Mack Brown used Monday’s weekly Big 12 coaches conference call to caution on the negatives of splitting up regional rivals. Brown basically asked that we remember the children … and their parents and coaches.
As much as we talk about money, as much as we talk about college football, as much as we talk about realignment, as much as we talk about great games, playoffs and all that stuff, we better go back and make sure that we’re taking care of the players and that the players and the high school coaches are always considered in the equation.
Because if not, we’re not going to have a game, and they’re the ones that are playing. And, for parents to travel all the way across the country is going to put a bigger burden on them.
One of Brown’s selling points has been that parents and coaches can send their kids to the state’s capital and see them play about 80% of their games within a few hundred miles. With Texas A&M likely headed to the SEC, any additional break-up involving Oklahoma, Oklahoma State or any of the Texas schools will change that dynamic.
In recent days Texas has been linked with moves to the ACC and Pac-12, with their lucrative Longhorn Network as a primary stumbling block in negotiations. Reports Monday suggested that Texas, Oklahoma, Texas Tech and Oklahoma State could all move to the Pac-12 as a four-team block. Baylor could move to the Big East in a sort of leftovers conference, creating a scenario where the state’s seven biggest football schools play exclusively in east coast and west coast conferences.