Nothing against the Big XII, but those ACC schools long-rumored to be considering a jump to the league made the right decision in staying put instead.  Oh, there might’ve been more potential for riches climbing on board Bob Bowlsby’s ship, but the likelihood of an eventual “abandon ship” call was far greater.

Last week, Big XII leaders took up the issue of West Virginia’s travel complaints regarding its new home.  On the positive side, the Big XII pledged to help WVU in any way possible.  That includes nixing a rule that prevented the Mountaineers from staying on the road last year when faced with back-to-back long road trips.  The obvious problem — WVU has nothing but long travel trips in its new Midwestern home.  The school’s nearest Big XII rival is nearly 900 miles away.

The road trips were long in football, but basketball is where West Virginia really felt the pinch.  On the men’s side, Bob Huggins’ squad several times had to play a Saturday game on the road, fly back to campus on Sunday, practice and go to class on Monday, and then fly back out on Tuesday for a Wednesday game.  Now the league’s athletic directors appear open to allowing WVU to fly from one road game directly to another.  Or to having the Mountaineers play their road games on Saturday-Monday or Saturday-Tuesday turnarounds.  That’s all well and good, but what of all the talk of “student-athletes” not missing class time?

Look across the remaining big five conferences — Big XII, Big Ten, ACC, Pac-12, SEC — and you’ll find that West Virginia is basically the only true fly-over member of a conference.  Leagues that have tried to create large collections of schools from all across the nation have been felled by the distances between the schools, not aided by the total number of television markets covered.  Ask folks in the old Big East.

The ACC has had Boston College as a distant relative since 2005, but that league has just added Pittsburgh and Syracuse to its roster of teams.  Even stretched from Massachusetts to Florida with a Western protrusion into Kentucky (with soon to join Louisville), the league’s states are still side by side by side by side.  With Maryland’s departure to the Big Ten, the only gap in the line is the short distance between Virginia and Pennsylvania.

Moving forward, every ACC school will have a rival or two within its area.  That goes for all the major conferences.  Except for Big XII and its new bride, West Virginia.  And as much as the Mountaineers were hoping/praying for Florida State or Clemson to join them, those schools would have just been closer distant relatives.  The folks at FSU and Clemson would also now be asking for travel breaks when it comes to visiting places like Kansas State and Texas Tech.

West Virginia was in a dying Big East and was passed over by the ACC and the SEC.  The school didn’t want to get caught without a chair when the music stopped so it jumped.  There’s nothing wrong with that.  But eventually the distance between Morgantown and its neighbors will become an issue that cannot be overcome.

Successful conferences, no matter how large they become, still provide schools with a few driving-distance rivals.  The Big XII flying over states to reach so far east?  That doesn’t fit the profile.  There’s a reason the SEC never seriously considered adding schools that weren’t connected to the existing SEC footprint.  And that reason is why the ACC schools that eyeballed the Big XII were wise to stay put.

What we already know:  The college sports landscape has been shifting and quaking for three years and there’s little reason to believe things will solidify in the future.

What we already know:  Schools and conferences are marrying for the money.  Cash rules the day and travel and rivalries mean little.

What we already know:  Athletics are taking a back seat to cable households.  Wins and losses have been trumped by television reach.

What we don’t know:  How the many moves made in recent months will play out over the next five, 10 or 20 years.

While final results are far from in, the recent marriage of West Virginia to the Big XII can already be viewed as a canary in the coal mine, appropriately enough.  It’s a case study for the potential buyer’s remorse that may set in for several leagues and several schools in the future.

In the fall of 2011, West Virginia University let the ACC and the SEC know of its interest in league-hopping.  The Big East was collapsing — think of just how much that conference has changed in 18 months — and the Mountaineers didn’t want to get caught without a chair when the music stopped.

The ACC had already added Pittsburgh and Syracuse from the Big East.  That league passed on the Mountaineers.

The SEC had already invited Texas A&M and was already playing footsie with Missouri.  WVU tried flirt its way into the mix, but its advances were met with a “thanks, but no thanks.”

At that point, West Virginia began chatting with the Big XII, a league that was then down to nine schools.  TCU had already been picked to replace the departing Aggies.  The Mountaineers appeared to be the top choice to replace the Tigers.

But just when it looked like the Mountaineers were a lock for the Big XII, Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell and University of Oklahoma president David Boren tried to sneak Louisville through the door ahead of West Virginia.  They were unsuccessful in their efforts.  Ultimately, WVU joined the Big XII and Louisville wound up cutting a deal to replace Maryland in the ACC when the Terrapins leave for the Big Ten.

Follow all that?

Well just one season into the WVU/Big XII partnership, some are already saying the league missed the boat by not going ahead and adding the Cardinals, too.  Berry Tramel of The Oklahoman wrote the following over the weekend:

“Louisville was a no-risk addition. Adding Louisville didn’t mean the Big 12 had to commit to a 12-school format, but it would have positioned the conference to more easily expand, if that became the goal. Maybe best of all, Louisville would have been a morale boost to a beleaguered conference.

Yes, each Big 12 school would have taken a slightly lower television payout. Whatever value the ‘Ville added would have been a little low to offset the extra mouth to feed. But think of the pragmatic benefits Louisville would have provided.

Especially this time of year. Another heavyweight in March Madness. Kansas’ shoulders are getting tired, carrying the rest of the conference the way the Jayhawks have in recent years.”

Make no mistake, Louisville has become a big-time all-around program.  Its football and men’s basketball coaches are among the highest-paid in the nation.  Its athletic revenue ranks in the nation’s top 20.  In fact, the case can be made that Louisville might have been a better overall fit than West Virginia if the Big XII had truly capped its membership at 10.  It’s not a long walk to get from “should have invited them too” to “should have invited them instead.”

Certainly, Louisville would have been closer to the existing Big XII footprint than West Virginia.  And travel is an issue that WVU officials were already bringing up less than a year after joining the league.  According to The Times West Virginian in late-February:

“’We have asked that when reasonable they give us a two-game stay over on the road,’” (WVU athletic director Oliver) Luck revealed.

Twice this past season WVU was scheduled to go out on the road, play a Saturday game, fly home on Sunday, practice Monday and fly out again on Tuesday for a Wednesday game.

League rules do not allow them to stay on the road during that time, so they use up most of two days traveling.

Rather than doing that, they would prefer to play a Saturday-Big Monday on the road with a Sunday stay over, which would cut back on taking the long trip to and from Morgantown.”

West Virginia officials knew that travel would be a concern in their new home.  But faced with the prospect of finding themselves homeless, Luck and company eagerly accepted the Big XII’s invitation despite the long trips to spots like Manhattan, Kansas and Lubbock, Texas.  How could they not?

But how long will it take for West Virginia to tire of the travel issues and look once more for a new conference home?  How many travel concessions will the Big XII make for WVU before other member schools start suggesting — for example — that any school traveling more than X miles be allowed to spend an extra night on the road?

Read the rest of this entry »

According to CBSSports.com’s Bruce Feldman, Texas A&M has hired Jake Spavital as the school’s new offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.  Spavital has been at West Virginia the past two years as the Mountaineers’ quarterbacks coach.

“I am grateful for the opportunity that Dana (Holgorsen) has given me in my career,” Spavital said.  “And I’m excited to get to A&M and continue with the success that they’ve had.”

Spavital has worked with Geno Smith at WVU and he previously coached Brandon Weeden at Oklahoma State.  Now he’ll be able to work with Heisman-winner Johnny Manziel.  Not a bad resume.

Spavital replaces Kliff Kingsbury who took over the head coaching job at Texas Tech this offseason.

Maybe the SEC should have extended an invitation to West Virginia after all.  According to The Princeton Review, WVU is the #1 best party school in the United States.  Alas, the SEC’s loss is the Big XII’s gain — if you choose to look at it that way.

Still the Southeastern Conference accounted for a fourth of the 20 schools on the list:

5.  Georgia

6.  Florida

14.  Ole Miss

17.  South Carolina

20.  Tennessee

In case you’re wondering, stodgy ol’ Jim Delany’s high-brow Big Ten had four schools make this year’s list (Iowa, Illinois, Penn State and Wisconsin).  No doubt the folks up north are scowling in response.

The Princeton Review surveyed people from 377 different American campuses.  The journal says: “Schools on the ‘Party Schools’ list are those at which surveyed students’ answers indicated a combination of: low personal daily study hours (outside of class), high usages of alcohol and drugs on campus and high popularity on campus for frats/sororities.”

Naturally, West Virginia tried to put a little PR spin on the fact that their school had been tabbed as this year’s version of Faber College: “The schools on this list are mostly large, public universities with strong academic and research profiles, as well as highly successful athletic programs.  But in the big picture, clearly this list has no real credibility.”

Well, if WVU fans respond to The Princeton Review in the same manner in which they responded to any mention on this site of the school’s perceived so-so academic reputation last year, the people at The Princeton Review are being inundated today with emails detailing Rhodes scholars and famous Mountaineers of the past.

Bottoms up.

If we were having a conversation about conference expansion and I uttered the word “location,” you might roll your eyes.  ”If San Diego State can land in the Big East and Florida State and West Virginia could land in the Big 12, location is irrelevant,” you might counter.

Ah, but proximity to current schools in a conference is probably the least important aspect of location during short-term feeding frenzies (long-term, proximity does seem to matter and we’ll have more on that later) .  No, location matters in terms of a school’s nearest television market, it’s state’s population (for cable household purposes), and it’s recruiting grounds.

In 2010, we took a numbers-based look at possible SEC expansion.  You can read that here.  Last fall, we updated our data and took another look-see.  You can start reading that series here.  The final part of that series as well as links to all the parts in between can be found right here.

Today, Tony Barnhart of CBSSports.com examines many of those small programs that are announcing — daily it seems — that they’re planning a jump to the FBS level of the football world.  Specifically, he looks at Charlotte, Georgia State, Old Dominion, Texas-San Antonio and Appalachian State (an FCS school that wants to follow those others up the ladder).  What he found was that location, location, location matters more than just about anything else.

As Barnhart points out:

* Charlotte won’t play its first football game at any level until 2013.  By 2015, it’s already set to join Conference USA.  Why?  Charlotte is located in he 25th biggest television market in the country.

* Georgia State will be playing its third season of football this fall and it will jump to the FBS level and join the Sun Belt Conference.  Why?  Because Georgia State is located in the Atlanta television market as well as the recruiting hotbed of Georgia.

* Old Dominion has been playing football for just three seasons, but it will be joining Charlotte in Conference USA in 2015.  Why?  ODU is located in a Top 50 television market (Norfolk) and the Tidewater section of Virginia is rich in high school talent.

* Texas-San Antonio played its first season of college football last year.  It will play in the WAC this season before moving — sign of the times — to Conference USA in 2013.  Why?  San Antonio is the 36th biggest TV market in the country and I think we all know just how many recruits there are in Texas.

Sure they’re fledgling programs, but conferences are ready to snap them up because they provide inroads into good recruiting territory, populous areas, and sizeable television markets.

But then there’s Appalachian State.  Located in tiny Boone, North Carolina — population: 14,138 — the Mountaineers will mark their 85th year of football this year.  From 2005 through 2007, ASU won three straight FCS national titles.  They knocked off Michigan in Ann Arbor in ’07.  They led all FCS-level schools in attendance last season.  And they’ve made it know that they want to take a step up in class.

Only no one’s called them.  Conference USA and the Sun Belt would rather have the deep recruiting zones and television viewers provided by newborn programs than the proven football school located in a small, mountainous region of the Tarheel State.

As Barnhart points out, Appy State might still eventually land an invite into either C-USA or the Sun Belt, but as of now, those leagues are more interested in location than they are on-field proof of performance.

A year ago, we were bombarded with emails from West Virginia fans who were angry that we suggest WVU’s location wasn’t likely good enough to provide the SEC — or as it turns out the ACC — with what those conferences were looking for in terms of recruiting zones, total population, and television eyeballs.    That wasn’t a knock on WVU’s program which landed safely in the more distant, but once again strong Big 12.  It was simply a statement of fact.

And the fact is… location, location, location matters when it comes to conference expansion.  Whether that’s at the top of the food chain or the bottom of the food chain, as Barnhart points out in his latest column.

Two weeks ago, on the heels of LSU topping Alabama in the Game of the Century, the SEC announced that Missouri would be joining the conference.

Since then… silence.  Rumors of negotiations and lawsuits have pretty much gone on the hush-hush.  Thankfully, the focus — for two weeks at least — has gone back to what’s happening on the field rather than what’s been happening off it.

Only that might be changing.

Yesterday, CBSSports.com reported that West Virginia officials have assured the Big 12 that their school will play in the Big 12 in 2012 despite back-and-forth lawsuits between the school and the Big East.  The Big East — WVU’s current home — is trying to hold the school to its contractually obligated 27-month waiting period.

Big 12 interim commissioner Chuck Neinas told CBS’ Dennis Dodd, “There’s ways to do it (exit the Big East), and West Virginia is prepared to do it.”

Meanwhile, Missouri is still trying to extricate itself from the Big 12.  The quicker WVU officially becomes a Big 12 school, the sooner Mizzou can enter the SEC.

Neinas is reportedly still upset that MU went from being a “loyal member” of the Big 12 to an SEC school in 45 days.  (Just as TCU went from being a loyal member of the Big East to a Big 12 school over the course of a weekend, perhaps.)

“If an institution wishes to depart the conference, that’s their prerogative,” Neinas said.  “But I’m not very happy about the way Missouri handled it… I don’t think Missouri is going to get any sportsmanship awards from the Big 12 Conference this year.”

According to Neinas, MU chancellor Brady Deaton “basically reaffirmed” Missouri would have “a long-standing commitment to the Big 12 conference” on September 22nd.

Neinas also said that he tried to get all six BCS conference commissioners to meet and put a moratorium on further expansion before Missouri was officially welcomed into the SEC.  In his words, SEC commissioner Mike Slive said his league “could probably work” with 13 teams in 2012.  But Missouri had no interest in reversing field.

“The ball was in Missouri’s court and they said, ‘No thanks.’”

What’s frustrating in all of this is the childishness involved.   The Big 12 has grabbed two schools from the Big East with no bit of worry for what its actions might do to that league.  Over the past two years, schools have been “loyal” to a league one minute and gone the next.  Missouri’s case is nothing new.

The Big 12 is simply trying to bleed MU for as much money as possible in terms of an exit fee.  This is all just posturing.  Right down to Neinas’ mention of the word, “lawsuit.”

Neinas wants to see the 45-page document that Missouri officials used to help determine whether to move to the SEC or not.  The Associated Press got a copy of the report and posted excerpts a month ago.  But Mizzou won’t show the full document to Neinas.

“I believe it’s very difficult to go to court and not see the other side’s brief,” Neinas harrumphed.

Perhaps if the adults in the Big 12 and SEC and Big East could start acting like adults — especially since the Big 12 knows WVU will slide right into Missouri’s old slot next summer — we could get our football season back for good.

But don’t get your hopes up.  WVU’s athletic director Oliver Luck is tossing spitballs back at the Big East on his way out the door.  “We were fortunate to get out.  We got out when the ship was seriously going down.  I mean, only the tip of the sail was showing.”

Did I say adults?  Clearly that was just wishful thinking on my part.

The dust still hasn’t quite settled from Missouri’s weekend move to the Southeastern Conference.  Below are some of the issues still playing out:

The Schedule

A Missouri associate AD said yesterday that the school’s cross-divisional rival is “more than likely to be Texas A&M.”  No newsflash there.

And with an eight-game schedule, that means Arkansas will travel to Columbia — and vice versa — about once every 12 years.

And that’s one of many reasons we continue to tell you what we’ve been saying since last month — The SEC will adopt a nine-game schedule at some point.  It must.

Aside from its schedule, MU will have to make a few other adjustments when it arrives in the SEC.

The Border War

Missouri’s departure from the Big 12 has upset Kansas officials, the other party in the more than a century old Border War rivalry.  On Sunday, the school’s public affairs office tweeted this childish response to MU’s decision: “Missouri forfeits a century-old rivalry.  We win.”

Well, not in the court of public opinion.  As has been said of Texas regarding their refusal to play Texas A&M post-move, the Jayhawks are not taking heat from outsiders who realize KU and MU could easily keep their rivalry alive.  MU is being blasted for departing Kansas City, but it’s Kansas that actually seems intent upon ending the annual showdown which has most recently been played in that city.

Many Kansas fans say — like basketball coach Bill Self – that they “don’t give a flip” about playing Missouri now.  If that’s the case, then Missouri — like A&M — should continue to make themselves available for the game which should continue to make KU — like Texas — look pretty childish.

And for a man who doesn’t give a flip, Self sounds like a man whose been scorned as he takes shots at Mizzou.  “There’s no ill feeling about them leaving but this isn’t Oklahoma or Texas leaving either, a school that could break the league up.  I’m happy with our league.”

Perhaps it’s time for MU officials to send their own childish tweet towards Lawrence, Kansas: “Glad you’re happy.  Enjoy the Big 12 (until the new media right deal runs out).”

West Virginia

Regarding the speed of Missouri’s departure from the Big 12, there’s a belief that West Virginia could help matters by escaping the Big East pronto.

But the Big East — which filed a countersuit against WVU last week — says that the withdrawal letter sent by the school to the league was not a proper withdrawal method.

In other words, WVU’s battle to leave the Big East might rage on for a while.

Gary Pinkel

Missouri’s head coach isn’t talking much about his school’s move to the SEC.  Instead, he’s keeping his eye on Texas and his Tigers’ last go-round with the Longhorns this weekend.

But he did make one comment: “Our administration has made a decision based on what’s best for the future of the University of Missouri and the state of Missouri to go to the Southeastern Conference.  I fully support it.  It was certainly based on a long-term decision.  As it sorts itself out, we expect it to be a tremendous plus for this university and the state.  We’re excited about that.”

Hurt Feelings

The Kansas City Star seems to be searching more than other Missouri newspapers for Tiger fans angry over the move and for numbers that show MU really wasn’t all that in the first place.

(An unscientific poll at The St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s website shows that 65% of 1600+ respondents like Missouri’s move, while 19% don’t and 16% aren’t sure.)

And now we know how West Virginia intends to escape the Big East for the Big 12 by next July — they’re going to sue their way out.

Big East commissioner John Marinatto wrote in an email to Big East presidents today that “we have been advised by West Virginia league council that the University is filing suit against the Big East Conference today — presumably to get relief from the withdrawal provision contained in our bylaws.”

The Big East is trying to keep WVU in the league through June of 2014.

The school claims in its suit that:


“The denigration of the Big East football conference is a direct and proximate result of the ineffective leadership and breach of fiduciary duties to the football schools by the Big East Conference and its Commissioner.

The Big East and its Commissioner failed to take proactive measures to maintain let alone enhance, the level of competition for the Big East football schools.”


For those who haven’t been keeping up with all this, the sooner WVU can join the Big 12, the quicker it’s believed Missouri can leave that league and join the SEC.

Though it may be through no fault of its own, Missouri doesn’t seem to be making any friends in the SEC.  The Tigers are at the center of a heap of fan questions from Gainesville to Fayetteville.  And from Lexington to Baton Rouge, most SEC supporters just want some form of closure.

But while the deal between MU and the SEC appears to be done, no official announcement has been made yet.

Some backstory…

We were told two weeks ago that MU-to-the-SEC would be announced by the end of last week.  Soon after we posted that news, numerous other reporters got similar word from their sources.  Outlets from Kansas City to Texas to the SEC said that they expected an announcement last week.

But then word leaked out that the Big 12 was putting up more of a fight than expected over potential broken television contracts.  The Big 12 also had to deal with an internal battle over whether to invite West Virginia or Louisville to enter its ranks.

In a bizarre twist, the SEC and XOS Digital accidentally showed their cards by briefly posting a number of pages on SECSports.com dealing with the “announcement” of Mizzou’s entry into the league for the 2012 season.  How that impacted the negotiations between MU and the Big 12 no one knows.

On Friday, the Big 12 officially invited WVU and in its press release it said the Mountaineers would join the conference next summer.  Left off the 10-team league roster entirely?  Missouri.

Between the SEC web leak and the Big 12′s flat-out statement that Mizzou was leaving, it’s pretty clear that a handshake agreement exists between the school and the conference.  It appears that the guessing is over.  (Though Big East commissioner John Marinatto could muck up the works by fighting to hold WVU to a 2014 exit.)

Except for that bit about an official announcement.

On Friday, PowerMizzou.com — the Rivals site covering Missouri — reported that MU and the Big 12 were hammering out the school’s exit deal.  That work apparently isn’t finished.

Knowing that MU followed Texas A&M’s plan for granting its top administrator the power to look around and then the power to cut a deal (right down to the day), we pointed out yesterday that A&M’s move was announced on a Sunday with a celebration coming the following Monday.  So could that mean…

Nope.  No announcement came Sunday either.  And with Missouri chancellor Brady Deaton heading to India for about nine days tomorrow (story updated below), it seems imperative that his school and Mike Slive’s conference make an announcement today.  (The SEC’s dummy web pages referred to a Monday decision, too.)

Incredibly, there’s some sentiment that MU won’t announce today because it won’t want to show-up the Kansas City Chiefs’ Monday Night Football appearance and further alienate the people in that metro area.  This after previous suggestions that MU would hold up its announcement so as not to trump the World Series, the St. Louis Cardinals’ championship, last night’s exhibition Tiger basketball game and fundraiser for tornado-stricken Joplin, etc.

No one’s had this much trouble getting an exit visa since Victor Laszlo and Ilsa Lund fought to escape Casablanca.  A tip to MU chancellor Deaton: Just bypass Senor Ferrari at The Blue Parrot and head straight over to Rick’s Place.  That’s where you’ll find the letters of transit.

So will today be the day?  Maybe, maybe not.  On Friday, we were told by an SEC official that his/her boss — an SEC president — expected a vote on Missouri to be held on Sunday.  To our knowledge — as of yet — that hasn’t happened.  In other words, it’s beginning to look like top officials around the conference don’t know what’s happening with the Missouri-Big 12 negotiations, either.

So we’ll not hold our breath.

There’s no telling what’s going on in Columbia, Dallas and Birmingham.  But the longer this drags out, the more SEC fans will assign blame to Missouri.  As you’ve probably witnessed on talk radio shows and internet messageboards, many league fans aren’t excited about adding the Tigers.  At best there’s a lukewarm, “okay, whatever Slive says” feel to their entry.

The longer this drags out — whether it’s Missouri delaying matters or not — the bigger the PR job Slive and company will have to do to convince SEC fans that MU wanted the SEC and that the school fits in the SEC.

Some headlines regarding Missouri…

1.  Martin Manley of The Kansas City Star (just can’t wait for Tiger fans to fill our comment boxes with reports that Manley is a Kansas man) says that he believes an announcement will come today.  He also says that from a football perspective, the Big 12 won’t miss “A&Who and Mizzou.”  Yep, sounds like an objective journalist.

2.  Missouri Governor Jay Nixon — who insulted some Big 12 institutions last year when he said MU would be better off in the more academically-respected Big Ten — refused to comment on the SEC situation last night.  “I just think anything else I say at this point… I’ll let others… I might be too quotable.  I’m a fan.  I don’t run the athletic department.”

3.  Over the weekend, Missouri AD Mike Alden was asked about his school’s timeline.  “You guys are asking me a question I don’t know the answer to.”

4.  Orangebloods.com — the Rivals site covering Texas — reported early this morning (behind a paywall) that Missouri “is still gone,” but “still awaiting the exit fee number.”  The exit fee is believed to be between $26-30 million.  That charge would be negotiated down, and that appears to be the current hangup.

5.  While Big 12 interim commish Chuck Neinas says his league is finished with expansion and will stand at 10 teams next fall (WVU in, Mizzou out), Berry Tramel of The Oklahoman reported yesterday that a Big 12 source told him the league still might invite Louisville and go to 11 for next season.  (Which would mean 12, if Missouri unexpectedly changed its mind.)  You know what this sounds like, of course?  Texas wants 10 schools and Oklahoma wants 11.  It was OU president David Boren that was convinced by old Congressional pal Mitch McConnell that U of L would be better for the Big 12 than West Virginia.  That league should be named the San Andreas Conference because it’s built on an enormous fault line that’s destined to give way at some point.

UPDATE — This morning, The Associated Press reported that MU chancellor Brady Deaton has cancelled his speaking engagement in India to stay at home and continue work on the school’s conference affiliation mess.  An MU spokesperson said “the chancellor won’t go so he can deal with other duties in his office that are more important.”  Take that symposium on radiopharmaceuticals.

And the plot thickens.

CBSSports.com broke the news today that West Virginia has accepted a bid to join the Big 12 conference.  WVU alerted the Big East to its decision earlier today.

The Big 12 board of directors — minus Missouri chancellor Brady Deaton, of course — voted this morning to grab West Virginia over Louisville.  (Meaning Texas got its way.)

What does this mean for Missouri and the SEC?  Just that — in case that website release last night didn’t seal it for you already — Missouri is definitely going to be an SEC member.  As for when that might be, there’s not telling.

At this point, the Big East wants to keep Syracuse, Pittsburgh and West Virginia through July 1st, 2014.  That’s two more athletic seasons. 

Missouri and the SEC want the Tigers in their new home by July 1st, 2012.

And the Big 12 says it doesn’t want to play as a nine-team league next year, so it’s going to hold onto Mizzou through July 1st, 2013. 

The best fix at this point is for Mike Slive, Chuck Neinas (Big 12 interim commish), John Swofford (ACC commish) and John Marinatto (Big East commish) to hammer out an agreement.  Be it cash or the promise that the Big East won’t lose its automatic BCS bid — which is why the league is holding WVU, Pitt and Syracuse through 2014 — there’s a deal to be struck. 

Someone call Samuel L. Jackson or Kevin Spacey to negotiate the release of these hostages.

Egos will need to be put aside, but if everyone can still get what’s best for them long-term — Big East = BCS automatic bid, Big 12 = WVU in 2012, ACC = Pitt and Syracuse in 2012, SEC = Missouri in 2012 — then cooler, calmer heads should prevail.

These are businessmen, not politicians.  Therefore, we at MrSEC.com,  have faith they will still work this one out in time for a Summer 2012 hostage swap.