If you thought the Big 12 being given the opportunity to hold a conference championship game with just 10 members was going to silence all talks about conference expansion, think again. West Virginia president Gorden Gee is apparently joining Oklahoma president David Boren on his side of the chalk line in the debate over the Big 12 operating with 10 members or 12.
“I think the notion of going to 12 [schools] is most likely,” Gee said in a story published by the Charleston Gazette-Mail this week. Gee said the topic of expansion and the issues attached to it are scheduled to be discussed during the Big 12’s meeting of presidents and chancellors in early February. It is at those meetings the spotlight will be shining on Boren, who is expected to take the lead in addressing a number of previously stated concerns regarding the conference’s stability like the Longhorn Network blocking a path to creating a conference-wide network among others. But when it comes to finding two more potential members, Gee is on board the expansion train.
“I think [the remarks] are fairly consistent with the thinking in the Big 12,” Gee said. “It’s nothing new. I’m in favor of expansion. I think he’s expressing what we’ve been thinking.”
It makes sense West Virginia would be in favor of expansion.In an ideal world for West Virginia, the Big 12 would focus their expansion efforts closer to Morgantown by adding Cincinnati or Memphis, or both. The Big 12 already missed out on the opportunity to add Louisville of course, and the Big 12 is not going to be able to lure any other power conference option away to join either, so forget about those Clemson and Florida State dreams from a few years ago that never panned out.
Helmet sticker to SB Nation.