Column: How much clout does WVU wield on Big 12 expansion?

COMMENTARY

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Whether you deem Big 12 expansion imperative or imprudent, here’s a question to ponder over your Monday morning commute:

What is West Virginia’s role in deciding?

As one of the recent schools hired into the league, has West Virginia acquired the clout to command an East Coast partner? On another front, could it veto an expansion candidate it doesn’t endorse?

Even as the conference seems to be marching to an all-for-one cadence—quite a turn from the backdealing days of 2010—suspicions and self-preservation instincts remain at the forefront. Each new rumor about a team being poached sends the other schools looking for the lifeboats like Billy Zane in Titanic.

Fact remains, our functional yet psychologically disadvantaged Big 12 is unsure where the next few years might lead: Will it resolutely stay at 10 teams in a band of brotherhood? Grow to 12 at the risk of subsidizing weaker siblings? Watch in panic as Texas joins the Pac-12 and Oklahoma/Kansas move to the Big Ten? (One misstep could have Bob Bowlsby reverse-flipping pages in this choose-your-own-adventure.)

In the Morgantown outpost that sits some 1,215 miles removed from Irving’s headquarters, there’s still elation over being invited to power conference, and it’s mixed with uncertainty about how loudly to speak up when it comes to governing it. The president and athletics director who signed WVU into the Big 12 now sport new LinkedIn profiles at new addresses, essentially restarting the clock on the relationship-building needed to grant West Virginia a full voice on league decisions.

That is, if West Virginia will ever have a full voice on expansion. As a geographic outlier, what’s best for West Virginia may not necessarily be what’s best for the Big 12 (See BYU and Boise flanking from the West.) After strong leaders and massive budgets factored heavily into the previous rounds of realignment, West Virginia doesn’t wield anything close to Texas- or Oklahoma-type leverage. Still, there are components of strength here:

Decent money: WVU’s athletics department brought in about $77.6 million last year, a total essentially dead-even with TCU and eclipsing only Texas Tech, K-State and Iowa State within the league. Yet WVU still ranked 35th nationally, and did so while continuing to enjoy only partial payout shares as its Big 12 initiation. That means the Mountaineers and TCU each could be top-30 nationally this year, putting them among the upper half of all Power 5 members.

Gordon Gee: Growing more adorable by the minute with his bowtie buttressing that perma-smile, Gee may be in the twilight of his career but he’s hardly feeble. Having led Ohio State and Vanderbilt, he has experience navigating and negotiating in the nation’s two financially elite conferences. Hard to imagine an administrator with those kind of connections being caught unaware by more conference shifting.

If Big 12 expansion ensues before Obama leaves the White House, we’ll presume BYU is the most obvious addition. Beyond that, it appears to be a Boise State/Cincinnati/Houston/USF playoff.

While Houston has 7 million residents, more than 6.95 million of those can’t name a single Cougars player since Andre Ware.

While Boise State’s football record merits power-five inclusion, Idaho puts the Big 12 one step away from expanding into Calgary.

While Cincy owned the largest athletic budget of those four at $55 million last year, nearly half of that came from a university subsidy.

While USF boasts an NFL stadium. 42,000 students and an Eastern time zone locale, WVU might balk at the Bulls giving Florida recruits one more option for staying in-state.

Then again, if West Virginia balked, would it even make a noise in Irving?

As Year 4 in the Big 12 dawns, West Virginia is only now completing its conference transition and finally working toward a full revenue share. Let’s see if that signals a similar payoff with regard to influence.





More WVU Sports

WVU Sports
3 Guys Before The Game - Searching For Mr. Right (Episode 539)
What factors will determine how long the search lasts for WVU's new basketball coach?
March 18, 2024 - 3:05 pm
Sports
WVU heads to Iowa City as a No. 8 seed in the NCAA Tournament, potential matchup with Caitlin Clark awaits
WVU will face Princeton in the NCAA Tournament opener Saturday.
March 17, 2024 - 10:56 pm
Sports
Ohio State rolls past WVU, 26-11 in series finale
An 8-run sixth inning allowed the Buckeyes to take two out of three in the weekend series.
March 17, 2024 - 7:13 pm
News
Wren Baker talks about the basketball coaching search
Baker spoke about the search on Friday's MetroNews Talkline and wouldn't put any timeline or number on candidates or direction other than to say he's focused on the future of WVU basketball
March 15, 2024 - 1:20 pm