Boren’s Pac-12 Comments Still Causing a Stir
When Oklahoma president David Boren stepped out late last week and indicated that the Sooners were focused on heading to the Pac-12, it caused shock waves in these parts.
Apparently, the reverb is still being felt.
I went on The Barnhart and Durham Show this morning. The sports talk show airs on 790 The Zone, the big sports station in Atlanta, and it pairs two of the South’s bigger sports media personalities, Tony Barnhart and Wes Durham.
(You can listen to the entire segment below.)
The guys couldn’t get over some of the things that Boren had said last Friday. And truth be told, it was truly shocking how much Boren shared after being practically mute on the Big 12 brouhaha up until that point.
But as I told Tony and Wes, I think Boren and Co. have simply grown weary of trying to play peacemaker. A year ago, they worked hard to keep the Big 12 together when Nebraska and Colorado decided to split. They did their darnedest to make the league viable for the long term. They pledged their allegiance along with the nine other teams to do everything in their power to keep the league together.
Recent events, though, have shown that everyone else wasn’t as committed.
Texas started The Longhorn Network, and even though ESPN is calling the shots for TLN, the network just keeps pushing limits and pushing buttons. Just when things would simmer down, it would stir things up again.
Texas A&M wanted to bolt a year ago, but even though it said it would work to keep the Big 12 together, there was always a feeling that the Aggies had their eye on the door. Now, they’ve not only turned the knob and opened the door, but they’ve also got one foot out.
Amid all of this, I suspect OU tired of trying to hold together teams that seemed to be doing everything in their power to push away their conference brethren. Why keep fighting for the Big 12 when so many are fighting against it?
No doubt Boren surprised many with his comments. Probably even frustrated some folks, too. But it’s safe to say no one is more frustrated than Boren, frustrated that the Big 12 seems destined to dissolve, frustrated that all of OU’s efforts have been for naught.
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Comments
Good job Jenni. Right now it’s starting to look like A&M might be getting the drift that they jumped the gun and UT is starting to realize the LHN is an anchor around their neck.
Time to end this nightmare and tell the Big XII to stick it and move west. I dont like change but sometines it’s necessary to improve your circumstance.
I’ve been for dissolving the OU-Texas game in Dallas for years. Playing UT at the Texas State Fair with mostly Texans officiating over the years has been about as neutral as calling Iraq a neutral site to fight the Taliban in Afghanistan. Recall the old Southwest Conference. When Texas started losing games and Darrell Royal was NCAA comish, every team in the SW Conference and OU were put on probation. Texas only lost a few scholarships for alumni paying 20+ football players. Bye bye went the SW Conference. Now, the Big 12 is dissolving thanks to Texas. The big question is not where other teams will end up, but which conference will be the fool to take Texas. I hope OU, OSU, Missouri, ISU, KU, and KSU all end up in conferences without Texas.
I for one would like to keep Big 12 in tact here in the Midwest and get another team or 2 to join but who knows. Like Coach Stoops said those decisions are for the President and Athletic Director to make.
I wish OU would go to the SEC and dissappear into the middle of the also-rans who go 8 & 4 every year. Once they lose their Texas recruiting advantage as the counterweight to the Longhorns they’re history. They’ve been losing ground since Boone Pickens decided he wanted to bring the Pokes up. If OU doesn’t stay with Texas they are done playing for NC’s.
I’m tired of it myself. The prospect of not playing Texas anymore doesn’t seem that unappealing…