HOUSTON ֱ About 500,000 customers still wonֱt have electricity into next week as wide outages from Hurricane Beryl persist and frustration mou…
ARLINGTON, Texas ֱ The second and final day of the Big 12ֱs preseason football media gathering ended a bit more quietly than normal, even though both Texas and Oklahoma were participants. Those two teams typically draw the largest media followings, but the scrums around the coaches and players were somewhat subdued.
That fact brought up a discussion point on the floor of AT&T Stadium ֱ will the cavernous spaces of Jerry World be needed when those two teams depart the league?
On one hand, four teams ֱ Cincinnati, UCF, Houston and BYU ֱ are replacing the two abdicating institutions, so that will draw from a wider range of outlets. Also, with Oklahoma State still in, and with Houston adding to Texas Tech, TCU and Baylor, many, if not all, of the Texas media outlets could be reasonably expected to continue covering event.
Then thereֱs the prestige aspect. While the space afforded by AT&T Stadum isnֱt needed for the media gathering, having it in the focal point of the Dallas football universe is a good look for the league.
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Among some info dropped by WVU head coach Neal Brown was the aside that tight end Mike OֱLaughlin might not be ready for the first game of the regular season. In answering a question about the rising number of scholarship tight ends on the roster, Brown noted that OֱLaughlin is expected to be a key part of the team, whether thatֱs in the opener against Pitt or in Game 2 or 3 of the season.
Thatֱs more than just a minor worry, as OֱLaughlinֱs recovery from injury has been painfully slow. Brown noted that OֱLuaghlin will not be rushed back into service, and thatֱs admirable, but thereֱs also no doubt that the Mountaineers will need him ֱ and everybody who's available ֱ in order to compete with Pitt in the opener.
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No cheerleaders or mascots made the trip to Arlington, reportedly in repsonse to continuing COVID concerns. Still, the players, coaches and administrators in attendance roamed the floor freely among the assembled media.
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Following up on an item from a previous notebook, ֱ Days and Big 12 official jerky Old Trapper actually supplied three different varieties of its signature product ֱ Regular, Teriyaki and Peppered. Weֱd place them in that order in terms of flavor.
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Somewhat unbelievably, the non-issue of ֱHorns Downֱ was again raised by a Texas beat writer, with the question ֱHas it been finally put to rest?ֱ
The answer, which was the same as the one that was provided last year, is that any sort of hand sign or disrespectful action can be flagged if used on the field and directed at an opponent. That shouldnֱt be difficult to understand, so clearly the question wasnֱt designed to elicit any information, but rather to provoke a response and rile up Texas fans.
Of course, a couple of national outlets jumped all over that non-topic, blowing it out of all proportion ֱ just because it involved Texas, and writing about Texas is a hit magnet. If there was similar controversy about ֱGuns Upֱ or ֱPistols Firing,ֱ it would be ignored.
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League coordinator of officials Greg Burks is a delight to talk with. He doesnֱt duck questions and explains issues clearly while navigating one of the tougher work environments of the current day. I understand the feelings that many have toward officials in general and those of the Big 12 in particular, but Burks is clearly doing all he can to make officiating as transparent as possible.
It would be great for fans to be able to interact with Burks, who is one of the good guys of the league. Fans would get a much different perspective of officiating if they could spend some time in one of his presentations, and while theyֱre never going to agree with every call, they would gain a better understanding of how the entire process of officiating works.
Thus, itֱs too bad that the Big 12 doesnֱt stream his remarks from the podium, where he breaks down rule changes with video and photos to illustrate. Why they donֱt make that available, at least in recorded form, is a mystery.
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UCF, Cincinnati, Houston and BYU were not in attendance at the Big 12ֱs ֱ Days this year, but at least one media outlet covering the Knights was in attendance to get a lay of the land and a sneak peak at what to expect from the event in 2023.
The University of Cincinnati, the University of Houston and UCF have reached buyout agreements with the American Athletic Conference which will allow the trio of schools to depart the AAC effective July 1, 2023. That will pave the way for those schools to join BYU as members of the Big 12 Conference on that date and begin athletic competition in the Big 12 during the 2023-24 academic year.
Cincinnati, Houston and UCF will each reportedly pay a total of $18 million to exit the AAC. A $10 million exit fee was already on the books of each school, to be paid over the next two years, and they will also pay an additional $8 million to leave prior to the exit date of July 1, 2024, which was originally set by the 27-month notice of the schoolsֱ departure. Payment of those exit fees will be spread out over more than a decade.
ֱI would like to thank UCF President Alexander Cartwright, Cincinnati President Neville Pinto and Houston President Renu Khator ֱ as well as Tulane President Michael Fitts, who is chair of our Board of Directors ֱ for their efforts and leadership to arrive at a sensible resolution to the three schoolsֱ departure from the conference,ֱ AAC Commissioner Mike Aresco said. ֱAll three institutions enjoyed tremendous success under the American Athletic Conference banner, and all three were instrumental in taking the conference to great heights, both athletically and academically. We wish them the best and look forward to having them compete in our conference in 2022-23.ֱ
Presidents Cartwright, Pinto and Khator released a joint statement on the decision.
ֱIt has been a privilege for our universities to compete at the highest level in the American Athletic Conference where our programs have grown and flourished, both athletically and academically. To be part of The Americanֱs climb to national prominence in recent years is something weֱll always look back on with great pride. We are especially grateful to Commissioner Aresco and his staff for their efforts during this process and look forward to an outstanding year of competition in 2022-23.ֱ
Oklahoma and Texas are still locked in to the Big 12 through the 2024 seasons, although behind-the-scenes negotiations are continuing to pave their exit to the SEC earlier. The Big 12 is holding to a hard line there, hoping to garner as much as $80-90 million in exit fees and penalties.
If an agreement for an OU/UT early departure is not reached, the Big 12 would operate with 14 schools in the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons.
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. ֱ The four incoming members of the Big 12 will likely join the league in time for the start of the 2023-24 athletic year.
Cincinnati, Central Florida, Houston and BYU are finalizing plans to move into the Big 12 next year, reported Jon Rothstein of FanDuel.
All four of those accepted invitations to join the Big 12 last September, a month after Texas and Oklahoma announced that they would be leaving the league for the SEC.
The exit agreements for Texas and Oklahoma from the Big 12 and for Cincinnati, UCF and Houston from the American Athletic Conference to facilitate all these moves have not yet been completed, but the transition for each is in the works. BYU, which is an independent in football and a member of the West Coast Conference in most of the Cougarsֱ other sports, already has informed the WCC of its departure in the summer of 2023, and that comes with a reported exit fee of $500,000.
According to the Sports Business Journal, the AAC wants $45 million each from UC, UCF and UH for them to leave that league in 2023, but the schools apparently are still negotiating that price. While $45 million may seem like a huge number, it is still less than the divorce settlement Texas and Oklahoma will owe the Big 12 when they leave for the SEC. They each will owe the league a minimum of $80 million plus a negotiated amount to break the grant of rights.
No matter when OU and UT leave, they will be writing a big check, which is one of the reasons they may remain in the Big 12 until 2024 or even ֱ25 to lessen that final exit fee somewhat.
If the four newcomers enter the Big 12 in the summer of 2023 and the pair of soon-to-be SECers doesnֱt leave until at least ֱ24, the Big 12 could be a 14-team league for a year or two before it settles into a 12-team conference. The Big 12 is reportedly working on a scheduling model to handle the 14-team version, splitting into two seven-team divisions to do so. The final details for the 14- and 12-team Big 12 in terms of schedules, divisions, etc., will likely be announced this fall.
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If you think NIL and the transfer portal have turned college athletics on its head, just wait for the next wave of NCAA rule changes ֱ or non-rules, as it is ֱ being pondered to take effect.
The announced retirement of NCAA president Mark Emmert is just a small ripple in the pond. What will the waves look like if, as SIֱs Ross Dellinger reported, the NCAAֱs Transformation Committee follows through with its ideas to ֱoverhaul and modernizeֱ NCAA governance?
Those proposals include:
ֱ The NCAA would have no recruiting calendar, and coaches would be free to go on the road for recruiting visits whenever they want.
ֱ There is no limitation on the number of coaches per team. Schools could have as many coaches as they want and can afford.
(Putting these first two together, itֱs easy to envision a group of 10 or 15 coaches, primarily in football, who are basically traveling salesmen, are rarely on campus and spend almost all their time on the road recruiting, maybe even living full-time in the hometown of a particularly prized prospect.)
ֱ Eliminating the scholarship caps for sports that currently offer partial scholarships (basically all but football, hockey and basketball). For instance, that would allow baseball to increase its maximum number of scholarships from the 11.7 equivalency to 27 full scholarships. Other Olympic sports could also see similar increases.
ֱ Open the door for additional payments to student-athletes.
Now, all of these are just proposals right now, but it is apparent that the NCAA of the future wants out of the governance business.
Instead, it is likely going to be up to the conferences to come up with their own sets of rules. For instance, if the Big 12 doesnֱt want football coaching staffs as large as 30, with two-thirds of them being on the road full-time to recruit, it will be up to that league to set limits, just like it will be for all other conferences.
The NCAA of the future probably is going to be just an event coordinator, staging championships in the various sports. It will be up to the conferences to write the rules and then enforce them.
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