Ramblings About Conference Expansion and Other Things

Warning:  This post is purely speculation.  There is not a shred of factual information in this article.  For entertainment purposes only!

  People are still discussing potential expansion candidates for the Big 12 conference.  Kirk Bohls, former North Dakota State head football coach, allegedly said via rumor, that he took the head coaching position at the University of Wyoming because that school was going to be invited to join the Big 12.  An interesting, but extremely remote possibility.  Unless, somehow, the Big 12 is going to lose another member school.  Which school could that be, and how could that happen with the conference's media Grant of Rights signed by all members?  Which school could the Big 12 be losing next?  Seems a rather remote possibility at this time.  Even so, if one looks a the conference's geography, there are two possibilities that jump out:  Iowa State and West Virginia.  Both are islands off the conference's mainland and both are within the logical footprint of the Big Ten Conference.

  Currently, the Big Ten is trying to add Men's Ice Hockey as a conference sport with all members participating.  Of the current and future Big Ten membership, only five members participate in NCAA division one Men's Ice Hockey:  Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Michigan State, and Ohio State.  A further four members participate in the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) division 1 level:  Illinois, Indiana, Rutgers and Penn State; plus two schools that participate in the ACHA division 2 level:  Maryland and Iowa; and the last three schools participate in the ACHA division 3 level: Nebraska, Northwestern, and Purdue.

  Of course, the Big 10 members playing ACHA D1 hockey probably will be the easiest to promote to NCAA D1 level as most of the facilities necessary most likely will be in place, so one can add three more teams for the Big 10 Hockey conference in the near future.  Now the members playing in the ACHA D2 level will need more help before those teams can be promoted, and the members playing in the D3 level will need even more help.  Question is will these member schools undergo the expense of program promotion even if the Big 10 offers considerable financial help.  It would be unreasonable to expect the Big 10 to bear all the expense after all.

  The University of Iowa, from what I've heard through the grapevine, seems to be rather disinclined to promote their hockey program.  Now if Nebraska is willing to promote their hockey team, that would leave them without a border rival in hockey, something the Big 10 brass doesn't want to happen.  Now if Iowa won't promote their program, what team could serve as a border rival for Nebraska in hockey?  Well, the natural answer would be Iowa State.  In truth, the ISU hockey team is in better position for promotion than the Hawkeyes much like Illinois, Indiana, and Penn State; so if Iowa refuses to participate in NCAA D1 hockey, ISU could serve in their stead as an ice hockey only member; and I've heard faint rumors to that effect though I don't know how much truth there is in them (not much more than likely).

  Assuming the above scenario plays out resulting in the ISU hockey team being promoted (a very highly unlikely occurrence), how would this promotion affect the other athletic programs?  Could men's ice hockey be the vehicle for ISU's other sports programs to be invited to the Big 10 as that conference expands to 16 teams?  So if ISU becomes the Big 10's sixteenth member, who would be number 15?  There is one obvious possibility:  the University West Virginia, and they have an ACHA D1 hockey team similar to ISU.  In other words, the Big 12 could lose two teams in this hockey scenario (da-da-daaa!).

  Let's assume ISU and WVU become Big 10 members 16 and 15.  What schools could the Big 12 replace them with?  Now in this situation, adding Wyoming actually makes a lot of sense as a replacement for ISU, and BYU as a replacement for WVU to get the conference back to ten members.  My goodness, the Big 12 scrambling for new members yet again!  Okay, which schools become numbers 11 and 12 now?  Well, I assume the University of Cincinnati would still be available along with Tulane University.  Both schools are located in big TV markets and highly fertile recruiting grounds, so they would be top targets if no ACC schools are available to add.  If Cinci becomes unavailable, then Colorado State would be the next logical candidate.  All of these schools have various levels of potential, assuming no other "name" school is available.  The Big 12 will end up looking much different if this hockey scenario plays out.  Then again, the chances of this happening are similar to winning the Power Ball lottery.  Why write this post?  Entertainment for you and especially me.  I just like to speculate on almost impossible scenarios to play "what if."

Penn State Scandal

In recent light of the NCAA's penalties against the Penn State University's football program, I wish to add my voice to the choir.  Like 80 to 90 percent of Americans who have followed this story, I too feel the NCAA handed down appropriate punishment.  The next step is to prosecute those who sanctioned coach Sandusky's criminal behavior under the appropriate statutes of law; i.e. Aiding and Abetting, Dereliction of Duty by State Appointed Officers, Acts and Behaviors Unbecoming State Officials, and any other laws that may come into play.  The Freeh Report strongly implicates, reportedly, the former Director of Athletics, the former University President, and the former University Provost in the cover-up of Sandusky's heinous actions.  These men need to be arrested, prosecuted, and convicted, then have them spend prison time as mandated by law.  If these men are allowed to go free, Sandusky's victims will never have complete justice.  To quote Edgar Rice Burroughs Barsoomian characters, "I have spoken."

Upgrading the Ice Hockey Team to Varsity Status Makes More Sense

In some recent posts on the www.cyclonefanatic.com message board, people are talking about bringing back the baseball program to ISU, as the ISU Athletic Dept., probably, is getting up to ten more million dollars per year with the new TV deal through the reformed Big 12 conference. I'm doubtful that baseball will be brought back -- why? Here are my reasons:

• The collegiate baseball season starts in February when there still is a strong possibility of below zero temperatures in Ames. Yes, February is still the dead of Winter here in Iowa. Not practical to play baseball here during Winter weather. The NCAA isn't about to change when the season starts so long as the southern teams have their way.
• ISU does not have the facilities to be competitive in baseball and would have to massively spend money in upgrading them.
• The ISU baseball team never had the attendance it needed to be a viable varsity sport. Most crowds at Cap Timm Field were, at most, two or three dozen rarely breaking a hundred. The Ames High baseball team frequently draws larger crowds at Brookside Park. BTW, ISU attendance for baseball games was free of charge.

Here are my reasons why upgrading the Cyclone ice hockey team to varsity status makes more sense:

• Iowa is a cold weather state and the October through March season coincides with our cold weather time.
• ISU has facilities in place to be a competitive hockey program. Hilton Coliseum is a fantastic place to see a hockey game. I know this from personal experience as I watched hockey games at Hilton when the ACHA championships were held there some years back. The Ames/ISU Ice Arena offers a ready made practice facility. All there needs to be added is a dedicated weight room at the ice arena, and offices in the Athletic Dept. office space in the Jacobsen Building.
• For a club program, the ISU hockey team has fantastic attendance almost always exceeding 1,000 and often filling the ice arena to capacity of about 2,100. If the games are held at Hilton, I'm sure attendance will only go up as other marquee programs play ISU such as Minnesota and Wisconsin.

The likely association (conference) the Cyclone hockey team will end up in will be the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) if upgraded. This league's current membership comprises of:

• University of Minnesota
• University of Wisconsin
• U of Minn, Duluth
• Minnesota State University
• University of North Dakota
• St. Cloud State University
• Denver University
• University of Alaska at Anchorage
• Colorado College
• Michigan Technical University (who dat?)

For most of these teams, the ice hockey program is their pride and joy, so they will bring fairly large followings to Ames for home games. ISU owns a wonderful reputation in ice hockey thanks to Dr. Alan Murdoch, AKA "Dr. Hockey", the hockey team coaching staff, and the cooperation of the Ames Convention and Visitors Bureau. Yeah, the team would have to travel to Anchorage, Alaska once a year, otherwise, with so many teams in neighboring states, travel should not be a problem. With all these positives vis-a-vis baseball, I really believe ice hockey is the sport to add if the ISU Athletic Dept. should choose to expand.

Still, the hockey team will need help in reaching varsity status from sources other than the Athletic Dept. Large donors will be needed in order to show there is viable support for a varsity hockey program. Instead of trying to field a professional hockey team in Central Iowa, why not take advantage of Iowans' love of college sports and fund the upgrade of the Cyclone hockey program? I would have no problem trading some games with Wells Fargo Arena as home ice instead of Hilton if that is what would be needed in order for this upgrade to happen. There is an already established passionate following for Cyclone hockey and, if they are successful, that following can only expand. Otherwise, the hockey association in Des Moines could just donate the money and take the tax break. The ice hockey team is one the few championship traditions at ISU. Why not feature this tradition?

ISU's Crisis is Over

Old news is Dan Beebe, if you haven't heard by now, that at the eleventh hour and fifty-ninth second, he came up with a TV package deal worth and estimated 179 million dollars per year for the Big 12 conference, minus the Universities of Nebraska and Colorado. Those two schools transferred to different conferences -- Nebraska to the Big Ten and Colorado to the Pac10. The universities of Texas and Oklahoma, and Texas A&M University will pull an estimated twenty million dollars per year, per school from this new deal, the remaining seven will pull and estimated seventeen million dollars per year per school. Truthfully, the U of Texas won't benefit that much from the extra revenue as they have all they want in facilities, coaches and players. How this extra money will improve the athletic dept. is anyone's guess; are they bringing back wrestling as a varsity sport? Will UT field an ice hockey team? Who knows?

Being Nebraska and Colorado are no longer part of the Big 12, people's scheduling concerns are not well founded. Tough conference play has always been the norm for ISU. Think back to the days of the Big 8 conference. ISU had to play Oklahoma and Nebraska every year with Colorado, Missouri and Oklahoma State, and later on, Kansas State frequently fielding excellent teams. Now ISU will play Texas, Oklahoma, Texas Tech, and Oklahoma State. Not a whole lot of difference from my perspective. ISU teams and players will do do what they always have done, buck up and play their opponents to the best of their collective abilities; it's their only choice, and one they've made willingly.

Aside from the scheduling, ISU comes out of this deal way ahead where they are now. I look forward to the day in the near future where Jack Trice Stadium's south end zone is bowled in and its capacity is competitive with the rest of the conference along with the football team. Smile, better days are definitely ahead.

Is Men's Collegiate Basketball Maxed Out Revenue-wise?

Let's assume the Big12 blows up and ISU, Kansas, K-State, and Mizzou receive and accept invitations to join the Big East conference. Football-wise, the conference at twelve teams will probably be lucrative as the BE is looking forming their own network a la the BTN. With twenty MBB teams, the BE becomes a mini-NBA. With all the potential marquee match-ups in MBB, KU-Louisville, KU-Pitt, KSU-WVU, MU-Louisville, etc., what TV sports network is going to overlook the revenue potential this expanded basketball conference could bring in?

I dare to say having this many great MBB programs in one conference is too good an opportunity for any network to pass up and a Big East Network most likely would happen if the conference expanded. I can imagine ESPN/ABC being the agent setting up this network with the marquee games televised on ESPN with the premier match-up being televised nationally on ABC as "The Big East Game of the Week." This arrangement would create NBA-like exposure for the conference and not only BB revenue increases, but recruiting becomes a whole lot easier for all schools including DePaul. Believe it, or not, an expanded Big East has considerable upside to the tune of tens of millions of dollars per year for every school with MBB leading the way instead of football. Football would still be a solid contributor, but its potential is limited compared to MBB in this conference.

Remember now, this is all purely speculation. If Beebe's new deal goes through, then this, and all other conference realignment discussions are dead. Even so, if the B12 flies apart, I like what the Big East potentially could bring with the "Big12's forgotten four" added in. I expect Baylor to go to another conference more geographically suitable for them such as the SEC, or MWC. We'll see on Tuesday, most likely, if the B12 survives. Until later, TTFN.

A Scene from "ISU Twist"

The Headmaster of the Big Ten Orphanage hears a faint knock coming the large, oaken front doors. He walks over, opens the one on his left, looks around, but does not see anyone.

A very small voice from below says, "Please, sir, may I come in?"

The Headmaster looks down, sees a small boy child and booms, "WHO ARE YOU, CHILD?"

Wincing, the boy child replies, "My name is Iowa State and I need a home. The Big Twelve Academy just closed down and I no longer have a place to live. May I stay here?"

The Headmaster looks disdainfully upon the boy, rubs his chin, then lets out an audible grunt.

The child asks, "If it may please your lordship, sir, may I come in?"

"IN, YOU WANT IN?" booms the Headmaster. "I SAY NAY, NAY TO YOU, CHILD! GO AWAY AND NEVER DARKEN OUR DOORS EVER AGAIN, EVER!"

The Headmaster slams the door shut in the child's face. The child walks slowly away, whimpering.

"Oh, woe is me. Who will take me in now?" utters Iowa State. "I think I will never have a home ever again!"

The whimpering boy shuffles slowly into the foggy night, never to be heard from again.

* * *

Is this the way ISU athletics ends up, or do we take control of own fate and do something positive? I'm with Paul Clark of CycloneReport.com, be aggressive and dominate any future conference ISU ends up in. I, for one, do not want ISU athletics ending up in irrelevancy for all time. What will probably be done to us ISU fans is nothing short of unconscionable. Anger and betrayal are perfectly suitable emotions in this case. Let's use these emotions as motivations to aggressively "poach" good schools from other conferences and rebuild the Big 12 conference with those schools who were left out along with ISU. I believe reforming the conference is our best option at this time. Let's go for it!

My Yahoo!