Big 12 Commish interview

Just wanted to mention a radio interview here in Big 12 country with acting commissioner Chuck Neines. He made a few interesting points:



1. West Virginia will be in the Big 12 next year. No question.

2. All teams own their third tier rights. It's already done. That's why Texas was able to keep the LHN and Oklahoma is going forward with starting their own.

3. The Big 12 will only have 10 teams next year.

4. The expansion committee is looking at expansion after next year.

5. Neines wants the conference to stay at 10.

6. The Big 12 just removed his interim title to commissioner and made him acting commissioner.

7. Neines is not even a candidate to be the next full-time commissioner, and the conference is already at work finding his replacement.



My biggest read between the lines impression was that the conference appreciates what he did to stabalize it last year, but they want to go forward with expansion, and he does not. So they are looking for another person to be the commissioner. That may be a bit of an over-read as he was brought in initially with the understanding this would be an interim job for him, and he appears to have done it.



Nothing earth-shattering her, but it does add credibility to some of the information circulating out there regarding expansion rumors.

Dunno how much this lends credence to any rumors. Conferences act through their commissioners. The current commissioner is firm on 10 members. So, to the extent the rumors are true, they are based on actions of people who are acting against the Commissioner's wishes, that is, they are people without any authority to be talking expansion at this point.

The commissioner said the conference is actively looking for his replacement and hinted his time left is not long.



Another important item he mentioned was TV exposure. He said RG3 would not have won the Heisman Award this year if Baylor's wins against Texas and OU are not televised. He underscored two really important points:



1. The power of tv--particularly ESPN. I think Cougar fans would easily agree.

2. This was more subtle. Not only did RG3 need to have these moments on TV, but he needed to have them against nationally recognized teams. Sometimes I think defenders of independence discount this, especially when touting last year as a success because of 10 wins. Bottom line we did very little to gain national prominence with our play last year. I think our own Cougar teams illustrate this. Our '06 team was Bronco's best, in my opinion. But it was Max Hall's team that got the highest ranking and the most national exposure because they beat a nationally recognized power on ESPN. Maybe independence will one day offer those opportunities. It may even happen next year. Being in the Big 12 guarantees those opportunities every year. Bronco and Holmoe seem to appreciate this based on past remarks.



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