Leaving behind pesky K-State a bonus for OU
Gene Taylor looked around the room and hoped he could trust his fellow Big 12 athletic directors. The Kansas State athletic director also knows it’s every man for himself in the cutthroat climate of conference realignment.
OU and Texas are headed to the Southeastern Conference, sometime between 2022 and 2025, and putting KState in the rearview mirror is not the reason the Sooners are switching leagues.
But’s a fringe benefit.
The Wildcats are a thorn in the Sooners’ flesh. KSU football has defeated OU two years running and four times in the
last nine meetings.
The programs meet again Saturday for the 102nd (and final?) time. OU often has dominated the series. But since 2011, the Sooners are 5-4 against K-State. They are 7-3 against Texas and 8-1 in Bedlam. But Kansas State? A virtual tossup.
You’d think that a football program that stands toe-to-toe with the Sooners wouldn’t worry about a conference home. But no.
In late July and August, the conference realignment wheel went into overdrive, and some scenarios had Kansas State without a home.
If the Pac-12 expanded, some models included the Wildcats. Some not. And the Wildcats were not included in any Big Ten or Atlantic Coast Conference scenarios.
“Uncertainty is a perfect word,” said Taylor, who has been on the job for 41⁄ years. “It was a little rough
2 there when people are talking about schools going to other conferences and we weren’t readily mentioned at times.”
If the Big 12 had disbanded, KState’s best options were either the American Conference or the Mountain West. Neither would have come close to the prestige or the finances of the Big 12.
At conference meetings, everyone declared solidarity. But everyone also knew that every school was looking at and listening to potential suitors.
“You’re kind of looking at your colleagues in the eye, hoping you’re getting a straight eye, knowing in some cases you may not be,” Taylor said.
Is that what Mafia meetings are like? Is this what “Game of Thrones” was all about?
In the end, the other major conferences decided to stand pat. The Big 12’s best play was to expand, with Cincinnati, Brigham Young, Central Florida and Houston. The eight remnants of the Big 12 stayed together. Kansas State exhaled.
“At least in the conversations we’ve had as ADs, the eight of us, they’re pretty settled in,” Taylor said. “I don’t think anybody’s still looking. If they’re looking, I don’t know if they have any place to go.”
The road ahead won’t be easy. The economics are unknown. Some have suggested the Big 12’s next mediaright contract, due in three years, could cut the distribution to each school by more than 50%.
“I don’t (know) if that’s going to be the case,” Taylor said. “We’ll see. When you’re used to whatever the number is, $40 million or whatever, anything less significant than that makes you pretty nervous.”
But Taylor said K-State lived through the pandemic, which sharply cut athletic revenues. KSU managed with furloughs and salary reductions, which Taylor said shouldn’t be necessary even if the ‘Cats take a budget hit.
Taylor tells it straight. He said KState officials have begun talking to donors, saying they might be asked to make up shortages.
K-State fans initially were nervous at the OU/Texas news.
“Obviously, they might be somewhat angry at Oklahoma and Texas,” Taylor said. “But once they thought about it, ‘OK, that’s that.’ They were nervous as people started to talk about where we were going to go. What schools might go somewhere.
“Now, they’re very pleased. A lot of excitement about those four schools. A lot of energy what it’s going to look like.”
So four Middle America schools — OSU, Kansas State, Iowa State and Kansas — that were in the old Big Eight will remain aligned in a newlook Big 12.
“I think it’s tremendous,” Taylor said. “Not to get sappy, but these are heart-of-the-country schools. We have great fan bases that love our schools, and to be able to be in a big conference, a power conference, and we’ve all had successes at every level, we deserve it.
“Great coaches, beautiful facilities, we fill ’em up. I think it’s really important. Great we’ve stayed together.”
And before the new-look Big 12 forms, the Sooners must deal a little bit more with those darned ‘Cats.
Berry Tramel: Berry can be reached at 405-760-8080 or at btramel@oklahoman.com. He can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including FM-98.1. Support his work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.