Bill Self interview on The Sports Animal

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Said the usual nice things about OU and Kruger, but what was interesting is that he said a couple different times he thinks the Big 12 will still add a couple of schools in the future.

Thoughts?
 
I'm nearly positive we'll add a couple of schools. We can't stay at 10 with everybody else at least at 12, some more. We can survive at 12. What two schools? No idea. Makes sense to look east so that schools like WV aren't forced to travel to Boise, or New Mexico, or where ever. Louisville. Cincy. Memphis.
 
louisville and rutgers if we go to 12

plus ucf and usf ...moving osu to the north if we want to go to 14
 
Adding two more schools from the southeast has always made sense to me. So has getting back to the original number that made up the Big 12 in the first place. WVU is pretty much isolated right now, which is one of the reasons I think it's smart to add two more schools from that region of the country. It's my guess that Louisville, USF and UCF would be among the top three choices.
 
I don't get adding schools from the Southeast. That puts you in competition with the SEC and ACC for television sets with pretty new arrivals to the college sports scene. I think taking Lousiville and Memphis makes more sense. I am not sure how good they are for football but they would make the Big XII a pretty exciting basketball conference.
 
I don't get adding schools from the Southeast. That puts you in competition with the SEC and ACC for television sets with pretty new arrivals to the college sports scene. I think taking Lousiville and Memphis makes more sense. I am not sure how good they are for football but they would make the Big XII a pretty exciting basketball conference.

Would be shocked if they added Memphis.
 
I think adding Memphis would automatically give their football program a boost. Think about it: will recruits want to go to C-USA Memphis or Big XII Memphis? Plus they have that FedEx sugar daddy. I don't know about their other sports though besides basketball...
 
The Big XII should add Louisville and Memphis to get back to 12. Louisville football is on the verge of returning to relevancy as is, they have a good coach and a good QB and should be a Top 25 team within the next two years. Memphis football is in a good location to succeed, and being in the Big XII would allow them to build their program from the ground up. If Baylor can succeed at football, then so can Memphis. Both of them would bring added relevancy to the Big XII basketball brand.

North:
Iowa State
Kansas
Kansas State
Louisville
Oklahoma State
West Virginia

South:
Baylor
Memphis
Oklahoma
Texas
TCU
Texas Tech

Give everyone a cross-divisional rival, make sure everyone plays at least one game in Texas every year, and be done with it. This conference would be stable and strong for the foreseeable future, IMO.
 
The Big XII should add Louisville and Memphis to get back to 12. Louisville football is on the verge of returning to relevancy as is, they have a good coach and a good QB and should be a Top 25 team within the next two years. Memphis football is in a good location to succeed, and being in the Big XII would allow them to build their program from the ground up. If Baylor can succeed at football, then so can Memphis. Both of them would bring added relevancy to the Big XII basketball brand.

North:
Iowa State
Kansas
Kansas State
Louisville
Oklahoma State
West Virginia

South:
Baylor
Memphis
Oklahoma
Texas
TCU
Texas Tech

Give everyone a cross-divisional rival, make sure everyone plays at least one game in Texas every year, and be done with it. This conference would be stable and strong for the foreseeable future, IMO.

Where would Memphis recruit out of?
 
Where would Memphis recruit out of?

They could get the Texas pipeline going just like most other Big XII schools. Also, they'd probably start to win some recruiting battles against Tennessee, Ole Miss, and Mississippi State.
 
Where would Memphis recruit out of?

They are in a great location to recruit Ten, Ark, Miss and Mizzou. They will struggle to recruit against SEC teams in those states, but being in the Big XII should help with that. The are also relatively close to Alabama, Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma. With the right coach and their FedEx sugar daddy, they could be OSU east. Just call them the BBQ & Blues Aggies
 
They are in a great location to recruit Ten, Ark, Miss and Mizzou. They will struggle to recruit against SEC teams in those states, but being in the Big XII should help with that. The are also relatively close to Alabama, Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma. With the right coach and their FedEx sugar daddy, they could be OSU east. Just call them the BBQ & Blues Aggies

Not really sold on that model, sure there is a ton of talenet, but the drain between two solid conferences would be tough to overcome.

Did Frederick Smith spend anytime at the University of Memphis? I know he is a Yale graduate.
 
louisville and rutgers if we go to 12

plus ucf and usf ...moving osu to the north if we want to go to 14


I'd love to see Rutgers in the Big 12. I'd be a short train ride away from getting to see my Sooners battle the Scarlet Knights every other year.

I doubt that will happen, though.
 
It's unbelievable that anyone would want Memphis. Have you ever watched a Memphis football game on TV? It is an absolutely PATHETIC atmosphere. Terrible facilities, terrible fanbase, terrible program. I think I'd rather have New Mexico than Memphis. And I want UNM in the conference as much as I want a kick in the groin.
 
It's unbelievable that anyone would want Memphis. Have you ever watched a Memphis football game on TV? It is an absolutely PATHETIC atmosphere. Terrible facilities, terrible fanbase, terrible program. I think I'd rather have New Mexico than Memphis. And I want UNM in the conference as much as I want a kick in the groin.

It's New Mexico's 100th birthday today...be nice.

Feliz Cumpleanos.
 
It's unbelievable that anyone would want Memphis. Have you ever watched a Memphis football game on TV? It is an absolutely PATHETIC atmosphere. Terrible facilities, terrible fanbase, terrible program. I think I'd rather have New Mexico than Memphis. And I want UNM in the conference as much as I want a kick in the groin.

If the Big XII wants to go east, why not Cincinnati? They are light years ahead of Memphis in football and not too far behind in basketball.

Not really sold on that model, sure there is a ton of talenet, but the drain between two solid conferences would be tough to overcome.

Did Frederick Smith spend anytime at the University of Memphis? I know he is a Yale graduate.

I didn't say I thought it would work, but if you dump a stadium worth of money into a program with a natural geographic advantage, anything can happen. I don't think it will happen, though.
 
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Why not Florida State and Miami? It's not like their basketball programs can compete with UNC, Duke, etc. and their football would benefit from better competition. Come on down state of Florida! Lol.

If we do go to 12, it's probably Louisville and Cincy, but FSU and Miami are two ex football powers that could use a better conference and should be looking around.
 
I'm thinking it ends up being Louisville and Rutgers. Rutgers gets overlooked by a lot of people but think about the TV market that Rutgers would get the conference into.
 
It's unbelievable that anyone would want Memphis. Have you ever watched a Memphis football game on TV? It is an absolutely PATHETIC atmosphere. Terrible facilities, terrible fanbase, terrible program. I think I'd rather have New Mexico than Memphis. And I want UNM in the conference as much as I want a kick in the groin.

I don't understand why every thinks that EVERY school we add has to be great at football. Or even good. If we are looking to add teams to get to 12 or even 14, we are doing it for the advantage we have of being a conference of that size. Not b/c the specific schools we are adding are necessarily great. We have enough "great" football schools. How about some balance? As an OU fan, why in the heck would you keep wanting to add really good football teams/programs, making an already tough road to the BCS game even tougher? I'm not one to shy away from competition, but dang, I don't want to play top 15 team after top 15 team every week in conference play. I kind of like knowing we have a few easy games on the schedule.

If this conference expansion crap was ONLY about improving the quality of football in your conference, a lot of the moves that have been made wouldn't have happened. Period.
 
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