Reports suggest that the Pac-10 Conference is on the cusp of inviting four Big 12 schools (Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State) to join the Pac-10. This follows the announcements yesterday that Nebraska was leaving the Big-12 to join the Big-10, and that Colorado was leaving the Big-12 to join the Pac-10.
I can rationalize the Nebraska move into the Big Ten. Nebraska fits in geographically (it’s almost Midwestern) and culturally with the rest of the Big Ten schools, and is only slightly below must Big Ten schools academically (ha! just joking there Cornhuskers … I think). Same with the Colorado move to the Pac-10; although the geography doesn’t work, Colorado has the same kind of mountain-y, green, little-bit-out-there thing as do many Pac-10 schools. Both Nebraska and Colorado will fit in their new conferences quite well in terms of style.
But adding the Texas and Oklahoma schools to the Pac-10 is bizarre. Not does the geography not work (Google Maps says it’s 900 miles and a 14 and a half hour drive from what I think are the closest campuses, Tucson and Austin; it’s 2100 miles and a 37 hour drive from Seattle to Austin), but there’s no natural tie or affinity between either the two regions or the schools themselves. In the various different sports, the Pac-10 has always had a certain type of “style,” and it isn’t clear that’s shared with the four would-be newcomers. And although the four are traditionally strong athletically, I’m not sure how much of a draw a Washington State – Texas Tech football game would be.
Which leads to my final concern: What happens to the traditional Pac-10 rivalries. Will there be two divisions with not much overlap in schedules? If so, who gets relegated to the “Texas/Okie” division? Logically you could have the 6 northernmost schools (Washington, Washington State, Oregon, Oregon State, Cal, and Stanford) plus Colorado in one division, and the rest in another, but then you undo the traditional NorCal-SoCal games (Cal-UCLA for example). Adding the Arizona schools to the 5 Big-12 schools is another option, but that’s not accomplishing much in terms of integration.
The proposed realignment isn’t about logic, or history, or rivalries, or the best interests of the schools, their fans, or their athletes — it’s about money. Hard to resist in these lean times, I realize. But at some point before a decision gets finalized, I hope that the Pac-10 powers that be will come to their senses. There is absolutely nothing “Pacific” about Oklahoma. Enough said.
Categories: Sports
Tags: athletics, Big-12, NCAA, Pac-10, realignment