Volume 124 Issue 10
kansan.com
Thursday, September 1, 2011
COMMENTARY
Stupid switch, Aggies
In 1920, the Aggie War Hymn was created with the opening lyrics, "Goodbye to Texas University; So long to the orange and the white."
Ninety-one years later it appears Texas A&M is taking the words of their fight song to heart as they are actually splitting their ties with the University of Texas (and the rest of the Big 12 along the way).
After rejecting an invitation to join the Southeastern Conference one year ago, Texas A&M decided they would, in fact, like to join the SEC and do so quickly.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
The excuse the Aggies used to change their minds and go to the SEC just one year later: The Longhorn Network was attempting to air high school football games, which would give Texas a supposed recruiting advantage.
The Longhorn Network may have pushed Texas A&M officials over the edge, but Aggie fans have been clamoring for the switch ever since the thought of conference realignment began.
The "Aggie" way of thinking not only puts an unfair amount of pressure on A&M officials to make the move but is also very shortsighted, at that.
Texas A&M fans and officials are now putting their conference stature over winning football games, plain and simple. The Aggies are 53-72-4 against the current members of the SEC West, according to CBS Sports. This doesn't sound like a move that has been well thought out.
Even if the Aggies can now sell the SEC recruiting pitch to kids, it may not mean much: Of Scout. com's top 20 prospects in Texas for 2011, only one is going to an SEC school. Even further, only two of the top 40 Texas recruits from 2011 are going to an SEC school. Meanwhile, 11 of the top 40 recruits will be playing football in Austin, Texas this season.
A&M fans believe that joining the SEC will finally give them a much needed recruiting edge over the University of Texas, a program that will still have more money and a higher prestige than A&M.
A&M is making a move that will put them in the lower echelon of the top football conference instead of remaining in the upper echelon of one of the top conferences (albeit a very unstable one).
Quite simply, this is Texas A&M giving the finger to Texas for being better than them in nearly every way, shape and form. Instead of beating the Longhorns head-to-head, they decided losing more games in a better conference would be the proper form of revenge.
So now it's the Big 12's turn,
as they can say goodbye to Texas
A&M. You can be sure they will
take pleasure in watching them get
"whooped" more often than not.
Edited by Sarah McCabe
Texas A&M coach Mike Sherman addresses the media during the Big 12 Conference NCAA college football media days in Dallas. Texas A&M dealt a blow to the Big 12 Conference on Wednesday, saying it plans to leave by July 2012 if it is accepted by the SEC or another league.
THIRTEEN MONTHS LATER
Jun 9,2010 The Pacific 10 is reported to be extending offers for membership to Texas,Texas Tech,Texas
A&M, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State in addition to already offering Colorado membership.
Jun 13,2010 The University of Texas announces it will remain in the Big 12.
Jun 17.2010
Spurred by Texas, the Pacific 10 conference offers membership to the University of Utah, which accepts.
Aug 31, 2010 Brigham Young University's football program goes independent while the rest of its athletics program joins the West Coast Conference.
"firmly committed" to the Big 12 and that league officials knew Texas was pursuing a network deal.
Jan 19, 2011 University of Texas president William Powers said Texas is
Aug 30,2011
in denies the Monday New York Times report that it notified the Big 12 of its intention to leave the athletic conference.
Aug 25, 2011
Texas A&M president R. Bowen
Loftin sends a letter to Big
12 commissioner Dan
Beebe explaining that
Texas A&M is considering leaving the Big 12.
Jun 10.2010
Loftin said in a statement.
Nov 29,2010
Aug 18, 2010
The Western Athletic Conference loses two more members when Nevada and Fresno State both leave for the MWC.
Jun 15,2010
Aug 18,2010
The Horned Frogs become the 17th member of the Big East conference after
Jun 11,2010
On Thursday morning, Colorado officially joined the Pacific 10 conference. The next day Nebraska officially left the Big 12 to join the Big Ten.
"Texas A&M is a proud member of the Big 12 Conference and will continue to be affiliated with the conference in the future," school president R. Bowen Loftin said in a statement.
JUNI 11, 2016
Boise State becomes the Mountain West's 10th program when it leaves the Western Athletic Conference.
1
Jul 1, 2011
leaving the Mountain West.
The Governors of Colorado and Utah deem June 30 'Pac-12 Day' as the Utah Utes and Colorado Buffaloes become official members of Pac-12.
MIKE VERNON
mvernon@kansan.com
of Pac-12.
Aug 29. 2011
Aug. 23, 2011 The New York Times reports that President R. Bowen Loftin informed Big 12 Board Chairman Brady Deaton that the Aggies will officially withdraw from the conference as early as Tuesday. ATM
With the departure of Texas A&M, the Big 12 faces two options: either expand and keep the conference alive, or disband and send its remaining nine schools out into the abyss to try and find a new conference to latch on to.
Aug 31,2011
Texas A&M officially notifies the Big 12 of its intention to withdraw from the conference. ATM
If the Big 12 were to expand, it wouldn't be going after the big fish (Nebraska, Colorado and ARM) that it recently lost. The first decision to be made would be how many teams the Big 12 should invite. When asked about the new conference schedule at the Big 12 media days, most of the coaches seemed to agree that they liked the opportunity to play everyone. Kansas Head Coach Turner Gill said it would be good for the fans to get to see every team every year and called it a "plus" for the conference.
But in a sport that is all about generating revenue, the Big 12 will want to reclaim their conference championship game by expanding to 12 teams. Who would want to join such an unstable conference that has undergone so many changes in the past two years?
12 because they have finished the season in the Top 25 four times since the 2006 season. BYU also has a strong history of being competitive, claiming the 1984 national title and having NFL Hall of Famers Steve Young and Jim McMahon as alumni. The biggest doubt that surrounds BYU is whether they really would want to give up on the independent experiment after just one season.
Southern Methodist University has been making noise, openly campaigning for an invite to the Big 12. SMU used to be a part of the old Southwest Conference, of which four former members ended up joining the Big 12. In 1987 they became the only school to ever receive the "death penalty" in football by the NCAA when they were forced to cancel their season. SMU has spent its time wondering in the desert and now wants a chance to reclaim its former spot among the AQ conferences. SMU claims three national titles and hired former Atlanta Falcons and Hawaii coach June Jones after he took the Hawaii Warriors to the 2008 Sugar Bowl.
Houston is another former member of the southwest conference that could be on the radar of the Big 12. Houston has been more successful than SMU since joining Conference USA following the break-up of the SWC. They also bring the Houston television market, 10th largest in the nation, into the Big 12. At the same time, Texas is all about UT, so chances are, the viewers gained would not be as significant as expected.
Brigham Young University recently left the Mountain West Conference for all sports, becoming an independent in football and the West Coast Conference in all other sports. BYU is attractive to the Big
Texas Christian University ap-
SEE BIG 12 PAGE 8
VOLLEYBALL
Nebraska freshmen get starting positions
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They're both outside hitters. They're both from Nebraska. They're both freshmen. And they're both starters on the Kansas volleyball team.
Sara McClinton and Chelsea Albers may each be in their first season with the Jayhawks, but coach Ray Bechard is counting on both of them to contribute, and contribute early. McClinton started all three of the team's victories in the season-opening Georgia Bulldog Invitational over the weekend, and Albers started both of the Saturday sweeps.
MATT GALLOWAY
mgalloway@kansan.com
McClinton
"We're going to put the best six out there, and sometimes that's a bit of a stretch for freshmen to do that," Bechard said. "But we have a bunch of confidence in both of those young ladies."
Albers
McClinton finished the weekend with 11 kills, including seven in the finale against Georgia. To secure her role as a starter for the season's first three games, McClinton had to play catch-up, with the upperclassmen who stayed over the summer.
work to achieve
"I knew we had a good opportunity to compete with some of the upperclassmen for the spots, but you can't come in and expect to start," McClinton said. "You have to
work to achieve it. That was my goal, to come in and start, but I guess I wasn't expecting it so soon."
Albers had an impressive first start on Saturday morning, recording six kills in the sweep against Liberty. She may have ensured her spot as a starter through a decorated high school career at Papillion LaVista, where she notched a state-leading 487 kills in 2009 was named the Omaha World-Herald's Girl's 2010-11 Athlete of the Year her senior season.
"That is a tough call," Bechard said. "You need to kind of get a sense for where you think their progress will be within the first month and if this is a kid that can help us by midseason. Sometimes a year of development, like in Caroline Jarmoc's case, is a good move."
Starting so early is an unexpected perk for Albers, but it is one she said she plans on working hard to maintain. Both freshmen had to work hard just to avoid being redshirted by Bechard, who said the decision to sit and develop a player for a year is a difficult one.
"They have worked hard to include us and not make us feel like freshmen." Albers said. "Speaking for myself, I feel like they treat us like volleyball players and not by our age."
Stepping in and immediately adapting to team chemistry is another challenge the two are facing. While the returning players built team chemistry over the summer by training in Italy, the freshmen were not permitted to tag along. Still, the upperclassmen have tried to make the Nebraska' natives feel at home, Albers said.
Since Bechard was hired as the coach of the volleyball team 14 years ago, he has had a player from Nebraska on his roster every season. Albers and McClinton first met as opponents in the state's notoriously competitive high school volleyball circuit. They would later come to know each other better as teammates at the even more competitive club level.
"Growing up in Nebraska, I think it gave us a huge advantage," McClinton said. "High school volley-
SEE VOLLEYBALL PAGE 8
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