Have you all noticed a lack of A&M coverage in the local sports sections of The Temple Daily Telegram and Killeen Herald? Am I missing it somewhere?
quote:
John Werner: Aggies make rash move they may regret
JOHN WERNER
Tribune-Herald staff writer
Thursday September 1, 2011
Texas A&M President R. Bowen Loftin called the school’s decision to leave the Big 12 for the Southeastern Conference “a 100-year decision.”
Sounds more like a 100-minute decision.
While the Aggies can talk all they want about expanding their visibility in a more stable SEC, their move still comes across to everybody else as a knee-jerk reaction to the Texas Longhorns getting their own lucrative network deal with ESPN.
Though the Aggies flirted with the SEC last summer, everything seemed pretty calm until details of the Longhorn Network came to light earlier this year. The Longhorns will get $15 million annually for the next 20 years from the ESPN deal, creating more of a financial imbalance with the rest of the Big 12.
Suddenly, Aggies everywhere panicked. Instead of fighting the Longhorns, they’re fleeing.
Fleeing right to the toughest conference in the country.
If the Aggies thought they were going to have a competitive imbalance against the Longhorns, they’re really going to face an uphill battle against SEC teams. They might share equally in television revenue distribution, but on the football field it’s going to be a much different story.
SEC schools like Alabama, Florida, LSU and Auburn are established powers with recent national championships on their resumes. The Aggies have barely kept their heads above water in the Big 12 during the last decade, and haven’t won a national title since 1939.
While the SEC might boost Texas A&M’s recruiting, it’s also going to open the door for other SEC schools to come into Texas and pick off high school recruits. So now, the Aggies aren’t just going to have to recruit against the Longhorns and other Big 12 schools like Baylor and Texas Tech, they’re going to have to fight off established SEC powers who are licking their chops to get more Texas schoolboy access.
But what bothers me most about the Aggies jumping ship is that they didn’t honor their commitment they made to the Big 12 last summer.
After Nebraska bolted to the Big Ten and Colorado to the Pac-10 last summer, the remaining 10 Big 12 members decided to stick together with assurances of lucrative future television contracts. Part of the deal was that the Longhorns could form their own network in addition to the Big 12 TV contracts.
Honor the deal
It came to fruition this spring when the Big 12 agreed to a 13-year television contract with Fox Sports reportedly worth $1 billion. The future of the Big 12 finally appeared to be on solid ground.
But when the Aggies started seeing a deluge of advertisements for the Longhorn Network on ESPN this summer, they suddenly started talking about breaking their commitment to the Big 12 and jumping to the SEC.
A school that prides itself on honor and tradition began acting like none of those things mattered anymore.
While the other Big 12 schools had concerns about the Longhorn Network, nobody but the Aggies panicked. When the NCAA ruled that the Longhorn Network couldn’t televise high school football games, it calmed the fears of most Big 12 schools.
Oklahoma is looking into starting its own network. Why couldn’t the Aggies do the same? Bolting to the SEC says tons about the Aggies’ insecurity when it comes to the Longhorns.
For a “100-year decision,” the Aggies’ movers and shakers didn’t think of all the ramifications of this move. It’s disingenuous for Loftin to suggest that the Aggies could still play the Longhorns in a Thanksgiving football game.
Alone on Thanksgiving
Why would the Longhorns still want to play the Aggies after they broke their word and left the conference? Why would the Aggies want to add another powerhouse on their schedule after diving into the SEC shark tank?
I wouldn’t be surprised if Texas, Baylor and Texas Tech boycotted the Aggies in sports across the board.
Maybe some Aggies are cheering, but I suspect there’s another faction of Aggies who believe it’s a sad day like a lot of fans across the state. Some great rivalries against the Big 12 Texas and Oklahoma schools will bite the dust.
When you’re not playing the other Big 12 Texas schools, you’re taking the risk of marginalizing yourself in this state. It seems to me any Aggie would take pride in beating the Longhorns than any SEC school.
Like any hasty idea, the Aggies’ 100-minute decision might come back to haunt them.
jwerner@wacotrib.com