STILLWATER, Okla. — Here we go once more. USC and UCLA are reportedly planning to depart the Pac-12 for the Big Ten as early as 2024, which suggests the circus of conference realignment is again in full swing. The newest jaw-dropping growth comes virtually a 12 months after Oklahoma and Texas introduced their upcoming transfer from the Big 12 to the SEC.Â
The Big 12 countered the eventual departure of the Sooners and Longhorns by including 4 new members — BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF — all of which are set to affix the conference in July 2023. That is the place issues stand, as of now, in an period of faculty athletics that’s altering by the minute. As 247Sports’ College Football Reporter Brandon Marcello wrote, the times of the Power Five are achieved and tremendous conferences are prone to type.
It is troublesome to foretell what the following transfer(s) can be, however the Big 12 — with its new commissioner Brett Yormark — is in a place to be the aggressor and probably increase additional by focusing on a few of the remaining faculties in the Pac-12, like Oregon, Utah, Washington, Arizona or Arizona State. Before that, let’s take an opportunity to digest the present news.
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Shortly after the primary report got here out on Thursday afternoon about USC and UCLA planning to depart the Pac-12, Oklahoma State athletic director Chad Weiberg joined Jeremie Poplin on The Blitz 1170 in Tulsa to weigh in on the expected move from an Oklahoma State perspective, saying this might be “just the beginning of the next series of ripples.”
“As far as Oklahoma State is concerned, I would go back to what we talked about 11 months ago when this happened, (which) is that I feel like we’ve done a lot of things really well here, made a lot of really good decisions, had a lot of really good investment put in place through the past 16, 17, 18 years to position Oklahoma State to be in a great position competitively to win a lot of games in football and all of our other sports,” Weiberg mentioned. “So, I really feel actually good about the place we’re in the massive image of the faculty athletics panorama.
“We just have to continue to do those things. I mean, there are so many things right now that are in flux or fluid and changing. We just have to keep focused on controlling the things that we can control and that is what we’ve done over the last almost two decades and what we’re going to have to continue to do moving forward. If we do those things really well, I just feel really good about where Oklahoma State will be in the long run.”
Weiberg went on to debate that what the remaining Big 12 faculties went by means of 11 months in the past helped him study extra about the place Oklahoma State stood not solely inside the conference, but additionally on a nationwide stage. He mentioned he went into the method feeling good, however got here out on the opposite aspect feeling even higher.
“It really confirmed where our brand was positioned nationally,” Weiberg mentioned. “And it is in a really good position because of all the good decisions that have been made here, the success that we’ve had here, the consistent success that we’ve had under coach (Mike) Gundy’s leadership of the football program. The wins we’ve had here. We’ve talked about all those things, that we’re one of three programs that have been to a bowl game the last 16 consecutive years and won at a very high level. That’s valued. We learned that is highly valued in the national landscape. So it is, again, just controlling what we can control here and continuing to do that and that it will put us in the best position possible for whatever comes up.”
Weiberg added that the Big 12 has positioned itself in the most effective place doable with its new incoming members, in addition to Yormark taking on as league commissioner on Aug. 1. He mentioned the conference members are all “in the same boat” and can work collectively shifting ahead.
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