Missouri governor does Mizzou no favors
Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon made no friends in the Big 12 a couple of days ago when he weighed in on the University of Missouri considering a move to the Big Ten. Nixon supports the move, for academic reasons.
Which is fine. If the Big Ten calls with an invitation, Missouri would accept so fast, it would make heads spin. And academics would be a major reason why. But throwing your current league members under the bus, well that’s bad form.
Ugo Chinasa stops Derrick Washington for a loss during the college football game between Oklahoma State University (OSU) and the University of Missouri (MU) at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, Okla. Saturday, Oct. 17, 2009. Photo by Steve Sisney, The Oklahoman
Nixon’s quote: “When you compare Oklahoma State to Northwestern, when you compare Texas Tech to Wisconsin, I mean, you begin looking at educational possibilities that are worth looking at.”
Well, several things. Compare most any university to Northwestern, and it comes out second-best. That includes Missouri, Wisconsin and most every other school in the Big Ten. Academic elitism doesn’t play very well with me. Maybe it’s commonly accepted in academia, but it comes off as straight arrogance most of the time.
But even if it’s all true, and Texas Tech is somehow inferior to Wisconsin, which I’m not conceding to anyone but we need to get on with the discussion, Nixon’s statement has got to be one of the most ill-conceived strategies I’ve heard in a long time.
If Missouri gets an invite from the Big Ten in the next 12-18 months, all Nixon did was make life miserable for Mizzou between now and then. If Missouri stays put, Nixon created enemies for MU at the Big 12 bargaining table for the foreseeable future.
Oklahoma State and Tech should be aligned with Mizzou on most matters. Among Big 12 schools, all three are mid-level in budget and mid-level in success. The conference heavyweights are Texas, Oklahoma and Nebraska, and when you add basketball, Kansas. Then comes Texas A&M, OSU, Tech, Mizzou. Maybe Colorado but maybe not.
How would you like to Mizzou athletic director Mike Alden, the next time he has to work with Tech’s Gerald Myers and OSU’s Mike Holder? Or better yet, Mizzou president Gary Forsee at the table with OSU president Burns Hargis or Tech president Guy Bailey?
Hope Missouri isn’t looking for a sympathetic ear anytime soon. Hope Missouri doesn’t need a vote on revenue sharing or any other contentious issue in the Big 12. I can’t imagine one Big 12 school being happy with Missouri right now. Not because Mizzou admitted to some interest in the Big Ten — everyone knows you have to look out for yourself — but because the governor of Missouri, an MU grad, decided to start calling out Mizzou’s fellow league members.
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Comments
I really don’t have an opinion on what Mizzou does either way. The academia measurement means nothing to anyone intelligent enough to know that those who go to college looking for an education will get one, a good one… at most any college or university in the nation.
Why do you think Mizzou is interested…because there hasn’t been a “sympathetic ear” in a long time. If asked, I think they should look at the opportunity with the Big 10. The Big 10 seems like a more honorable conference in the way they treat their members. It is real hard to argue that the Big 10 isn’t better academically than the Big 12.
By the way, UM System president Gary Forsee has nothing to do with the Big 12. That would be MU Chancellor Brady Deaton.
“Look, Mizzou has gotten flat out screwed the last three years”
Maybe Mizzou did get slighted in 2007 (either team had a case to be in the Orange Bowl especially after Mizzou got their tails kicked in the Big 12 championship game). They did go to the bowl that traditionally hosts the loser of the big 12 championship game. To suggest Mizzou deserved a better bowl in 2008 or 2009 is ridiculous. In 2008 Mizzou was clearly the 5th best team, after UT, Tech, OU and OSU (since they lost to them at home). Since the conference sent 2 teams to the BCS then Mizzou wentup one spot and got the #4 bowl in the pecking order, which lo and behold is the Alamo amazing that worked out. In 2009 Missouri has 4 conference losses which puts them behind UT, OSU, Nebraska, Tech and OU. So are you saying that Texas Bowl is a significantly worse bowl than the Independence or Insight Bowls? Seems like a rather inane argument. So screwing to you basically boils down to being placed one bowl below where you should have been in a span of three years. Pretty weak Andrew.
In 2007, Mizzou beat KU and Illinois soundly, yet both wound up in BCS bowls while MU did not. MU lost to OU twice yes, but KU never had to play Texas or OU that year and had one of the weakest schedules in college football. A team shouldn’t be penalized for losing a bonus conference championship game.
In 2008, Nebraska was picked over MU for the Gator bowl, MU won the north and beat Nebraska 52-17 in Lincoln. Doesn’t really seem fair.
In 2009, A & M and Iowa State was picked ahead of MU, A & M because of its higher standing in the conference and Iowa State because of some 10 year old irrelevant data that showed how well Iowa State travels, well yeah if your team goes to a bowl game once in 20 years, the fans might get a little excited about it.
The Big 12 is the only conference that allows better teams to be skipped over like this, so I would not say this is a weak argument Bruce.
All this talk of Mizzou’s academic standing is interesting, given that it’s lower than all the current Big Ten teams and among the lowest of those being “considered” for expansion:
http://espn.go.com/blog/ncfnation/post/_/id/15867/academic-rankings-of-expansion-candidates
“The Big 12 is the only conference that allows better teams to be skipped over like this, so I would not say this is a weak argument Bruce.”
Part of your argument about 2007 can also be used in 2008 against Mizzou. Nebraska had to play 2 of the 3 top teams in the south that year while Mizzou had to play only 1. I’m not saying that Mizzou has not been been moved down a spot in pecking order a time or two but if moving down one spot in bowl slotting is flat out being “screwed” then nothing can be said that will change your mind. As for other conferences never doing that one only has to look at the promised land of the Big 10 this year to see it happen. Wisconsin number 4 in conference went to their #6 bowl this year. Whose to say it won’t be Mizzou in the future.
BTW the ACC was even worse than the Big 10, this year. The #2 team (Clemson) went to the #5 bowl. The #7 (FSU) went to the #3 bowl. The #3 (Va Tech) team went to #2 bowl. The #5 (BC) went to the #7 bowl. So given these track records you’re complaining about a school moving up or down one spot? If going to the Big 10 is what you want then fine, but don’t use arguments that are not supported by the facts as reasons. Just say you want the added money of playing in the Big 10 or the added academic prestige or a better chance to win a conference title, since you don’t have to play UT or OU.
Mizzou has nothing in common…culturally or politically with Texas and Oklahoma. Football is not that big a deal up here. We would support going to the Big 10…it’s not personal…it’s business.
Wow — incredibly poor taste on behalf of an elected official. Both TTU and OSU are FINE academic institutions. Heck, TTU has a fine law and medical school as well as one of the fastest growing research endowments in the country. This governor, from MISSOURI, better be careful not to throw stones — I don’t think Missouri is really known for being the brain-trust of the nation…
STFU. I’m not from Missouri but you should know better than to run your mouth about an entire state when you’re defending a third-rate school like TTU.
It’s al about the MONEY. B10 is THE richest conference and MU wants to get a share. Plain and simple.
If you think Misery had to play second fiddle to Nebraska, just wait until Misery gets skipped for the likes of Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State! All of which have similar tradition, even more fans and are well established in their conference. Misery would be the newby for the next 2 decades ha ha!
What’s all this talk about academics? This is a sports confederation, pure and simple. And by the way, until the last few years Missouri hasn’t been very good at it, in football, basketball or baseball. So leave if you want to. Missouri fans are getting their feelings hurt because your team can’t win in the Big 12. You won’t win in the Big 10 either, even if it is a weaker conference.
KU was picked by the Orange bowl over MU (after a “sound” 8 point win [ha] over a previously unbeaten KU squad) due to the fact that KU has better fan support and had a better overall season. And they were right to pick KU, KU fans traveled to Miami and sold out their share of the bowl tix and whipped VT. Support your teams better and the bowls will pick you. Go to the Big 10 for all I care, you think you are bottom of the ladder in the Big 12? In the Big 10 you’ll be an even bigger joke. BTW, there are MANY superior academic schools to MU in the Big XII … UT, KU, CU, ATM and even OU.
I say let the show me state be shown the door. There would be…oh…say about 20 schools that would J-U-M-P at the chance to be in the Big 12.
Go to the Big Ten…get schooled by another OU, Michigan and everyone else under the sun. What’s the difference except then we’d get to have the Big 12 championship in Texas or OKC most of the time.
Tom is right. If Mizzou is considering moving conferences for sports, they should probably look at one where they would have a chance of competing. Somewhere like Missouri Valley Conference is more appropriate.
Did I miss something? When did Mizzou get elevated to the upper echelon of academia in the Big 12? Newsflash, Mizzou is in the bottom half of this league when it comes to academics. I guess it does make sense to cast dispersions on OSU and Tech. Because those two along with K State are the only schools Mizzou ranks ahead of in that area.
You would think that if the Governor had received such a superior education, he would act with a little more decorum.
Mizzou has come a long ways, and this kind of comment takes away from that. There’s no way Mizzou is “tops” academically in the Big 12. How does Mizzou compete academically with UT, A&M, Baylor, KU, Iowa State .. probably not too well. Mizzou is more on an academic level with OU/OSU/Nebraska and would be bottom-tier academically in the Big Ten, along with Purdue and Mich State.
Big Ten doesn’t accept schools with a history of sex scandals in the locker room..
As a former commissioner of the Big 12 said in other news reports, the Big Ten’s decision will be all about academics. And it’s really all about the Association of American Universities, the 64 most prestigious universities in America (34 of them public). Mizzou is a member, along with UT, A&M, KU, CU, NU and ISU. College presidents don’t pay much attention to US News rankings, but they like viable research partnerships. That, combined with geography and TV households in St. Louis and Kansas City, gives Mizzou an edge.
I agree, however, that Missouri’s governor shouldn’t have “called out” other Big 12 schools. Each institution in the conference has their strengths and weaknesses, but students get fine educations at all of them.
Look, Mizzou has gotten flat out screwed the last three years in its bowl games for no reason at all. Yes, Mizzou fans didn’t travel well years ago when they were never good, but in the last 5 years, they have supported their team tremendously only to see their team being given no respect. Its the same in basketball as well, not even the other coaches give us any respect. We were picked 7th in the big 12 last year and finished with a tournament title and in the elite 8. This year, guess what, we’re picked 7th again. I for one am glad the Mizzou leadership and the Governor are stepping up to get Mizzou the respect it deserves. MU won’t sit down and accept being treated as part of the bottom tier of the conference. So either something changes, or they leave for the Big Ten, which does have better academics overall than the Big 12 schools. Maybe the comment wasn’t the best thing to say, but everyone can clearly see why he’s frustrated.