How President Boren feels about Texas
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OU and Texas are the Big 12 power-brokers and often are on different sides of an issue. Like the current debates over conference expansion and implementation of a Big 12 network.
But OU President David Boren says the relationship between the Red River rivals is strong.
Boren on Tuesday told The Oklahoman that Big 12 presidents agreed to make an expansion decision by this summer. I wrote about it for the Wednesday’s editions, but I didn’t use all of the Boren material, so let’s share it.
Starting with the OU/ Texas relationship. Boren said the entire demeanor of the Big 12 board room has improved.
“Every year, since what we went through not too long ago, the Pac-12 and all the things that happened, the turmoil of other schools leaving the conference, it’s taken awhile for things to kind of settle down,” Boren said. “For people to feel comfortable around the table. I think we’re really getting there. For all the rumors, are we knocking heads with Texas or somebody, I have a very cordial relationship with the president of Texas, the new president (Gregory Fenves), relatively new president, very sharp individual. They have a new athletics director (Mike Perrin). It’s kind of a new regime, although probably my past spats with them have been exaggerated.
“It’s very interesting. A lot of times, the issues are semi-academic. Oklahoma and Texas more often than not are alike in the Big 12. We’re not always at opposite ends of things. We more than likely are in agreement. But I think the cordiality of all of it is getting better. Trust, confidence in each other is getting better.”
Boren said he “felt good” about the collegiality of the Big 12 meetings a couple of weeks ago in Irving, Texas. Boren said he was “probably more heartened” about the Big 12, after the conference meetings. “Everybody is very cordial about it. There’s no feeling on our part that we want to get the best of any other particular school on this, I think we all want to be fair to everybody. So it’s good. The tone of the meeting was good. And the determination. We did all say among ourselves, we’re going to try to get this all decided by this summer.”
Here are some other Boren talking points about his three stated reforms (expansion to 12 schools, a football championship game and implementation of a conference network):
On the necessity for action: “I think it would be counterproductive for me to push anyone to a corner. Or make it hard for them to make a decision based on the facts. But I think the way it’s unfolding, we’re just having the facts brought into us. I think the facts will dictate the reforms I’ve talked about. As long as we get people to talk not emotionally. But what are the facts? What are the dollars? What’s at stake? If we’re going to look out 10 years from now, are we going to have $10 million less than the other conferences we’re competing with? A factdriven decision is sort of the mode we’re in.”
On what kind of issues will be researched: “People want to say, let’s get a better handle on the dollars. For example, if we have a network. Here’s Texas. We all know about their Longhorn Network. Makes a certain amount a year. Ours makes about $5 million a year. Do we want to give up that $5 million and not be compensated? Do they want to give up their $15 million a year and not be compensated? But if expansion and a championship game and network brings $7 or $8 million each to every school, then we can afford for five or 10 years to have a revenue distribution that kind of makes these other schools whole. So what are the real figures? We have people working with us. Conference staff, consultants.”
On Boren’s own personal stake in the Big 12: “Having been the only one left having started with the conference at the beginning, and having seen things that needed to happen, and having seen schools leave like Texas A&M and Nebraska and Missouri, which for me was heart-breaking, I just felt, will we ever take action? I think we will. I think we’re moving forward, I think we’re making progress. I probably move forward with decisions more quickly than most people would on things. But I think we’re making progress. So I’m just saying to myself, be patient, let the facts speak for itself, let the data speak for themselves. Let’s make non-emotional, datadriven decisions.”
Boren is hammering home the data. The data, the data, the data: “Sometimes that’s the best way to persuade. You can have arguments and emotions, but when the data kind of speaks, which I think it will… In the long run, we need a conference network. We don’t want to have X number of other Power 5 conferences having a lot more revenue than we have. That affects the health of all our athletic departments. But we are really seriously looking at this. And I’m convinced my fellow presidents are looking at this with an opening mind in terms of what the data tells us.”
On the timing of this summer: “It’s a good time to act. Let’s don’t wait until we have a crisis or we’re about to lose a member or two. We’re stable right now, we like each other. Most people in the Big 12 want to stay in the Big 12. It’s the right time to make progress. When we’re not in crisis mode. When we were about to fall apart and there were all these Pac-12 rumors and all these other rumors, you couldn’t get anything done except maybe hopefully stay together. But now we have an opportunity. It’s a position of strength. Let’s not move at a time of crisis. And let’s look out, not just this year, but 5-10 years from now, what’s going to be the long-term strength and stability of this conference? I want Oklahoma to be in a conference that is strong and stable and long-term, not just now, not just while I’m here, but after I’m gone. I tell them all, let’s get this all settled while I’m still here. I’d like to be part of the solution. But we’re making progress. And the tone of the meeting was very civil. Very thoughtful.”
On potential expansion targets: “We’re all talking with each other. We’ve agreed not to speculate about any one school or another school that might get in. But we have some good choices. We’ve all agreed to be very confidential about schools. We don’t want to let some school get a lot of publicity and they’re ‘oh, they’re about to get in the Big 12,’ and maybe they don’t get in. We don’t want to have any of that. So we’re trying to keep that all in-house.”