Welcome to the Friday Feedback, which is 4 to 5 percent more likely to be more productive if we can ever figure out a way to make the mobile site more user friendly, 10 to 15 percent more likely to add a few posts per week if we become easier to navigate and 62 percent more likely to feel the same if we sustain status quo.

I don’t know what more to tell you about conference expansion. There are myriad outcomes available, and yet, I don’t think that’s what concerns many of you the most. Instead, I think what alarms people is that we might be entering a summer of speculative tweets and talking points and stories and such. There’s at least a month more of this, and then reactions to whatever does or does not happen after that. What does or does not happen could be really dumb, too.

So, buckle up. Yay? We’ll touch on it a bit below, and then I’ll be cautious about how and how much we revisit the topic in the days and weeks and months ahead.

Onto the Feedback. As always, comments appear as posted. In other words, sink or swim.

Big Al said:

This looks like a done deal to me. Assuming Commissioner Bowlsby is correct, how can a University president vote for the status quo and risk falling “‘$20 million [per school]’ behind the SEC and Big Ten in 12 years”?

Because either additions won’t make up that gap or because there are other ways to make up that gap?

Mr Burns said:

Expansion is inevitable. Please, please, please add two eastern time zone teams.

I don’t see two happening. Not sure the membership wants or needs to invite that. I’ll be honest, the concept of a “travel partner” for WVU is bunk. I’ve never heard a good justification.

The 25314 said:

I don’t understand how adding Cincinnati or anyone else available makes up a $20M gap with the SEC. That is the study the Big 12 should be releasing, not some simulation based on a two year sample size of a decision made by 10 men on a Committee.

Also, Bowlsby says, “We may be every bit as competitive as we are today, but we’ll fall behind financially.” If you don’t need the money to stay competitive, then adding teams would simply be for personal enrichment, rather than what’s best for the league and institutions.

The Big 12 had the chance to add Louisville when they added WVU, but they didn’t because they were supposedly better off financially at 10 teams. What changed in the last 5 years that made 12 teams $20M more valuable than 10 teams? If that is truly the case, the Big 12 should be suing whoever did their study in 2011.

WVU has gone from one dysfunctional league to another. The Big 12 is trying to make up for a mistake they made 5 years ago, and it’s only going to make things worse. The Big East is proof that adding teams simply for numbers does not strengthen a conference. The best thing that could happen to the Big 12 is for Texas to right the ship and for WVU to become relevant again.

Agreed on all of it. It’s colander logic, and you can poke even more holes in it. Like, what it Texas did hire Nick Saban when Mack Brown left? You don’t think Texas would be in the playoff a lot? 

avb31 said:

Add Cincy as a full member. BYU football only. Let them keep their Olympic sports in the WCC. That’s the biggest brand unaffiliated with a major conference. In Cincy you get another Eastern school and in BYU you get a brand name with a huge fan base.

Not sure why Big 12 teams want or need Cincinnati — I keep going back to this, but imagine the first time the Texas and Oklahoma blue bloods get a look at Nippert — and BYU comes with a lot of obstacles, even as a football-only addition. If teams think traveling to WVU once every other year in football and once a year in basketball is a drag, what about Cincinnati makes life easier? And BYU’s no treat, either. You ever been to Provo?

D said:

I have but one reservation here, Cinncinnati??? What about Cincy makes them viable? The fact that they were the closest thing left in the BE after Louisville forced themselves on the Big 10?
I just don’t see two attractive FBS teams that are looking for a home; does anyone else??
It occurred to me that the brainiest move of all would have been for B12 to grab WVU- Louisville, Pitt and ‘Cuse when the ACC made their play. Now that would have rocked.
The real blast though was still the ORIGINAL Big East Football Conference. Greed the one thing on this earth we can count on – huh? 

Dann!  Spry!

ffejbboc said:

I think the only way expansion happens is with a YES vote from Texas.

And that won’t happen with the AAC teams of the world. Without something drastic, such as Clemson/VaTech/FSU/Notre Dame/GaTech jumping ship, Texas will stand pat.

They would rather the Big12 fold, than capitulate on the Longhorn Network…or do anything that Boren wants to do.

You’re probably correct. Texas, TCU and Texas Tech probably march in step.

DaninNJ said:

Since they’re discussing conference affairs I wonder if they will ever be able to talk Texas into either giving up the Longhorn Network and buying into a Big 12 Network or converting the Longhorn Network into the Big 12 network and giving Texas extra $$ to keep them happy.

Hard sell, and given the direction cable and satellite television are heading, that’s a lot of hush money.

Dave K. said:

Mike, Does the BIG 12 still have it’s eye on UCONN and the northeast markets?

Yep. And for the record, UConn is the northeast market. Only school there that could be had. 

smeer said:

adding two weak teams and only playing 8 league games lets one pad the win-loss column in the short-term – the marquee of the SEC and it’s annual march to the playoffs.

the BIG difference with the Big LEast is that they weren’t simply adding, they were replacing (greater teams with lesser teams). And not just once until eventually the product looked like 1AA football.

trouble is – because of past short-sightedness, the league is between a rock and hard place. 10 teams is not ideal in today’s college football landscape. Any two teams added will slot into the spots above Kansas and right around ISU – NO ONE will tune in to watch said teams other than team fans.

95% = once every 20 years B12 gets gypped

now what are the odds that things stay the same for 20 years – present number of teams? present rules? present alignments? present selection processes? present monopolies . . .

Now here’s where B12 could hurt – the playoffs expand to eight teams and the three wild cards are more likely to come from conferences with more teams/divisions/title games so those conferences get 2 payouts among 12/14 teams to B12’s lone payout among ten mouths

The latter point is pretty interesting. If it expands to eight — and that seems what the Big 12 should be pushing for — they’ll give automatic bids to the winners of every Power 5 league. But guaranteeing the Big 12 a spot also means creating an extra four spots, spots more likely to go to other leagues. Then again, the Big 12 had two top-eight teams in the first year and one in the second. 

SheikYbuti said:

The so-called study has no real value beyond serving as a PR tool for the pro-expansion faction. Forget about the reliability of simulations based on a whole two years of experience. Forget about the likelihood that the bedrock assumptions (most prominently, the number of teams in the playoff) will almost certainly change in the relatively near term. Focus solely on the number of simulations — 40,000! — and ask yourself whether we’re going to still be playing college football in the year 42016. The answer is “no,” of course, which means any relevant subset of the 40,000 (10? 20? 100? 200?) is such a ridiculously small sample size as to render the study’s predictive value virtually meaningless. If you were in favor of expansion prior to the study, then you’re still in favor of it. If you were a staunch anti-expansionist, then the study shouldn’t change your mind. If you were more or less on the fence, well, the study is a shiny plaything and it might move your needle a little bit if you don’t think about it too hard.

This was heady.

Karl said:

Assuming that it’s impossible to pluck teams from other P5s, the Big 12 should consider Air Force, Navy and Army. The service academies — the only true national programs out there. In the case of Navy and Air Force, solid football every year, too. What a story it would be the first time Navy defeated Texas in Austin.

Decent. Are you bringing their other sports as well, because a bunch of them stink? I think football coaches would push back against two option offenses — a bunch were worried Iowa State was going to hire Willie Fritz — and adding those two might not be a consolation prize for, say, WVU, which goes from getting a home game every year against Texas or Oklahoma to not having that for season-ticket holders.

Down South said:

I think the move to 12 would be positive for WVU. We would likely get a team that is closer to us. Plus, going from 9 conference games to 8 conference games would allow us to schedule additional games against regional rivals.

It would help WVU, but I don’t think a lot of people in the Big 12 are ready to do this and justify it by telling people the league needed to help WVU. The league already has helped WVU. I also think WVU has addressed this with its non-conference football scheduling in recent years. It has the regional rivals either in place of or because of what the Big 12 schedule cannot do.

CC team said:

The round robin schedule is more pure and better in a perfect world but the world isn’t perfect. Economics will ultimately dictate the decision. Not to mention that 1 less conference game could allow WV a better chance to schedule Pitt, VTech, PSU or MD more often in football. The available teams will inevitably water down the conference though.

I think WVU might do that, but do we think peers will do the same? It’s hard enough to get teams to make the most of three non-conference games. Now you make them play another and think they’ll go out of their way to make it work? I have my suspicions.

JAL said:

It does make the head spin, especially “I want to do what’s best for the conference, and that may not always be what’s best for West Virginia,” Lyons said. I don’t follow the thought, why wouldn’t what is best for the league be best for WVU if WVU is in the league? The old a rising tide lifts all boats.

If the league adds two bunnies, say, Cincinnati and Memphis, that would help WVU with travel and put the football team in a, let’s say, friendlier division for football. But let’s also say Texas and Oklahoma get tired of it and leave and take with them Texas Tech and Oklahoma State — which nearly happened years back. Then there is no Big 12. What does WVU do then? WVU needs a conference, so Lyons has to act in a way to keep the league together. That’s my interpretation.

Phil M. said:

I feel the biggest component of this whole deal is creating a Big 12 Network backed by one of the major networks. That’s where the cash cow is. As far as who we add we can’t be hurt by adding BYU in football and the other has to be a bridge to the east to ease our travel burden. Also, only scheduling 8 Big 12 games puts us on par with the SEC, ACC, etc. Look at Va. Tech, many years they don’t even play Florida State and Clemson. So why should we beat each other up when nobody else is doing so. Take BYU and an eastern partner and lets move on. But most importantly get the Big 12 Network going. Oh and we’re not talking about expanding the Longhorn Network either, sorry Texas this will not work.

A Big 12 network is a big bite, so big that it’s hard to discuss with much detail or direction. Here’s what we know, though: The state of the industry makes it seem like a longshot, and let’s remember the Big 12 needs this more than a cable network needs it, so negotiating is only going to do so much. Additionally, all these schools have personalized Tier 3 deals that would be, I guess, watered down on a Big 12 network, unless you believe all 10 or 12 schools would get equal time and/or produce equal content. The LHN is a major variable that would have to basically go away, but BYU has a network, too. I’d love to be able to discuss this more, but there are a lot of layers. So, maybe we should discuss this more?

JAL said:

!0 players, that it one short a starting 11.  I would think a team with that many onto an NFL team would have won a few more games.  Only team in Big 12 with more drafted was Baylor with 6.  Of course it also means there is a lot of talent to replace.

Eh, I’m always wary of these things after the draft. Tennessee didn’t have anyone drafted, and the Volunteers won nine games. Eric Striker, Davion Pierson, Dominique Alexander, Jimmy Bean, Kevin Peterson, Shock Linwood and Trevone Boykin were really good Big 12 players, and none of them were picked. Same as saying the SEC is better than the Big 12 — it is — because it had more players drafted. The SEC has four more teams with 85 scholarships. That’s 350 more players, so of course there are going to be more NFL level players in that league.

Neil Cohen said:

If WVU had a quality quarterback and Karl Joseph had been healthy all year, they would have won a few more games.

Harsh but hard to argue that. 

I love you, Doug! said:

So bottom line, the guy who shoulda stayed was Smallwood.

Yeah, I’d argue that. “Two-time Big 12 rushing champ” wasn’t going to make him a hotter commodity. And given he was in jail two years ago and had a bum ankle last season, I can’t fault him.

Loopy Hoopy said:

ILYD, Smallwood more than likely wouldn’t have improved his stock next year, dont think he would have led the Big 12 in rushing again. RB isnt a valued draft position as it once was, can find gems in later rounds. Also, next years crop of RBs is pretty loaded, McCaffery, Fournette, Chubb, Cook all eligible for next years draft.

There we go.

Sammy said:

My recollection is DePalma was a pretty good longsnapper? I heard the Eagles aren’t very happy with theirs and he should get a real shot at winning the job.

Also the Wendell Smallwood tweet thing is crazy, just because we think the spotlight on WVU is bright but the guy gets drafted in the fifth round and 30 minutes later Eagles fans have tweets of his from four years. The NFL is something else.

I think DePalma is probably going to make that team. Philly tried out snappers during the season last year, but their guy, Jon Borenbos, has made Pro Bowls and has a year left on his contract — but it’s not a big number.

Clarence Oveur said:

WVU will always have to get creative when it comes to luring talent to Morgantown.

This is just another manifestation of that creativity. That being said, it’s entertaining and there’s certainly plenty of content being spread around whether it’s via Twitter or the drone aerial videos.

ABC. Always Be ‘Crootin.

Everything is about recruiting. 

Down South said:

I read an article about Tom Hermann right after he got the Houston job. He talked about social media and their H-Town Takeover campaign. He said kids today have their phones in their face six to eight hours a day so you better be doing things to show up on their phones. All social media is good social media when you are dealing with high schoolers.

Absolutely, though there are exceptions, and that one is particularly rich coming from a guy who’s been at four schools since 2009.

CC team said:

Finding asbestos in buildings of that age is fairly common and not as big a deal eliminate as in a he past. We routinely find it in renovation projects where I work. You bring in the specialists, remove it and move on. My guess is some money and time would have been set aside in the budget anticipating it.

In a surprise, I received some feedback on this post in my email, and this very scenario was the gist of the message. WVU wasn’t surprised — it didn’t know there was asbestos, but expected it was possible — and was instead prepared to fix the issue and move on. As an aside, the construction at the Coliseum might not be ready for the start of fall sports, which is why the basketball team is having its Gold-Blue Debut in Wheeling (I honestly don’t even know why WVU would bother having the event at that point) and the exhibition game will be in Beckley. Regular-season games should be safe, though.

The 25314 said:

Augie Garrido hit .330 for the 1963 Charleston Indians.

Legend. He played with Tommy John and Tommie Agee.

Bill said:

I do not follow college baseball and had long lost track of Augie Garrido. I remember him well from his days in Charlesston. What an arm. What i want to let everyone know though, he is a terrific guy. My sister and her husband were season ticket holders when he played in Virginia. My sister was severely burned in a house fire. Garrido and a couple of his teammates visited her several times at the hospital burn center. Yep, quite a guy. Glad to know where he is at and will get in touch. Thanks The 25314.

Solid.

SheikYbuti said:

If I had the opportunity to rub shoulders (or anything else) with Padma Lakshmi, I’d let someone else manage the baseball game too.

Noted.

Drew said:

Apparently Train is releasing a cover of the entire Led Zeppelin II album. Proceeds will go to charity, which brings up an interestong topic for debate: is torture ok if it’s for charity?

The comments in this post went sideways, but this is a good question. The answer is no, because this should never have been given the green light.

Rugger said:

What is and What Should Never Be.

Exactly.

Sid Brockman said:

I still think he made the best decision for his situation. Needs to get paid to play ball, and he was never going to be NBA material. Foot speed, ball handling ability and range are all working against him.

I don’t know. I’m not going to crush a kid for getting paid sooner rather than later, but to listen to him explain his decision, it sounds like three-and-out was his plan years ago and he’s making good on the goal.

Rugger said:

I recall reading that Devin’s Mom lived with him at WVU. If my Mom had moved in with me at WVU, I suspect I would have graduated in 3 years instead of the 5 that it took..

Enjoy the weekend … you know, the one with Mother’s Day!