My Facebook exchange with Kinch O'Kelley:
WIBW Kinch O'Kelley
Texas A&M leaving the Big 12 for the greener grass of the SEC. The Missouri Tigers claim they are staying put in the Big 12, for now. SEC wants a super conference with 16 teams and is looking at Florida State and Clemson as possible additions. What a fun day!
Me:
I love all of this but I'd love it even more if I heard more about my team (KSU). If you have four 16 team super conferences that's 64 teams. You could take the four winners of those conferences and have semifinals and a National Championsh...ip game. All of the other bowl eligible teams out of those conferences could go to the minor bowl games. My question is this: Clearly nobody wants to be in the Big XII, so why haven't teams like KSU been proactive and made alternative arrangements? Maybe they have and we just haven't heard yet? Pretty soon there will be nowhere to go. We'll be regulated to the Mountain West or something. I know college sports don't do these things for basketball but do you think Frank is looking forward to coaching in the Mountain West? Not only could we get tossed out of a major football conference but we could lose our beloved basketball coach if we become "mid major" because you know programs will come after him again like Miami did. Or am I overreacting? Seriously, talk me down Kinch.
Him:
Ok, I'll try to do my best. I like the idea of 4 Super Conferences (SEC, Pac 16, Big East, & Big Ten) where the ACC goes is anybody's guess! You might not like what I have to say being a Wildcat fanatic, but the truth is that K-State has hitched their wagon to the Jayhawk horse. The feeling however is not reciprocated by the Hawks. KSU wants to go where ever KU goes if the Big 12 dissolves. The Mountain West wouldn't be the worst move in the world and would make sense for K-State, but KU won't go there, they are too hot a basketball commodity. The truth is that if the Mountain West comes knocking and KSU accepts, don't expect Frank to stick around. He is a good coach and will go some place will he will be fairly compensated or closer to home, because NO coach in the Mountain West is making close to what he is. Plus recruits go down, and so does the money. I wouldn't worry about anything until it happens, because my friend, you and I can't steer this ship, we are just passengers. The Big 12 is still intact for now, and it's in Texas's best interest to keep it together if they want their money and TV channel. That means Iowa State, K-State, Baylor, Oklahoma State, and Texas Tech are the Longhorn's best friend's right now. I think it's up to Beebe to be PROACTIVE and try to bring back the number of teams in the conference. BYU and Louisville are teams I've heard might be interested in joining. He should have went hard after TCU last year when this was going on, plus I THINK they could probably pick up University of Houston(to replace the A&M tv market), Wyoming, Air Force, Rice and Southern Methodist. Bottom line is nothing is in concrete and we'll just have to wait and see what happens.