Speculation about NCAA conference expansion and realignment has run wild for months, but on Thursday, one team officially began what could be a summer of change for college sports.
The University of Colorado at Boulder officially accepted an invitation to join the Pacific-10 conference, the Pac-10 announced Thursday morning. This marks the first time the Pac-10 has been altered since 1978, when the conference added Arizona and Arizona State from the Western Athletic Conference.
UCLA football coach Rick Neuheisel, who was head coach at Colorado from 1995 to 1998, said during a conference call that he was excited to see Colorado leave the Big 12 to join UCLA’s in the Pac-10.
“It’s got all the virtues that anybody who enjoys higher education really admires,” Neuheisel said. “It’s a top-flight academic institution, and a great place to be a student athlete.”
The addition of Colorado almost certainly will not be the last alteration made to the Pac-10.
After the Pac-10 concluded conference meetings in San Francisco on Sunday, Pac-10 commissioner Larry Scott said that he had been given authorization to pursue expansion options. OrangeBloods.com, the University of Texas affiliate of Rivals.com, reported that the Pac-10 was planning to extend invitations to six Big 12 teams: Texas, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and either Colorado or Baylor.
“As I said coming out of our board meeting last weekend there are several different scenarios that could pan out,” Scott said during a conference call with reporters. “But in every single one of the scenarios, Colorado made sense for us, so there was no reason to wait any further.”
The quick timing of the announcement came on the heels of multiple media outlets reporting Wednesday that Nebraska ““ also a member of the Big 12 ““ is ready to announce its intention join the Big Ten.
“I don’t know if there’s any legitimacy to what’s being reported about Nebraska, but if that’s happening it’s going to create a chain reaction, and I think that those that are in the know are well aware that this needs to happen quickly to create the alliances that are going to protect the interests of all involved,” Neuheisel said of the timing of the Colorado announcement.
The departures of Colorado and Nebraska mark the beginning of what appears to be a mass exodus of teams from the Big 12. While the addition of Colorado is a plus, the major player in expansion of the Pac-10 still appears to be the University of Texas.
Neuheisel did not comment on the possibility of the Longhorns also joining the conference.
“Certainly we appreciate Texas and all that they’ve accomplished as a football program, and as an athletic department, and as a university, but that’s pure speculation at this point,” Neuheisel said.
Scott said that Colorado would become an active member in 2012. He would not elaborate on his future plans for expansion or comment on other specific teams.
“We’re evaluating different options and having various conversations and waiting to see what might develop nationally before deciding what we do next,” Scott said.