How Close Was Oklahoma State to Joining the Pac-16?

Ahh Big 12 expansion. The dead thing that won’t die.

Dennis Dodd wrote a terrifically-sourced piece on Monday at CBS Sports about how much dysfunction exists in the arena of power at the very top of the University of Oklahoma. It was eye-opening to say the least. It sounds like basically everyone on their board of regents (including Clay Bennett) is against president David Boren who has been pushing hard for expansion.

Also, there was this that sort of stunned me.

The Big 12’s dysfunction is no secret. An Oklahoma source told CBS Sports that the school “was “within 30 minutes” of leaving for the Pac-10 in 2010. That’s a reference to Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott’s reported interest in raiding of six Big 12 teams in June of that year to form a Pac-16.

That probably means Oklahoma State was also 30 minutes from joining the Pac-16 because, well, math. You still have to get from 12 to 16, Texas wasn’t going and once you start going down the list of the other six teams … Baylor, Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State, Texas Tech … and consider the political connectedness of OSU and OU, it’s pretty clear what would have happened.

Anyway, you should go read the entire thing from Dodd. It drives home what a mess this entire thing is. I think I’m shuffling more and more to Carson’s side of things here.

#Sooners & #OKstate should beat Texas to the punch & jump ship (preferably to the SEC). The Big 12's death is inevitable.

— Carson Cunningham (@KOCOCarson) May 4, 2016

The Big 12 is probably never getting revived. OSU needs to make sure it has its backup parachute.