Conference realignment has been dormant for the past couple of weeks as far as headline news is concerned, but there’s no doubt that deals are still being worked behind the scenes, especially with regards to the Big East.
We still don’t know officially who’s received a formal invite, but UCF, Houston and now BYU all seem like they’re getting close to finalizing things.
Once that’s all worked out, that would put an end to the realignment discussion for the BCS AQ schools, right?
Perhaps not.
According to Vanderbilt’s official site, more SEC expansion could be on the way. David Williams, vice chancellor for university affairs and athletics at Vanderbilt, told the school’s Athletics Committee on the Board of Trust this week that expansion is one of many reforms the conference is considering in the coming years. Specifically, Williams said the SEC would probably expand by two more schools.
“These are some of the most aggressive and boldest set of reforms I’ve seen come in athletics for a long time,” Williams said.
Among other things discussed were “rules to limit the participation of freshmen in college sports, higher admissions standards for transfers out of junior colleges and limiting the amount of athletic scholarships that can be offered.”
The SEC shook up this latest round of realignment with the additions of Texas A&M and Missouri. TCU and West Virginia (whenever they can get this lawsuit over with) have/will be brought in to fill those final two spots in the Big 12, and the Big East is just trying to keep itself afloat after losing Syracuse and Pitt to the ACC in addition to TCU and WVU.
The Pac-12 and Big Ten both stayed at 12 members while Conference USA and the Mountain West formed a football-only 22-member how-in-the-hell-is-this-going-to-work “alliance”.