Sooners president does about-face on expansion

Boren’s opposition threatens league’s push to add new members

Oklahoma President David Boren is now opposed to Big 12 expansion, threatening the push to add new members, multiple industry sources confirmed.

The opposition by Boren, who serves as chairman of the Big 12’s board of directors, is significant. He had pushed expansion publicly when few schools wanted to pursue the option and publicly suggested the Big 12 was “psychologically disadvantaged” by having only 10 members.

SI.com was the first report Boren’s change heart Tuesday morning.

The Big 12 board of directors is scheduled to meet Oct. to of 17 to discuss expansion. Any prospective member needs eight votes to be added.

Expansion, which looked like the most likely outcome with two schools, now appears to be in doubt. The Big 12, after a process that included as many as 20 candidates, could be in a position of confirming the dysfunctional image that Boren had publicly decried.

Boren stunned many in the conference two weeks ago by suggesting expansion wasn’t a given after a board of regents meeting. The about-face immediately got the attention of presidents and athletic administrators throughout the league.

With Oklahoma now opposing expansion and likely to be joined in lockstep by Oklahoma State, the other eight schools are going to have to coalesce around two possible candidates, which seems unlikely at the moment.

Texas has been ambivalent on expansion but is publicly on record as backing Houston if the league expands.

Non-Texas schools are leery of adding another school in the Lone Star State and Houston in particular.

West Virginia may not be on board with Cincinnati, elevating another regional school to “power five” status.

BYU — a school backed by Boren — is now viewed as radioactive because of its stance on LGBT and Title IX issues.

But it does have the backing of the Big 12’s TV partners, especially ESPN.

New Mexico was among the schools that made known its interest in joining the Big 12 through official channels but gained no traction.