The University of Oklahoma’s board of regents met on Thursday. Would it surprise you to learn that OU president David Boren used the occasion to go Trump with the assembled media for an hour about the Big 12? If so, you must be new here.
If you can stomach yet another article on this, here’s the upshot of what Boren said.
What did we learn today?
Nothing, really.
I guess you could say Boren amplified something that has been overshadowed in the discussion about the expansion plank of his three-part “Make the Big 12 Great Again” platform: There is no point to expanding if the conference doesn’t have a network.
At least 12 teams are necessary to have the inventory of live games necessary to create a conference network. As such, without an agreement to create a conference network in place first, all the vetting of expansion candidates is for naught.
That’s why Boren has lobbied time and again for a conference network and more teams and a championship game. It has never been a piecemeal proposal.
Why did Boren backtrack on his position about the reforms for the conference?
Honestly, the media coverage of his comments confused me because I don’t think he did.
Clearly, Boren’s language came off as less bombastic than his pontificating in the past, especially when it came to talking about Texas. It didn’t sound to me like his positions on the issues have changed, though.
Then what is OU’s endgame?
Personally, I’ve always looked at Boren’s latest gambit as OU telling the Big 12 that it’s not happy with the current state of affairs. (If this isn’t over before Boren retires, his replacement will almost certainly push for changes, too.) I’ve said since Boren started barking to think of a spectrum of outcomes for Oklahoma and the league, not just one goal. Those include everything from an “enhanced” version of the Sooners’ current conference to finding a new home.
The Big 12 still has the same grant of rights in place that was there a year ago when OU’s president started on this crusade. I think it has always been the case that if the other members didn’t share OU’s view on the need for reforms, the Sooners would just leave the league once it became feasible.
Why this rigmarole?
The Big 12 can never be stable so long as Oklahoma and Texas have one eye on the exit. Boren’s conditions represent a way to guarantee their commitment to the conference for the long haul. Reaching a resolution offers a way to clear up the uncertainty about the future.
I realize how absurd this sounds right now, but the picture of the conference’s long-term prospects should clear up soon.
You mentioned Texas…
Again, nothing has really changed from what I said last week. The ball is somewhere in the Frank Erwin Center’s court. If Texas doesn’t want to give up the LHN, there’s nothing really to discuss.
So how does this end?
Once again, hell if I know.
