I went to Syracuse (after Utah), and we hated WVU. Why? Because those racists would throw trash at our black players. I loathe most of the Big 12 because they are all the same. We should be in the Big 10.
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I don’t like the new home more because there is too much long travel that is expensive in both time and money than our PAC 12 footprint had.
Also, we don’t have an alumni base much past Denver/Boulder meaning we will be depending on fans to travel big time to have a presence at road games.
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What should we do? These are hate crimes.
Marxist or more like PvdD?
This is a valid concern, an argument for regionalization.
What are our current options - join the Mountain West, Big Sky, Northwest, Frontier; forge a new conference; go independent?
Recognize the reality that the Big 12 is simply not the ideal conference for us, support Ute programs, enjoy the Big 12 while we can, and do all we can to position ourselves for the next big realignment comes.
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Hopefully our team wins the whole damned thing. A National Championship would go a long way towards getting us to the front of the line the next time the “Powers That Be” decide to force another realignment.
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Not to be a bubble burster, but that ain’t in the cards any time soon.
I suppose we could reclassify to D-IAA or one of the other levels, wait the transition years, and then, maybe.
The fact is it is a moonshot leap. Then again, in 1988 if someone would’ve told be we would someday play in a Grandaddy Bowl Game against Alabama AND WIN, I would’ve had them tested for drugs.
Going from where we were in 1988 to where we are today wasn’t just a moonshot. It was landing a man on Mars. If we had the advertising latitude our program has now, we would’ve been sponsored by Hoover Vacuums because we sucked. Martha Stewart would’ve sponsored our defense by using NIL to sell her newest sieve.
We probably won’t win it all, but winning solves a lot of challenges.
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Agreed.
My take.
I wish the Big 12 would have avoided the knee jerk reaction when Oklahoma and Texas left…when they immediately added Cincy, UCF, Houston, and byu-provo. Had they played their cards a little closer to the vest, they could have added the four corner schools, and then if they wanted to go even further, could have picked up the rest of the PAC (Oregon St, Wazzu, Stanford, and Cal)
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I applaud your pragmatism because, too often, it seems to me that the prevailing attitude is that the Big-12 is just a (truck?) stop, en route to the Promised Land. But what if the B1G never calls? Then what?
During my undergraduate days, now 40+ years ago, I did a major case study of a large and reputable Chicago-based corporation, which did well in the 1950s and 60s, hit rough times in the 1970s and then recovered nicely in the 1980s and beyond. One of the proposed remedies was to acquire a competitor in a merger-of-equals (in size and assets), which would provide major economies of scale and further the company’s collective reach.
Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately, over the long term), the two companies’ stock prices experienced some significant and asymmetrical price changes, during negotiations, which led to the acquiring company calling off the merger and going in other (successful) directions. The soon-to-be-acquired firm went bankrupt a few years later and lost about 2/3 of its assets and even more of its clout in the reorganization that followed.
It was interesting to dig into that facet and discover that that company’s management assumed a caretaker stance. They were so busy planning for a merger that never happened that they took their eye off the ball, when it came to the present, and lost crucial ground in the competitive environment in which it operated. Particularly telling was discovering an exchange at a shareholder’s meeting, in which a proxy for several major stockholders, said the following: “You do not now have a merger. You may never have a merger. You must act like a merger will never happen. This you have not done.”
That company’s management dismissed that view as negative and unrealistic, until the other firm halted merger proceedings a few months later. Are there parallels between that and the next (likely) round of conference realignment?
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The wailing and gnashing of teeth of the conference change hasn’t stopped for some, and they may never accept a “truck stop conference” – although Houston, Ft Worth, Orlando and Cincinnati are hardly truck stops.
In terms of the P12, over the years I was able to attend games at most of the away stadiums, and to be honest, only Washington, Oregon and Oregon State amounted to much. LA hosted half empty, off campus stadiums. CU was dead until Deion arrived. ASU is “meh” at best. Stanford is mostly empty and Cal is a lackluster experience. Never got to Arizona or WSU. But most of the cities themselves offer some fun.
I suspect the football atmostphere in the B12 will be equal or better in most cases. I’ve been to Stillwater many times, but not on game day. I can’t imagine it won’t be a great football experience. I suspect WVU, KSU, Baylor and Tech will be very good as well. I went to the Kansas game a million years ago and it was bad, but, my guess is with its reemergence it will be good. Cincinnati, Ft Worth and Orlando are good places to visit. Houston - no thanks.
My own feeling is its time to get over it. Stop pining over the girl we broke up with and start appreciating the woman we’re currently dating. Boymyarmsaretired seems to be a realist. I can appreciate that.
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I think you identify a serious pitfall. Happily, I can say that everything I have seen and heard personally (including in conversations that I happened to witness by being in the right place at the right time) is that the U. of Utah athletic department and the institutional leadership are too smart and too committed to allow that mistake to happen. They are focused on success in the Big 12 and, like any wise steward, want Utah athletics to be as strong and healthy as possible, ready for any changes that may come their way.
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Indeed! In my interactions with Athletics and other Administration folks it is clear that they are working to ensure the long term viability of the athletic programs at the U. At the same time everyone seems to recognize that the current state of college athletics is somewhat or even very precarious and so preparations are also being made in the likely event that everything blows up again in a few years or perhaps even sooner.
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Thank you for your thoughtful and helpful response. It’s what I imagined would be the case, administratively, even though at our level, a different message seems to emanate. Anything less by Mark Harlan and Taylor Randall would be fiduciary dereliction of duty. A tip of the hat to both of them and here’s to a good season for both of our schools, except for one game in November. 