Texas football coach Brown says it won’t be his decision but he would prefer to stay in the Big 12. Speculation is heating up that the league may dissolve if the Longhorns, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech all leave for the Pac12 Conference. Brown says conference realignment threatens to break up many traditional rivalries that have become a big part of college football.
Brown says he’s afraid they will lose the passion over rivalries he had growing if they continue to change conferences and rivals around.
Brown said on the Big 12 teleconference the current wave of conference realignment could completely change college football. He says it’s a question for presidents and athletic directors and conference commissioners, and he says they should think about fans.
Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops says he would also like to see traditional rivalries maintained. He says as the landscape changes though, you have to change with it. Kansas State coach Bill Snyder coached in the first Big 12 game and says he would be sad to see it go away. He is hoping there can be a last minute compromise.
Snyder says you have to deal with it like families do, as he says they don’t disintegrate when there is an issue, and he would like to see them sit down and solve the issue. Iowa State coach Paul Rhoads says he has not even brought up the subject of conference realignment to his team.
Rhoads says until there’s some finality, there’s no need to discuss it and the players need to stay focus on practice and preparing for the next game. The Cyclones are off this week and will open Big 12 play at home on October first against Texas.