Big 12 football: What teams should the Big 12 look to bring in if they decide to expand?
By Trenton Corn
The AAC
Memphis
Team prestige: 5/10
Teams marketability: 6/10
Teams location: 10/10
Recruiting grounds: 6/10
Total: 27-40
Memphis, especially right now in my opinion is one of the hottest candidates to move to the Big 12. Their basketball program is at an all time high with coach Penny Hardaway, and the number one commit in the nation in James Wiseman. Leaving the AAC for a power-5 conference like the Big 12 would only enhance the schools ability to continue to nab top talent.
The program football team isn’t elite, but has had five straight winning seasons and seems to be moving in the right direction. The move to the Big 12 would obviously help as well as far as recruiting goes in the football department as well.
This move just makes too much sense to me. Geographically Memphis is close to the current Big 12 teams, and actually gets Oklahoma into SEC territory with the Tennessee market.
The Big 12 want’s to expand, and getting a up and coming Memphis team just makes a lot of sense. And looking at this potential partnership in Memphis’s eyes, you will be in a bigger conference where you can grow your brand even more effectively and gain more national exposure. This is a win-win situation, and a situation I think needs to happen if the Big 12 expands.
UCF
Teams prestige: 6/10
Teams marketability: 7/10
Teams location: 5/10
Teams recruiting grounds: 10/10
Total: 28/40
Talk about another good fit. The University of Central Florida”s athletic program has been killing it lately. In 2017 their football program went 13-0 and became the “National Champions” by beating an Auburn team who beat the national champions. In 2018 the team went 12-1 and had another fantastic season.
The teams basketball program just recently got a March Madness bid, and took the tournament favorite Duke Blue Devils down to the wire in the round of 32 to try to advance to the sweet 16 before missing a game winner in the last seconds.
Moving to the Big 12 would only grow the UCF brand, and as a school who felt left out of the college football championship in 2017, going to a much better conference makes their odds of going to the college football playoff much higher.
Oklahoma would get a school that would help the conference in athletics, especially Football and Basketball, along with getting the Big 12 into the Florida recruiting Market.
USF
Teams prestige: 4/10
Teams marketability: 5/10
Teams location: 5/10
Teams recruiting grounds: 10/10
Total: 24/40
If the Big 12 can’t attract the University of Central Florida in UCF, they should look no further than the University of South Florida in the USF Bulls.
USF is a growing market, and is even potentially getting a new football stadium on campus.
Heres what Veronica Brezina-Smith reported on Bizjournals.com for the Tampa Bay Business Journal:
President of athletics Michael Kelly had this to say about the project:
"“We’ve completely renovated the basketball facility, we have a new softball area, it would make sense for us to focus on this center.”"
USF’s determination to upgrade the athletic department bodes well for them as bigger conferences like the Big 12 could look at USF’s growing athletic department as a good thing.
This is what Veronica’s article said about the details of the project:
"“The new $40 million, 160,000-square-foot facility will be located immediately north of the Lee Roy Selmon Athletics Center. It will expand the existing Morsani Football Practice Complex with an 83,000-square-foot indoor practice area with a 100-yard field.” “Kelly said the university is targeting a 2020 opening of a new football center and so far has raised $11.5 million. It is open to naming rights deals.” “The center will also house a 12,563-square foot, state-of-the art strength & conditioning center, a sports medicine and rehabilitation facility and large locker room and meeting space.”"
If the Big 12 fails to land UCF, I definitely think the rapidly growing USF school could very well be an option. USF also could be another alternative to get the Big 12 into the Florida market for recruiting purposes.
And if USF is as serious about growing their brand as it appears, then moving off to the Big 12 would be a wise move.
Besides, who wouldn’t want to see Charlie Strong go up against Texas??
I haven’t done this with any of the other schools potentially leaving their respected conferences, but if UCF, USF or Memphis were to leave, I have a perfect school that could replace them.
Army. Army last season in football went 11-2 and gave Oklahoma a mini scare last season. They proved they were the real deal when in their bowl game, they destroyed Houston by the score of 70-14. The AAC already has Navy, so adding an independent school like Army to only enhance the Army Navy rivalry would be in my opinion just the perfect storm.
If the Big 12 feels it cant get any teams away from any of the power 5 conferences, they should look no further than the AAC, who has some very solid options.