Let's say we could rewind back to when A&M/Nebraska/Colorado/Missouri had all announced they were leaving the conference. My question is would it have really mattered if we pursued other schools to get back to 12 schools or expanded to 14 schools at the time?
I think maybe an argument can be made for the 14 school expansion, but not really sure it would have mattered if the plan is to be at 12 schools.
The only additional schools we would have had a shot at that we currently don't have a shot at are schools that have joined one of the Power 5 conferences since we added TCU and WVU. That list is four schools - Rutgers, Syracuse, Pittsburgh, and Louisville.
With Syracuse and Rutgers, I think the exact same arguments against them are what we are considering against UCONN right now. Both Syracuse and Rutgers have higher endowments, but UCONN is rated higher academically. State population plays a role here, but really to me it boils down to the travel issues which would have still existed with those schools.
With Louisville and Pittsburgh, I think you can make a strong case for Pittsburgh (rivalry with WVU, big endowment, strong academic ranking), but don't remember a lot of people making as strong of a case for them like they were Louisville. When you look at Louisville, and remember we are looking at this from the 2010/2011 view (thus forget they improved in football and won a national championship in basketball recently), I don't see much of a difference from Cincinnati now. Cincy has a higher academic ranking, has a bigger endowment, and is in a state with a lot bigger population than Louisville. I think something holding Cincy back in the eyes of many if this whole commuter school deal, but that's exactly what Louisville and Pittsburgh are.
And should also throw in if BYU is indeed a candidate for expansion, academically they are up there with all of those four schools and have a bigger following than any of them.
I think the thing that makes those four schools look better now than 5 years ago is the fact that they are in either the BIG10 or ACC. Back then, I don't think they were really as attractive. With some revisionist history, I do think you can make an argument that Pittsburgh should have been pursued at the time. I also think if we expand to 14 teams, then this argument leans more to it would have mattered. But I am not really convinced that Rutgers/Syracuse/Louisville of 5 years ago offer a ton more (if any) than BYU/UCONN/Cincy do now...
I think maybe an argument can be made for the 14 school expansion, but not really sure it would have mattered if the plan is to be at 12 schools.
The only additional schools we would have had a shot at that we currently don't have a shot at are schools that have joined one of the Power 5 conferences since we added TCU and WVU. That list is four schools - Rutgers, Syracuse, Pittsburgh, and Louisville.
With Syracuse and Rutgers, I think the exact same arguments against them are what we are considering against UCONN right now. Both Syracuse and Rutgers have higher endowments, but UCONN is rated higher academically. State population plays a role here, but really to me it boils down to the travel issues which would have still existed with those schools.
With Louisville and Pittsburgh, I think you can make a strong case for Pittsburgh (rivalry with WVU, big endowment, strong academic ranking), but don't remember a lot of people making as strong of a case for them like they were Louisville. When you look at Louisville, and remember we are looking at this from the 2010/2011 view (thus forget they improved in football and won a national championship in basketball recently), I don't see much of a difference from Cincinnati now. Cincy has a higher academic ranking, has a bigger endowment, and is in a state with a lot bigger population than Louisville. I think something holding Cincy back in the eyes of many if this whole commuter school deal, but that's exactly what Louisville and Pittsburgh are.
And should also throw in if BYU is indeed a candidate for expansion, academically they are up there with all of those four schools and have a bigger following than any of them.
I think the thing that makes those four schools look better now than 5 years ago is the fact that they are in either the BIG10 or ACC. Back then, I don't think they were really as attractive. With some revisionist history, I do think you can make an argument that Pittsburgh should have been pursued at the time. I also think if we expand to 14 teams, then this argument leans more to it would have mattered. But I am not really convinced that Rutgers/Syracuse/Louisville of 5 years ago offer a ton more (if any) than BYU/UCONN/Cincy do now...
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