Mavericks’ owner Mark Cuban has a very smart blog on what the Big Twelve should do if A&M leaves. It was published several days ago and has been picked up by other sports blogs.

* * * *

Here is some unsolicited advice to the Big 12. As you might expect coming from me, it’s going to be contrary to what everyone else thinks they should do.

With Texas A&M trying to leave the Big 12 (It doesn’t happen until the SEC accepts them) every remaining school is trying to decide in the immortal lyrics of The Clash “Should I Stay or Should I Go”.  The quick answer ?

They should stay.

Why ? The first reason is that the Super Conferences that are forming or being considered will turn into a huge mistake. No if ands or buts about it. While the concept of a Super Conference sounds incredibly cool , the reality is that the larger than 12 school conferences will only invoke the law of intended consequences and will create the following problems:

1. More schools will NOT mean more TV money.

The big college TV networks, Fox, ESPN, CBS pay for quality, not quantity.  They need marquee matchups that are “Must Tweet TV”.  The number of schools in a conference actually reduce the parity and quality of match-ups in a conference. The networks will not pay up for that.  Adding Texas A&M to the SEC is not going to add a single dollar’s worth of value to the owner of the SEC TV contract , regardless of sport.  Maybe the SEC has an escalator in their contract that increases the total value of the TV contract, but I’m guessing that it still will result in a reduction in the dollars paid to each school when compared to the amount paid had an additional school not joined the conference.

2. Fans will hate the scheduling impact

You know how there is midnight madness in college basketball ? And late night and games scheduled at weird times for basketball ? Get ready for morning madness in college football as well.  I’m guessing that the only way to get all those games through a single TV network partner is to start very, very early or to go very very late.

OR

to move games to online broadcasts.  Which is exactly why the big networks are very supportive of the Super Conferences. They know they will be able to force matchups OFF of tv and on to internet based broadcasts. You can pass your own judgement if that’s good or bad.

3. Say Goodbye to Cupcake Football Games

As a big college football fan I see this as a positive. But if you talk to any coach with BCS aspirations, they will tell you that this is a huge negative. Sure Utah State can take Auburn to the wire every now and then, but the reality is most BCS title aspiration (not all) schools have 3 or 4 cupcake games on their schedule. With every school added to a conference they are going to have to remove a cupcake to make room on their schedule. Coaches are going to HATE this. Of course the smaller schools are going to lose their pay day as well. (more…)

Tagged: a&m, Big 12, Mark Cuban, SEC

(This post is a revision that includes corrections from a previous draft.)

Regarding the situation with Texas A&M and the future of the Big Twelve Conference, I have spoken with persons familiar with the situation at Baylor, who prefer to remain anonymous. This is what I have learned.

1. The university started four weeks ago to determine its legal remedies if A&M decided to leave the Big Twelve for the SEC. Astonishingly, the Big XII had waived all of its rights in a letter to the SEC, although Baylor’s position, which seems correct to me, is that the Big Twelve cannot bind its member institutions.

2. If it is necessary to resort to litigation, one theory would be tortious interference with contract.

3.  The Baylor board has taken the position, “We’re not going to waive our remedies.”

4. Baylor is talking to all member institutions of the Big Twelve. UT and Oklahoma say they want to continue in the conference. At least two other conference schools have said they will not waive their rights.

5. Not surprisingly, politicians have gotten involved, including (reportedly) a number of legislators and a few statewide officials, including David Dewhurst,  who would like to leverage the controversy to get the University of Houston in the Big Twelve. (more…)

Tagged: a&m, Baylor, Big 12, lawsuits, SEC, UT

I spoke with a friend yesterday who is knowledgeable about the situation at Texas A&M, and here is what he had to say.

1. Perry was not involved in the A&M regents’ decision to leave the Big Twelve for the SEC. He was described to me as “not supportive” but neither did he try to stop it.

2. The impetus for A&M to take action was UT’s decision to establish the Longhorn network in partnership with ESPN. “The regents went nuts,” my source told me. They were looking for some way to make a statement. “Look at what they have done for their brand,” my source told me.

3. A&M decided to “look at everything.” They brought in consultants. The move to the SEC was the answer. It would bring national exposure for the next ten to fifteen years. A&M would be on national television almost every week.

4. Kyle Field will be torn down and rebuilt as a modern stadium, with a seating capacity of 90,000-plus. The only part of the current stadium that will be retained is the north end zone.

5. A&M is “very focused on playing Texas.” It is not clear whether Texas feels the same way.

6. UT will go independent. They have little choice in the matter. The Big Twelve does not have attractive options for expansion. No other conference will take UT because its network and its partnership with ESPN gives UT a huge advantage in the size of its athletic budget.

Unless something goes awry, it is just a matter of time until A&M’s move to the SEC becomes official. As an SEC member, A&M will benefit from one of the most lucrative TV contracts in the country. Its days of meagre athletic budgets are over.

Tagged: a&m, Big 12, Longhorn Network, SEC, UT

I am not going to comment on it. Rick Perry is a different person today than he was at A&M. I’m a different person than I was at Rice. And neither of our transcripts was anything to write home about. End of discussion.

Tagged: a&m, rick perry, transcript

The Texas A&M Hispanic network sent the following letter, dated May 10, to Texas A&M University president Bowen Loftin and other university administrators. It expresses the group’s concern that A&M is not making sufficient progress towards the goals set forth in the University’s twenty-year planning document, Vision 2020, at the halfway point. In addition, the group addresses issues concerning the leadership of the Corps of Cadets. Here are some excerpts from the letter.

* [T]he Network remains committed to helping Texas A&M University achieve its stated diversity goals found in Imperative 6 of Vision 2020 which reads: “Texas A&M must reflect the demographic distribution of our state”, especially as it relates to the make-up of the faculty, staff, and student body at Texas A&M.

* The new Academic Master Plan 2010-15 acknowledges that we are “at the halfway point” of Vision 2020, and is a great opportunity to recognize and applaud progress made, but also time take an honest and hard look at areas where improvement is still needed.

* At the halfway point, Hispanic faculty at Texas A&M is at 4.5 percent, and Hispanic total enrollment for the student body is at 12.9 percent. While the Hispanic student enrollment has increased since 2000, this figure is still below the current demographic distribution of our state. Moreover, this is far below the demographic projections issued by the Texas State Data Center that indicate Hispanics will be the majority by 2020, and perhaps as early as 2015. We acknowledge that there are complex factors that go into these figures, but we can all agree that as the Hispanic population increases, the need for Hispanic representation at our university must increase as well.

The remainder of the letter focuses on new leadership for the Corps of Cadets, following the resignation of General John Van Alstyne.

(more…)

Tagged: a&m, aggies

This is the lead of the story from The Battalion, the student newspaper at A&M:

After seven and a half years as commandant of the Corps of Cadets, Lt. Gen. John Van Alstyne resigned Friday [January 22].

“There are good young men and women in the Corps,” Van Alstyne said. “It was an honor to serve as the commandant.”

Van Alstyne said he understood that the new commandant would be reporting to the vice president of student affairs Lt. Gen. Joe Weber.

This has Rick Perry’s fingerprints all over it. No major action occurs at A&M without his say-so. Perry believes that Aggie spirit is not what it used to be, and he had his allies at A&M bring Weber, a retired Marine lieutenant general, to the campus as vice president for student affairs last summer. To make room for Weber, then-president Elsa Murano fired the highly regarded occupant of the job, Dean Bresciani.

I interviewed General Van Alstyne several years ago for a story I wrote about changes taking place at Texas A&M, and the resistance to them. Enrollment in the Corps of Cadets had been dropping for some time. The main reason was that “Corps games” — a form of hazing — in which younger cadets were encouraged to miss class and perform duties prescribed by upperclassmen were incompatible with academic success. The grade point average of the Corps was abysmal. Val Alstyne resolved to change this. He told me at the time that if the Corps did not change, it would die. The student leader of the Corps, whom I also interviewed, said the same thing. But the rank and file of cadets resisted the deemphasis on Corps games. No single issue is of more concern at A&M than whether Aggie spirit is what it ought to be. The Aggie vocabulary includes terms like “red ass” and “Old Army” to describe the ideal Aggie spirit. Weber was brought in, I believe, to bring back Bonfire, which thankfully has not happened yet, and to make the Corps more “red ass.”

Anita Van Alstyne, the commandant’s wife, sent an e-mail to friends and supporters that has been forwarded to me:

(more…)

Tagged: a&m, corps of cadetts, john van alstyme, rick perry

The issue here is cronyism in the 2008 hiring of football coach Mike Sherman, whose brief tenure has so far been, shall we say, less than a spectacular success, culminating in K-State’s pasting of the Aggies last Saturday, a game in which oddsmakers had made A&M the favorite.

Brent Zwerneman, who covers the Aggies for the Houston Chronicle and the San Antonio Express-News, blogged in June about how Sherman got the job:

Who do you think is most responsible for second-year A&M football coach Mike Sherman being on campus? Let’s put it this way: Steve McKinney [son of A&M chancellor Mike McKinney, a longtime Perry friend and political ally -- pb] played for Sherman when Sherman was the offensive line coach at A&M, and again when Sherman served as the Houston Texans’ offensive coordinator just prior to landing the Aggies gig.

Sherman recruited Seth McKinney [Steve's younger brother, and, like Steve, an NFL lineman -- pb] out of Austin’s Westlake High before Sherman left for the NFL in the spring of 1997. The ties between Sherman and the McKinneys run deep and wide. Why do you think Sherman was athletic director Bill Byrne’s only candidate for the job?

A few days later, a Zwerneman blog was the source of an anecdote about Perry that has received wide circulation:

These are strange days, indeed, for the leadership of Texas A&M, and like all things Aggie, at least some of it relates to football.

For instance, last August a few of us reporters were standing in the south end zone of Kyle Field, waiting to interview first-year coach Mike Sherman after practice.

Gov. Rick Perry had attended that day’s practice, and also greeted Sherman near the end zone. A reporter, smiling widely, asked Sherman if he had voted for Perry in the last election.

Perry turned to Sherman and said, “Of course you voted for me. Who do you think got you hired? I control this place.“ [bold face added]

The problem for Perry is that he and McKinney are not just messing with academics. No one is going to get too excited over who is president of the university, or who is vice-president of student affairs, or who is vice-president of research for the A&M system. (McKinney forced the president out and filled the other two positions with Perry cronies.) But when Perry and McKinney dictate the hiring of the football coach, and the Aggies get slaughtered by an inferior team, and the program is headed in the wrong direction, Aggies are going to be up in arms by the tens of thousands, and if they think that Sherman was hired on the basis of friendship instead of merit, there is going to hell to pay for it. The bill could come due in the voting booth. This is Texas and football matters more than politics.

Tagged: a&m, Bill Byrne, chancellor mike mckinney, mike mckinney, Mike Sherman, rick perry, Texas A&M football

Here are some conditions that may — indeed, should — apply to its return. I found this by googling “Ray Bowen bonfire recommendations.”

University president Ray Bowen said Friday [I believe the date referred to is September 8, 2001] that when the tradition does resume, in 2002 at the earliest, the bonfire will be far smaller and the construction more “professionally run.” Creating Bonfire under a “more professionally run” basis would mean that major modifications would have to take place such as a professionally engineered design by engineers from major companies, in-depth safety classes participating students are required to attend, university oversight of the construction, and a reduced number of students to construct the mountain of timber. Along with these restrictions placed on the construction of Bonfire, the traditional lumbering of wood by students for Bonfire, better known as “Cut,” will be removed completely from the construction process. Instead, the university will hire a professional firm to lumber the required amount of trees. The point is, Bonfire will undergo a whole new construction process that may transform the traditional methods of student involvement in the engineering of Bonfire.

* * * *

In my view, these conditions are necessary and appropriate and will go a long way toward assuring parents of A&M students that their family members can enjoy the tradition of Bonfire without being exposed to personal danger. Another salutory aspect of having Bonfire constructed by professionals is that Bonfire will no longer have an adverse effect on students’ academic performance due to their spending twelve-hour shifts at the Bonfire site over a period of several weeks. These changes will place the focus of Bonfire where it belongs: on the blaze that represents the A&M community’s “burning desire” to beat t.u.

Tagged: a&m, bonfire, ray bowen, rick perry

This report is from Senior Editor Pam Colloff:

In the course of working on an oral history of the A&M Bonfire tragedy for our November issue—a story that will mark the tenth anniversary of the Bonfire tragedy, which claimed the lives of twelve Aggies—I had the opportunity to interview Rick Perry. During our conversation, the governor made an intriguing comment about the future of the tradition. “It’s really going to be interesting when Bonfire is reintroduced on the campus again, and it will be. I will not be surprised if it happens by 2011, maybe even 2010. I think Bonfire will be back on campus. The kids will have the experience again.”

How would Bonfire be brought back to campus, I asked the governor? “I’d leave that up to the board and the current administration to sit down and decide the safety parameters, the oversight, et cetera,” he said. “They are very capable men and women, and I trust their judgment.”

Tagged: a&m, bonfire, rick perry