Sherri did not want to join the pac 12 bcuz of the traveling distance. Th conference doesn't hurt us. OOC scheduling does, plus the strength of our teams. Wrestling had 3 decent wrestlers this year. One ranked 13 won the ncaa title. The smaller sports did well. All of you were happy with wbb and I assume mbb. Football just did not have a great quarterback. Tx and supporters no worse than Ou and its supporters. It's a business As 4 schools in our conference not wanting to be better or not being able to. Actually believe it is a choice and they are free to make as to where they put money and emphasis. Don't owe ou and they can put emphasis on whatever they choose.
Finally as far as Boren, would rather see someone with more integrity. Not impressed with Boren University.
The Big 12's weakness absolutely impacted softball this season and was the cause for OU being seeded #11. The problem is the Big 12 was weak and only had seven schools. OU had one of the most ambitious OOC schedules in the country but other conferences are so much stronger within their conference that it buries OU in the RPI. It is difficult to schedule anyone once conference play starts and OU played in the top tournaments in non-conference. They played Georgia in Cali, Kentucky in Cali, Arizona in Cali, Washington in Arizona, Arizona State twice on the road, and LSU twice on the road. LSU played 43 home games while OU only played 23. LSU was only 7-7 on the road. You look at their non-conference schedule and it included NC State at home, Notre Dame at home, Arizona in Cali, and OU twice at home. OU's non-conference schedule was much tougher than LSU. It is all about the conference and that is the problem. OU played a much tougher OOC schedule but it didn't matter because of the conference.
You might read this article by Berry Tramel about how the SEC is burying everyone in softball with facilities and money. OU's softball stadium unfortunately is like a junior college compared to the SEC facilities.
http://newsok.com/football-has-everything-to-do-with-the-success-of-sec-softball/article/5422969
Football, Football, Football - the Big 12 is a mess - Baylor and TCU were excellent but got left out. The same thing will occur in the future. The Big 12 is closer in football to the Mountain West than it is to the SEC. It is sad but true. I hardly know anyone that doesn't think next year's home football schedule is pathetic. Nothing like playing Akron, Tulsa, Iowa State, Texas Tech, West Virginia, and TCU. I know that I held my nose for my Sooner Club and tickets payment. If OU had changed conference and had some headliner games - the renovation project would have rolled forward at probably 750 million instead the 400 million that shrank to 161 Million just like what happened in College Station.
Staying in the Big 12 is a financial disaster in the long run. The financial part is huge. The SEC Network had 540 million in revenue to be distributed among the 14 schools. The Big 12 has pretty nada except for Texas in third tier rights. OU is getting about 8M from Fox Sports.
As for Sherri and travel - if she is so against then why on earth did she do the month long road trip last season. Truth is that Big 12 really does miss A&M and Nebraska in Women's Hoops. Yes, Baylor is great and Texas and Iowa State are good but after that - it is pretty mediocre. No one was more upset about A&M leaving the Big 12 than Kim Mulkey. It impacts seeding to a large degree. At the end of the regular season, there was one Big 12 women's basketball team in the Top 25 and only two even getting votes.
As for wrestling, the Big 12 is having to add Air Force, North Dakota State, Northern Colorado, South Dakota State, Utah Valley and Wyoming in order to get automatic qualifiers. In women's gymnastics, it only has three schools. Men's gymnastics is in a different conference.
