Zero Trust: Inside Mizzou's Move To The Southeastern Conference

[Drew]

https://missouri.rivals.com/news/zero-trust-inside-mizzou-s-move-to-the-southeastern-conference

So much phenomenal behind the scenes info in here worth talking about but here is the opening:

"September 3, 2011 was game day in Columbia, Missouri. On Faurot Field, Gary Pinkel’s Tigers opened the 2011 football season with a 17-5 win over Miami of Ohio. There was little to separate it from many other season openers. It was, in almost every sense, unremarkable.

That was the 11th consecutive season Pinkel had led a team preparing for Big 12 conference play. Unknown to anyone at the time, it would also be the last. The real action on that day—a fact known to only four people at the time—was happening six stories above, on the roof of the Memorial Stadium press box.

Director of Athletics Mike Alden, Chancellor Brady Deaton, Interim System PresidentSteve Owens and Interim General Counsel Phil Hoskins convened on the roof directly above the media assembled to cover the season opener. While questions from those reporters—and countless others across the country—raged about conference realignment, Missouri’s leadership team was just a stairwell away, beginning to hammer out a resolution that would shape the future of Mizzou sports, and the University as a whole.

“The four of us met on the roof in the first quarter,” Alden said a few weeks ago. “It was almost like, ‘Enough. That’s enough.’”

 

[Drew]

In case you were wondering how the current Big 12 expansion talks went....

JUNE 1-4, 2010: BIG 12 MEETINGS
DELOSS DODDS, TEXAS ATHLETIC DIRECTOR, JUNE 2010: “I’m not waiting to see what other people are going to do. I’m going to know what our options are, so that’s not going to change. My hope is that the Big 12 survives, and you and I retire knowing it’s a great conference. It’s been very viable, and if it stays in place, it will continue to be very viable.

“We did not start (this). If we need to finish it, we’ll finish it.”

ALDEN: “This is before Nebraska had announced that they were going to leave. We were at one of these meetings and Dan Beebe was running it, there was all this tension in the room and Coach (Tom) Osborne was just so, he was always so class, I just loved being in meetings with him. He was very thoughtful. When all this was going on, there was one athletic director in particular, I can’t remember what school it was, but it’s in Austin. Anyhow, I heard a guy in that chair, he just started flipping out—flipping out is probably too strong a term, but he got pretty agitated, this person—and started dropping expletives about this and firing them kind of at us, at Mizzou, because Mizzou was rumored maybe the Big Ten is looking. And I was trying to be very professional. You know who stood up for me? For us? Tom Osborne.”

 

[Drew]

Apparently the Big East was something Mizzou thought about

DEATON: “One of the other seminal moments for me was when my colleague at one of the other institutions, a major AAU institution, called up and said, ‘I think we should join another conference out here that would yield a revenue of maybe $4 million a year (sources told PowerMizzou.com recently the Big East was that conference), when at the time in the Big 12 we were probably getting 12 to 14 and we knew the SEC was in the 20 range at that time. It’s now up to about 40, fortunately. It was a very sobering moment. I said to that individual, the other president, I said, ‘I don’t think we can afford to ever do that.’ Then we had the very realistic discussion, ‘Well, yes, but what happens for next season if we’re here and we don’t have the other members of the conference and we’re stuck with one of the lesser tier conferences?’ Those were very sobering moments and phone calls for all of us.”

LOFTIN: “Missouri in my mind never was the instigator of that. Missouri clearly was worried about its future, as was KU and Kansas State and Iowa State. No doubt about that. And I don’t blame anybody for going out and trying to find the right place to go. And going to the Mountain West? Come on. Going from the Big Eight to there? No. Big East? Even worse in some respects. Why? That’s a basketball conference anyway. Why do you want to go there? They had to say, I think, the Big Ten was really the only viable option for us. I don’t think the SEC was even in the mix at that time.”

 

[noeynox]

Link doesn't work.

 

[Drew]

Link doesn't work.

Forgot you can't link to a Rivals site.

Try this and click the first link: zero trust: inside mizzou's move to the southeastern conference - Google Search

 

[SubbaBub]

A similar recounting of Uconn's saga in CR would rival the Harry Potter series in length.

A very good read, but I can't help noticing how adolescent these conversations were. Particularly on the parts or Texas and Oklahoma.

The every man for himself culture just doesn't work if you want to succeed ant anything. I'm shocked that university leaders and politicians dont understand that.

 

[UConnSportsGuy]

A similar recounting of Uconn's saga in CR would rival the Harry Potter series in length.

A very good read, but I can't help noticing how adolescent these conversations were. Particularly on the parts or Texas and Oklahoma.

The every man for himself culture just doesn't work if you want to succeed ant anything. I'm shocked that university leaders and politicians dont understand that.

Unfortunately, that is exactly what happened for the Big East. If the Big East Football schools stuck together and split from the basketball schools in 2004, there is little doubt that the Big East would have survived as one of the Power 4/5 conferences and the ACC would have been divided up between the B1G, SEC, and Big East. Unfortunately the egos of the leaders, and the fear of being "left behind" drove the implosion of the Big East. And unfortunately, it has not worked out positive for any of the schools. Every single school who left the Big East is in a worse long term situation now than they were in 2003 and are worse than they would have been if everyone stuck together. If the Big East stuck together, the conference landscape would probably look something like this:

1 UConn
2 BC
3 Syracuse
4 Rutgers
5 Pittsburgh
6 Virginia Tech
7 West Virginia
8 Miami
9 Florida St
10 Clemson
11 Georgia Tech
12 Duke
13 NC State
14 Notre Dame
15 Louisville
16 Cincinnati

That conference would be one of the top conferences. It would likely be the #2 football conference (behind only the SEC) and the #1 basketball conference. There would be a Big East Network and the TV contract would be massive. And the original Big East teams would still be relevant and be a true partner in a conference. But instead, they are each in a much worse place now and are mostly outliers in their current conference with little value/influence.

Honestly, you cannot name one single original Big East school (BC, Syracuse, Rutgers, Pitt, VT, WVU, Miami) who is currently in a better situation now than they would have been in the above scenario. Not one. And all because of the ego's and politics and because of the "prisoners dilemma" the schools faced. All made short term decisions that have significantly hurt their schools to this point and none of them are positioned to be successful going forward.

 

[JeepCSC]

I don't understand. You basically listed the ACC as it exists today and just substituted UConn, Rutgers, and West Virginia for UNC, Wake, and UVA. Nothing would be that different. The ACC and Big East were going to be merged more or less, it was simply a matter of whose logo went on the door.

 

[The Funster]

Some damning stuff in that article. It serves some of those Big 12 teams right though. Let them bounce along hanging from Texas' teats. When Texas hits a bump and they all fall off they'll get what they always had coming.

 

[noeynox]

Forgot you can't link to a Rivals site.

Try this and click the first link: zero trust: inside mizzou's move to the southeastern conference - Google Search

Fascinating article. thanks for sharing. Really speaks to the importance of being proactive.

 

[noeynox]

Unfortunately, that is exactly what happened for the Big East. If the Big East Football schools stuck together and split from the basketball schools in 2004, there is little doubt that the Big East would have survived as one of the Power 4/5 conferences and the ACC would have been divided up between the B1G, SEC, and Big East. Unfortunately the egos of the leaders, and the fear of being "left behind" drove the implosion of the Big East. And unfortunately, it has not worked out positive for any of the schools. Every single school who left the Big East is in a worse long term situation now than they were in 2003 and are worse than they would have been if everyone stuck together. If the Big East stuck together, the conference landscape would probably look something like this:

1 UConn
2 BC
3 Syracuse
4 Rutgers
5 Pittsburgh
6 Virginia Tech
7 West Virginia
8 Miami
9 Florida St
10 Clemson
11 Georgia Tech
12 Duke
13 NC State
14 Notre Dame
15 Louisville
16 Cincinnati

That conference would be one of the top conferences. It would likely be the #2 football conference (behind only the SEC) and the #1 basketball conference. There would be a Big East Network and the TV contract would be massive. And the original Big East teams would still be relevant and be a true partner in a conference. But instead, they are each in a much worse place now and are mostly outliers in their current conference with little value/influence.

Honestly, you cannot name one single original Big East school (BC, Syracuse, Rutgers, Pitt, VT, WVU, Miami) who is currently in a better situation now than they would have been in the above scenario. Not one. And all because of the ego's and politics and because of the "prisoners dilemma" the schools faced. All made short term decisions that have significantly hurt their schools to this point and none of them are positioned to be successful going forward.

This is what I call wishful thinking. The Big East was founded as a basketball conference and always operated with basketball interests 1st and foremost. So they were going to break apart from the FB schools, keep the name, and pick apart the more stable all sports league? I highly doubt it.

 

[ZooCougar]

This is what I call wishful thinking. The Big East was founded as a basketball conference and always operated with basketball interests 1st and foremost. So they were going to break apart from the FB schools, keep the name, and pick apart the more stable all sports league? I highly doubt it.

BE Football was destined to fail. It was a conf built for Miami with the eastern indies as filler. Dumbest move was failing to invite Penn State and FSU.

 

[Western PA]

Apparently the Big East was something Mizzou thought about

DEATON: “One of the other seminal moments for me was when my colleague at one of the other institutions, a major AAU institution, called up and said, ‘I think we should join another conference out here that would yield a revenue of maybe $4 million a year (sources told PowerMizzou.com recently the Big East was that conference), when at the time in the Big 12 we were probably getting 12 to 14 and we knew the SEC was in the 20 range at that time. It’s now up to about 40, fortunately. It was a very sobering moment. I said to that individual, the other president, I said, ‘I don’t think we can afford to ever do that.’ Then we had the very realistic discussion, ‘Well, yes, but what happens for next season if we’re here and we don’t have the other members of the conference and we’re stuck with one of the lesser tier conferences?’ Those were very sobering moments and phone calls for all of us.”

LOFTIN: “Missouri in my mind never was the instigator of that. Missouri clearly was worried about its future, as was KU and Kansas State and Iowa State. No doubt about that. And I don’t blame anybody for going out and trying to find the right place to go. And going to the Mountain West? Come on. Going from the Big Eight to there? No. Big East? Even worse in some respects. Why? That’s a basketball conference anyway. Why do you want to go there? They had to say, I think, the Big Ten was really the only viable option for us. I don’t think the SEC was even in the mix at that time.”

In a Twitter exchange last night the writer revealed the "major AAU institution" asking Missouri to consider joining in a move to the Big East was Kansas. Mizzou officials rejected that suggestion because of the severe revenue reduction that move would have brought.

 

[housekeys]

Honestly, you cannot name one single original Big East school (BC, Syracuse, Rutgers, Pitt, VT, WVU, Miami) who is currently in a better situation now than they would have been in the above scenario

I agree with the gist of what you are saying, but financially they are all much better off. Rutgers e.g. But in all other respects most are simply the smaller fish in a bigger pond.

 

[Jae-VT]

Unfortunately, that is exactly what happened for the Big East. If the Big East Football schools stuck together and split from the basketball schools in 2004, there is little doubt that the Big East would have survived as one of the Power 4/5 conferences and the ACC would have been divided up between the B1G, SEC, and Big East. Unfortunately the egos of the leaders, and the fear of being "left behind" drove the implosion of the Big East. And unfortunately, it has not worked out positive for any of the schools. Every single school who left the Big East is in a worse long term situation now than they were in 2003 and are worse than they would have been if everyone stuck together. If the Big East stuck together, the conference landscape would probably look something like this:

1 UConn
2 BC
3 Syracuse
4 Rutgers
5 Pittsburgh
6 Virginia Tech
7 West Virginia
8 Miami
9 Florida St
10 Clemson
11 Georgia Tech
12 Duke
13 NC State
14 Notre Dame
15 Louisville
16 Cincinnati

That conference would be one of the top conferences. It would likely be the #2 football conference (behind only the SEC) and the #1 basketball conference. There would be a Big East Network and the TV contract would be massive. And the original Big East teams would still be relevant and be a true partner in a conference. But instead, they are each in a much worse place now and are mostly outliers in their current conference with little value/influence.

Honestly, you cannot name one single original Big East school (BC, Syracuse, Rutgers, Pitt, VT, WVU, Miami) who is currently in a better situation now than they would have been in the above scenario. Not one. And all because of the ego's and politics and because of the "prisoners dilemma" the schools faced. All made short term decisions that have significantly hurt their schools to this point and none of them are positioned to be successful going forward.

I am going to have to respectfully disagree with your post as far as it concerns Virginia Tech. The end game for Virginia Tech as always been to get into the ACC with the institutions that we viewed as our cultural and intellectual peers. This is not a knock on the schools of the B1G, PAC, Big-12, and Big East/American, but Blacksburg, VA is located in southwest Virginia and I can guarantee you that even in these modern times, Southwest Virginia is still culturally Southern.

Also, you are discounting the fact that the core group of the ACC institutions want to stay together. Whatever motivation you may assign to that motivation, the core ACC southern schools want to be in the same conference; no matter how much UVa may dislike VT being in the ACC, I do not see UVa going carpetbagger and abandon their rivalry with UNC, and Duke. Of course the B1G could always come-in and make a sweetheart offer, but as the saying goes, "While not impossible, it would be highly improbable" that UVa leaves the ACC.

As to the current standing of the VT football program, whether VT was in the ACC or Big East, Coach Frank Beamer was eventually succumb to the effects of age and be replaced as Head Hokie football coach. Also, VT won enough ACC Conference championships in football and went to four BCS bowls; so unless you can guarantee that VT would have made it to a National Championship in some alternate timeline, I do not see how you can make such a statement.

 

[Jae-VT]

Forgot you can't link to a Rivals site.

Try this and click the first link: zero trust: inside mizzou's move to the southeastern conference - Google Search

I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank the poster, Drew, for sharing such an excellent article. I am going through it now, but it sure is compelling. "Thank you."