Missouri Won't Join SEC in 2012

by Year2 on Oct 11, 2011 12:15 PM EDT in Conference Realignment

The college athletics world is waiting on Missouri to decide whether it will stay in or leave the Big 12. It's been about a week since its Board of Curators delegated authority on conference allegiance to chancellor Brady Deaton, and we haven't heard much out of the school since.

Interim Big 12 commissioner Chuck Neinas has finally provided something of an update on the situation. He said today that if the Tigers do head out of the Big 12, it wouldn't be in time to join another conference for 2012. Therefore, the Big 12 will have 10 members next year no matter what. Given that the SEC is the most widely speculated landing spot for Mizzou should it leave the Big 12, it also signals that our humble conference will have 13 members next year.

Many questions still linger despite this new tidbit of information. If Missouri does bolt, who will the Big 12 go get to replenish the conference membership? Could the Big East survive as a football conference in that scenario? Does Missouri even have the votes to join the SEC if it wanted to?

Neinas is giving Missouri all the time it wants, saying that the school doesn't need to make its final decision until the end of this current academic year. The Missouri question appears like it will hang over us for quite some time to come.

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It is increasingly apparent . . .

. . . that Mike Slive was the conference commissioner left without a chair when the music stopped. If we could get a do-over and restore the status quo ante August, I’d take that in a heartbeat. Texas A&M is a good get, but we’re going to be stuck with somebody’s sloppy seconds for Team 14. We’d have been better off staying at twelve.

Go 'Dawgs!

by T Kyle King on Oct 11, 2011 12:46 PM EDT reply actions

Neinas may end up correct...

…but he is in no position to announce what Missouri will be doing next year. If Mizzou elects to leave (and the SEC elects to take them, obviously), they would certainly have the option of forfeiting the funds requisite to be in the SEC next year. Neinas saying what he said today would have no bearing on that.

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by Bill C. on Oct 11, 2011 2:52 PM EDT reply actions 3 recs

Given Neinas’ longstanding relationship with Mizzou as a former Big 8 commissioner and the fact he needs Missouri more than MU needs him and his conference, I thought of this more like him telling what he’s heard behind the scenes already. Rather than him telling Missouri it can’t leave by 2012, it’s more like him revealing that Missouri told him it won’t leave in 2012.

I could be wrong, but that’s how it came off to me.

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by Year2 on Oct 12, 2011 11:27 AM EDT up reply actions

please stop tormenting Missouri

and invite someone else as 14 already!
some one from the Big East and end that misery as well.

by fracas on Oct 11, 2011 3:02 PM EDT reply actions

I agree, MU is a quality get,

and want to come over. Come on Slive and co., let’s do this and then get the new schedule together for next year already.

Reporter: What would you say a Greg Studrawa offense is like? Stud:

"Attack and be very physical…fly around…attacking, come after you and come after you and come after you…." Me: I love this answer.

GET TO THE RIM HEAT (and SKY)! ATTACK THE PAINT!

by mjtig on Oct 11, 2011 3:20 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions

Doesn't look like it's Slive holding it up.

by Durdens Wrath on Oct 11, 2011 3:25 PM EDT up reply actions

Fair enough, they just need to get a quality MU aboard ASAP

Reporter: What would you say a Greg Studrawa offense is like? Stud:

"Attack and be very physical…fly around…attacking, come after you and come after you and come after you…." Me: I love this answer.

GET TO THE RIM HEAT (and SKY)! ATTACK THE PAINT!

by mjtig on Oct 11, 2011 3:27 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions

You know, if Mizzou is going to be this indecisive, why can't we just have

West Virginia?

Apparently Mizzou still wants the B1G.

by Durdens Wrath on Oct 11, 2011 3:26 PM EDT reply actions

Don't worry, we'll think of something.

by Porcine on Oct 11, 2011 3:44 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs

Where did the first document here originate?

"So I want everybody to think here for a second, how much does this game mean to you? 'Cause if it means something to you, you can't stand still. You understand? You play fast! You play strong! You go out there and dominate the man you're playing against, and you make his ass quit! That's our trademark! That's our M.O.... as a team! That's what people know us as!" - Coach Nick Saban before the 2008 LSU game.

by 12NationalChampionships on Oct 11, 2011 4:51 PM EDT up reply actions

My own personal concoction

I sorted them by football revenues because, imo, shows who brings it and who doesn’t. I left off Texas because they have given the impression that joining the SEC is not an option for them.

by Porcine on Oct 11, 2011 5:27 PM EDT up reply actions

I've been cheering for NC State as #14 for a while

but those revenue numbers are more solid than I thought. I was kinda thinking they’d be a pick purely on potential.

Heel for school, Vol for life!

Bolts, Preds, Canes (childhood team, home state team, hometown team). Canes mini-STH. Southern hockey solidarity!

by Incipient_Senescence on Oct 11, 2011 10:27 PM EDT up reply actions

Oh, and how in the hell

Does Vandy make $7 million more annually in football than Mississippi State? That is a Bulldog fail.

by 12NationalChampionships on Oct 11, 2011 4:55 PM EDT reply actions

nope.

Losing to Auburn was a Bulldog Fail.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
GTHTSUN

by CoastalCowbell on Oct 11, 2011 5:09 PM EDT up reply actions

I have little doubt

This entire season will shape up to be a Bulldog fail.

by 12NationalChampionships on Oct 12, 2011 3:18 PM EDT up reply actions

Vandy is probably spending less while receiving about the same amount from the conference.

by AllTideUp on Oct 12, 2011 6:52 AM EDT up reply actions

Scratch that.

I thought it was a profit number, not a revenue number. And I have no idea who Vandy would be making that much more than MSU.

by AllTideUp on Oct 12, 2011 6:55 AM EDT up reply actions

Could be a third tier rights thing. Everyone negotiates their own, and if Vandy did its deal more recently than MSU did its deal, that could explain it. But that’s pure speculation right there.

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by Year2 on Oct 12, 2011 11:29 AM EDT up reply actions

However it happened

Props to Vandy for not being last.

by 12NationalChampionships on Oct 12, 2011 2:47 PM EDT up reply actions

maybe this is partly because, of course, i want wvu in...

…but as someone who has respect for SEC football in general I wish the SEC wouldn’t let mizzou treat it like its bitch.

by MountaineerAirman on Oct 11, 2011 6:43 PM EDT reply actions

Agreed

I have a hard time waiting around on a third-tier football school like Missouri.

by 12NationalChampionships on Oct 12, 2011 2:48 PM EDT up reply actions

And before some Mizzou fan comes in telling me that they've won 40 games in four years...

First Tier – historical and perennial power who competes for BCS championships and has been to multiple BCS games and draws a national audience (Alabama, LSU, Florida, Texas, Oklahoma, Ohio State, etc)
Second Tier – perennial power who competes at BCS level as above but less historical significance and therefore has to align the stars perfectly to get into a championship (Boise State, TCU, WVU, etc.
Third Tier – historical power that has a decent program but hasn’t consistently competed at the BCS level (Missouri, Clemson, Texas A&M, etc)
Fourth Tier – everyone else who has virtually no shot of even lucking in to a BCS game (UAB, La Tech, San Diego State, Memphis,

These are my classifications and while the lines between them can be blurry, in my opinion the only schools the SEC should even humor with a long courting period are those in the first tier. That’s not to say that second or third tier schools would not have good conference situations or viable reasons to not join the SEC. However, I believe that the SEC should be much more proactive in seeking out the 14th school, and if a third-tier school like Mizzou takes more than a week or two to consider, we kick them to the curb. TCU is the instructive example here. They turned around an invite in, what, 48 hours? 72? Same deal for Syracuse and Pitt. Maybe they talked for three weeks, but once it went public, they were already done. Missouri has wasted time, made themselves and the SEC appear less desirable, and dragged thousands of fans through weeks of uncertainty. They are doing it wrong. By contrast, is there anyone who doubts that WVU would fall over themselves to join the SEC? That is the attitude of a school who understands where they fall in the pecking order and wants to improve its position. Missouri apparently is dissatisfied with the Big XII, the SEC, and probably with itself, and is dangling itself like a tart for a B1G that obviously is not interested. They should be given an ultimatum.

by 12NationalChampionships on Oct 12, 2011 3:15 PM EDT up reply actions