Tramel's ScissorTales: Arizona, Utah & Arizona State decisions take Pac-12 to the brink
Conference realignment has gone from overdrive to warp drive. Is warp drive a real thing, or was it a Star Trek invention?
But I digress. The Starship Enterprise’s five-year mission never took the odyssey the Big 12 has undergone. From the brink of extinction to stability, back to the brink, back to stability.
Now the Big 12 is in a position of power, and it’s the Pac-12 that sits on the eve of destruction. On Tuesday, Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff finally presented to his schools the best media contract offered: an Apple deal that includes mostly streaming, with a few games farmed out to traditional networks, and heavily-reliant on subscriptions.
Clearly, that’s not what Pac-12 schools hoped to hear. Now the likes of Arizona, Arizona State and Utah have bunkered down to decide their futures.
Here’s what I know and what I believe.
More: Tramel's ScissorTales: Expanded Big 12 will make 12-team playoff even harder to reach
∎ Know: The Big 12 wants decisions soon. Preferably this week. Maybe absolutely this week.
The Big 12 won’t sit on 13 members long. It wants 14 members for 2024, and if Arizona (or any other Pac-12 member) isn’t ready to jump, the Big 12 is ready to move on to Connecticut.
A Big 12 source said Yormark is giving the Pac-12 schools a deadline to make a decision, and another source said it was sooner rather than later. “The hammer,” a source described it.
∎ Believe: Arizona has decided the Big 12 is its best option, it just has to figure out how to navigate that process.
“If you’re Arizona, you gotta come. They can get a minimal distribution financially, but they can’t recruit,” said the second Big 12 source, referring to Apple’s reported $19 million payout per year per Pac-12 school, with potential for more if it can reach certain subscription thresholds. That’s compared to $31.7 million for Big 12 schools.
“You go into a house, and say, ‘OK, if you come here, you’re going to be on Apple, then if you come over here, you’re going to be Fox or ESPN. That’s going to kill them in recruiting. I think the coaches know that.”
Among the issues: 1) ‘Zona doesn’t want to be perceived as having blood on its hands, should the Wildcats’ departure eventually end the Pac-12, and 2) Arizona and Arizona State literally are linked together in ways that, for example, OU and OSU are not.
The solution to the former problem would be Arizona, Arizona State and Utah leaving together, offering the (truthful) narrative that the Pac-12 was mortally wounded not by their departures, but by the exit of UCLA and Southern Cal to the Big Ten.
A trio of Pac-12 members leaving for the Big 12 creates another problem, which we’ll get to in a moment.
The UofA/ASU connection is problematic if they disagree about their futures. The Wildcats and Sun Devils (and Northern Arizona) share a board of regents. The same people make decisions for both schools, which is crazy to Oklahomans, but whatever boats your float.
More: Tramel: Pac-12 arrogance helped save the Big 12 two years ago and now has league in peril
∎ Know: Connecticut is ready and waiting, and Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark clearly is bullish on the Huskies as a backup plan. UConn plays perfectly into Yormark’s commitment to building up basketball.
The Big 12 theory: UConn’s basketball speaks for itself, and UConn’s woebegone football would have six or seven years to improve, and the Huskies have shown improvement in Jim Mora Jr.’s one season as head coach.
“He wants Connecticut because he thinks eventually you can make money in basketball,” the second Big 12 source said of Yormark. “Now, there’s not enough money in basketball, unless you advance deep in the (NCAA) tournament, but he thinks you can in basketball, and he wants the East Coast market.”
∎ Believe: The Big 12 would prefer to stop at 14 schools now, because of ESPN financial pressures. ESPN is contractually obligated to give Big 12 newcomers from Power Five conferences the same $31.7 million per year, up to 16 members total.
ESPN would prefer the Big 12 stays at 14. The Big 12 would like to be a good partner with ESPN. Fox does not have that clause in its contract.
If suddenly Arizona, Arizona State and Utah want to come aboard, the Big 12, ESPN and those Pac-12 schools would have come together and sort it all out.
Would Big 12 legacy schools be willing to take a little less — say, $30 million a year instead of $31.7 — to round the league with Arizona, Utah and Arizona State?
Stay tuned.
More: Jeff Lebby knows that pressure comes with OU football's OC job. 'He has a plan of attack'
Chuck Bowman recalls Bud Wilkinson’s view of football
We’re in a stretch of a projected seven straight days of triple-digit temperatures; it was 104 Tuesday, with a forecast of 104 every day through Saturday.
Seems inhumane with football practice opening.
But Chuck Bowman, who played football at OU under Bud Wilkinson from 1955-57 and went on to be an iconic leader of the state Fellowship of Christian Athletes, recently shared some thoughts about football and the weather:
“Football season is right around the corner, and the heat of July and August will always be remembered by those who coached and played the game.
“The 100-plus degree temp we are feeling is driving people inside, and wisely so. However, football coaches and players live for these days. Condition, condition, condition is the driving force athletes and coaches feel important to making it through practices and winning games.
“I'll never forget Coach Wilkinson's famous remark about how he felt about football players and fans dealing with the heat of the early seasons. He wrote, ‘The game of football can be summed up in one sentence: Football is a game where 22 players are on the field in desperate need of rest watched by 50,000 fans in desperate need of exercise.’
“How many coaches would have that perspective? Football is still football, and the summer heat is still a test. However coaches and athletes deal with this gate-to-hell differently.
“Today, athletes work year around and stay in amazing condition. Coaches have every possible tool to get them ready to play. If Coach Wilkinson were here today, his remark about the game would have to change. He might say: Football is a game where 22 players are on the field playing four or five downs and then substituted by 22 other players just as big and fast as the first 22.
“The game is still 60 minutes long, but few players play long enough to work up a sweat. And the fans: Not 50,000, but 100,000 attend the game sitting in chair-back comfort, drinking cold drinks, having restrooms and concession stands within 25-30 steps, and watching their pocket books shrink like crazy. Most leave the game wondering if the pains were worth it. And, most of them know those players they are watching are making more money than they are. Coach Wilkinson would not like that.
“Go Sooners. We will still be with you as long as you beat Texas and OSU and nine or 10 others. Ha.”
I would add one addendum to Bowman’s delightful account of football. Here are the opening dates of Wilkinson’s 17 seasons as the Sooner coach:
Sept. 26, Sept. 25, Sept. 23, Sept. 30, Sept. 29, Sept. 27, Sept. 26, Sept. 18, Sept. 24, Sept. 29, Sept. 21, Sept. 27, Sept. 26, Sept. 24, Sept. 30, Sept. 22, Sept. 21.
One opener before September 21. No openers before September 18. Two openers on September 30, a date on which the 2023 Sooners will play their fifth game of the season.
It’s hotter now that it was in Wilkinson’s day, but Augusts still were broiling from 1947-63. It’s just that the Sooners didn’t see a ton of August practice. Most of OU’s preseason practices were in September.
More: Tramel's ScissorTales: Instability plagued Pac-12 long before Colorado's Big 12 move
The List: College football coaches on the hot seat
Firing college football coaches not too deep into the season has become a trend. Thesportsdaily.com has produced a list of the coaches most likely to be the first fired in the 2023 season:
4/1: Jimbo Fisher, Texas A&M: A 2-2 start could put Fisher in serious trouble; his Aggies play at Miami on September 9 and host Auburn on September 23. Fisher, coming off a 5-7 record, is 39-21 in five years in Aggieland.
4/1: Mel Tucker, Michigan State: Tucker is 18-14 in three Spartan seasons. His 5-7 finish last year was massively disappointing for a coach making $9.5 million a year. Michigan State opens with Central Michigan and Richmond, but the rest of September includes home games against Washington and Maryland, plus a game at Iowa.
5/1: Butch Jones, Arkansas State: Jones is 5-19 in two seasons in Jonesboro. The Red Wolves open at OU, then host Memphis. Then comes a Sun Belt Conference schedule that looks tough.
11/2: Neal Brown, West Virginia: I like Brown, but he should be atop this list. In September, the Mountaineers play Penn State, Pittsburgh, Texas Christian and Texas Tech, with only Duquesne as a salve.
7/1: Danny Gonzales, New Mexico: The Lobos are 7-24 under Gonzales, but UNM has a manageable schedule after opening at Texas A&M – home games against Tennessee Tech and New Mexico State, road games at Massachusetts and Wyoming, home games against San Jose State and Hawaii.
7/1: Jim Harbaugh, Michigan: It’s going to take more – and bigger – NCAA scandal for the Wolverines to move on Harbaugh.
12/1: Tom Allen, Indiana: Allen is 30-40 at IU but not so far removed from back-to-back winning seasons (2019, 2020) with the Hoosiers. But in September, Indiana plays Ohio State, Louisville and Maryland.
12/1: Dino Babers, Syracuse: The Orange won its first six games last season but went 1-6 the rest of the way. Thus Babers is 36-49 over seven seasons, and Syracuse plays Purdue, Army and Clemson in September.
12/1: Mike Bloomgren, Rice: With a record of 16-39 in five Owl seasons, Bloomgren seems susceptible. In its first five games, Rice plays Texas, Houston, South Florida and East Carolina.
More: Tramel's ScissorTales: Answering questions about Colorado's move to the Big 12
Dickey, Jones, Botts make Hall of Fame
R.A. Dickey and Bobby Jones were Bricktown Ballpark icons. Jason Botts is the all-time runs batted in leader for Oklahoma City baseball in the 21st century.
Those three players will be inducted into the Oklahoma City Triple-A Baseball Hall of Fame, in a pregame ceremony at 6:40 p.m. Saturday at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark, just before the Dodgers play the Round Rock Express.
Full disclosure: I was part of the selection committee, headed by Dodgers radio voice and director of public relations Alex Freedman. Dickey and Jones were easy choices as pitcher and manager, but when it came to hitters, several worthy candidates were in the running: Kelly Dransfeldt, Adrián González, Jason Hart and Esteban German. But Botts won the vote.
The inaugural class was designated strictly for the Bricktown era, which began in 1998. The Oklahoma City 89ers era at All Sports Stadium will be addressed later.
Dickey and Jones are scheduled to be at the ceremony, which is part of the 25th anniversary celebration of Bricktown Ballpark.
Dickey, who reinvented his career as a knuckleball pitcher, spent parts of seven seasons with the RedHawks, 1999-2003 and 2005-06. He is the franchise’s all-time leader in wins (49-40), games (141), starts (106), innings pitched (766 1/3) and strikeouts (477).
Dickey pitched 15 major-league seasons, with 120 wins. He won the 2012 National League Cy Young Award.
Jones was RedHawks’ manager for eight of their first 13 seasons in Bricktown. His teams had 595 wins and five division titles.
Botts was the toughest decision, because of the plethora of OKC hitters. Botts spent parts of four seasons in Oklahoma City, 2005-08, as a switch-hitting outfielder and designated hitter. During his OKC time, Botts hit .299 with a .398 on-base percentage and a .540 slugging percentage.
More: Tramel: Thunder fans, don't compare Chet Holmgren to Victor Wembanyama
Mailbag: New Thunder arena
The discussion about a potential new downtown arena has many people thinking.
Brad: “I am all for a new arena. The existing arena is actually ‘older’ than the date it opened. If you recall, there were a number of delays to get the Ford Center built. It was designed in 1994ish (maybe designed earlier prior to the vote; the renderings were spot on to the finished product). So it really is about a 30-year-old building from a design and square-footage standpoint. The average square footage of an NHL or NBA arena in 1995 was far different than today.”
Tramel: Excellent point. The now-Paycom Center has served us well and continues to do so. But it was built as a barebones arena, and despite a $100 million makeover a decade ago, it remains near the bottom of NBA coliseums.
As it should. By the time a new arena would be built (2028 or so), it would be 26-27 years old, having been designed 34 years ago.
Berry Tramel: Berry can be reached at 405-760-8080 or at btramel@oklahoman.com. He can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including FM-98.1. Support his work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Big 12 expansion: Arizona decision puts Pac-12 on brink of destruction
