the two largest cities in Texas, and have similar public university rankings.

The only way Fertitta could get Houston in the Big12, is if he opened his checkbook and bought them a spot.

[Eagle1855]

And what the hell prestige does UT or ATM hold in terms of consistently winning? ATM has been a nobody in the grand scheme of things for a long time. UT was consistently good vs consistently bad teams for a long time. Mack Brown won what?...2 Big12 championship there...TWO!! IN 16 years no less. This stigma of these programs being the program to model?? No, not really...not really at all. They are the program to model in terms of donors...if we or any program in the country had their donors we would be sitting at the P5 table along time ago. As far as ATM goes...ONE big12 championship in 1998.

These notion that these 2 programs are the leaders of this state is absolutely moronic. They are the leaders in this state in $. In the grand scheme of things they haven't even been notable in their own conference when it comes to being a dominating program within. People need to see this and understand it. They are NOT what they are made out to be, they just aren't.

If you're angry about the level of competition and lack of quality of wins in the former Big XII, one can only imagine how much you must hate the current version, which is decidedly inferior in every measurable category.

The reality is, there aren't any stand-out programs that "run the state" right now. Sure, TCU and Baylor have won some games in what is a decidedly diluted Big XII. But it hasn't translated to national championships and it hasn't changed perceptions on the whole. Texas and A&M are still *the* destination for the state's highest-rated recruits that decide to stay and play in-state. This isn't subjective; you can look it up. Texas went 6-7 and pulled a Top-Ten recruiting class. A&M went 8-5 and did about the same. Baylor and TCU had banner seasons and weren't even in the Top 35.

I'm not saying it matters (though almost every program that's won a national title in the past decade has had top-ten recruiting classes the previous few years), I'm just saying, it's mostly wishful thinking to say that those programs aren't still viewed as the state's premiere programs -- as much as we'd all like to think otherwise.

Also, the fact that Texas is the second-winningest program of all time (in number, 8th as a percentage) might have something to do with their perception. If you're keeping score at home, A&M is 23rd.

Edited February 21, 2015 by Eagle1855