In case you missed it, the Oklahoma Sooners and Texas Longhorns will not be in the Big 12 conference after this season. The two teams are bound for the SEC.
The Longhorns and Sooners have brought relevance to the league through ratings and talent acquisition. Upon their departure, other members of the conference will have to somehow pick up the slack.
The Big 12 is set to lose several viewers without its weekly Texas and Oklahoma games. Both teams bring eyes to TVs that other league members don’t command.
Proponents of the remaining members would point to TCU’s playoff victory as proof that the Big 12 gets it done on the field without elite recruiting. Unfortunately, unless the conference has another strong showing, it may not be afforded the opportunity the playoff committee gave the Horned Frogs.
Let’s look at five things the Big 12 needs to accomplish to thrive without Oklahoma and Texas.
1
TCU becomes a premier program
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TCU head coach Sonny Dykes has boundless potential in Fort Worth after reaching a national title in his first season. For that potential to be realized, his team needs to have another nine-or-more win season. The Horned Frogs have been one of the more successful programs in college football for the past fifteen seasons. The Big 12 needs a face. Because of its presence in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex and its recent title run, TCU is probably the team to represent the league.
2
Houston, UCF and Cincinnati recruiting
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Houston, Orlando and Cincinnati are fertile recruiting grounds. If the Big 12 is to have any presence in college football, it needs the teams that live in those areas to hold their own. The only problem is, Ohio State, Texas and Florida’s three top programs-Miami, Florida and Florida State-should have the upper hand in recruiting those areas.
3
Keep the best coaches
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Whatever success the Big 12 has secured in recent seasons can be attributed to great coaching and development. The league has taken lesser players and earned victories over schools from powerhouse conferences. The league needs to keep coaches like Sonny Dykes, Dave Aranda, Mike Gundy, Matt Campbell and Lance Leipold in the conference.
4
Capitalize on broad footprint
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Provo, Utah is quite a drive from Morgantown, West Virginia. The league needs to generate national interest from everywhere in between. It’s still unclear how conference commissioner Brett Yormark plans to accomplish that, but he suggests he has a plan to expand the conference’s reach.
5
Add best available expansion teams
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The Colorado Buffaloes and Connecticut Huskies have been rumored as top additions under consideration. While a Deion Sanders-led Colorado program is an ideal addition to the league, UConn’s football program would act as an anchor to any progress in the conference’s football product. The Big 12 would need to add two others should the Huskies be chosen to join.