Kansas is Not Going to the Big 10 Anytime Soon

look uh in the last couple weeks we've tried to go around the big 12 and kind of get the the finger on the pulse of of each school and one of the ones that's interesting because they've been uh you know engulfed in rumors about where they could wind up is kansas uh and and possibly in the big ten matt tate lawrence journal world and kusportz.com joins us now uh matt uh this big ten talk is there teeth to it or is that more wild speculation right now on the part of people that just see a more natural geographical fit for the jayhawks if this league were to break up yeah can you hear me okay first of all gotcha yeah absolutely okay cool yeah you know there's uh there's there's nothing to that yet i mean uh it it's not impossible to see that happening someday it's not impossible to see why ku would fit well it's not impossible to see why k.u would want to be in the big ten if this if this thing goes crazy but um yeah man i've been doing ku for 20 years and and i continue to talk to ku sources big 12 sources ncaa sources and every every one of them is telling me you know no nothing yet nothing there nothing there so i i think you know those rumors uh you know they start on message boards they they catch fire and take on a life of their own on twitter like most things do and and i think the reason that this particular one got so much juice was very simple i mean kansas fans right now are desperate to find someone that will tell them that ku's going to the big 12. so i'm sorry the big ten so that's what they want to hear that's what they want the outcome to be as a fan base and so if if you get to the point where you found someone who's going to you know push that narrative and tell you it's happening or or tease it a little bit or make it sexy then you know then of course you're going to share that and you're going to get excited about it you're going to respond to it and all that stuff so you know i've seen it a bunch of times obviously this is the highest of the high stakes stuff and and so i understand why it caught caught some life but um yeah man everybody that i continue to talk to says nothing there and and and to me you know you got to take everything you hear with a grain of salt of course um you got to assume some people might be not telling you the truth not not not fully giving you everything they know in this business right but um the thing i keep coming back to is it took texas and oklahoma six months of secret negotiations to get to the sec there's no way ku pulled off the big ten in three weeks four weeks it's just not realistic so deep breaths calm down patience let's see where this thing goes and and and i think everybody's kind of on that page right now until until the next rumor gets started jayhawk for life 22 on twitter live then he said it was guaranteed that the big ten in kansas was happening in all seriousness what was your reaction when you saw the bombshell report from brett soren obviously everybody in big 12 countries been kind of running around like chickens with their head cuts off heads cut off scrambling but but what was your initial reaction to that news yeah it seemed crazy i mean right you know i didn't not believe it because i've known him for a long time back back when a m was still in the big 12 and and he's a terrific reporter so you know i know he's not one of those guys that's just throwing stuff at the wall um so i very much believed it it just seemed surreal uh and and you know to to be honest with you i was on a little weekend getaway with some high school buddies of mine out in breckenridge colorado we're driving up the mountain um for a fun weekend trying to get away from everything and and uh here this this drops and so that was kind of a big thing obviously and then on the same drive up was when bill self um nku announced that he got covid so that was a that was a tough tough car ride for me because there's not the best service up there i had my computer with me but it was much much harder than it would be just sitting here at my desk or whatever so um yeah but you know i mean immediately you start thinking well maybe that's maybe that's jump in the gun maybe that's not true even though i think the the report was probably dead on and great reporting obviously um you still have to think man maybe not i don't know that seems crazy and then boy it didn't take any time to to get from zero to a hundred you know and all of a sudden by monday by tuesday it's it's a done deal and now we're in this game where uh realignment has sparked again and and and we we get to see and and cover and wait out this uh this staring contest that's gonna happen between the big 12 and those two schools for the rest of the contract which is is going to be fascinating to watch and to cover and um it's it's very clear uh what what what each is uh each is kind of feeling about the situation right now i'm sure o.u and texas would love to get out of here right now and that's uh that's obviously not going to happen but um the big 12 has to try to hold them as long as they can for all that money that they bring in so it's going to be as you guys know i mean it's going to be crazy um but i do think it's going to happen over a very long period of time and and you know as much as i sometimes don't like these types of things that just never go away and you kind of have to track every day all day for seemingly an endless amount of time um it is kind of cool because if it's ever a slow day and i just want to throw something up i'll just dive into an angle of realignment and people will eat it up and i won't make stuff up i'm not saying that but just you know take another look at something and and kind of see see uh look at it from this vantage point of that vantage point and and people will read it and jump all over it so there's good and bad with this uh this playing out over over the long term uh matt that's what we've been doing for the last two and a half weeks here yeah i mean just uh how it's been uh does ken just feel confident going forward like should the big 12 breakup which i i think right now the more likely thing is the eight stay together and go somewhere or make some kind of merger or whatever more than they you know shatter and dissipate across do they feel confident in their future somewhere else given uh that they've had i mean it's been a rough year especially for the football program uh off the field not just on right yeah you know i think that's what kansas is is confident you know and i think that they they're confident in even in football which is kind of crazy but but especially right now i think they feel like lance leipold is is a great hire and there's a lot of support behind that and he's obviously has a great track record so even from a football standpoint there's a there's a there's a vibe around here i guess that that kind of says you know man this this is probably better than than if les miles were the coach or if david beatty were still here or if charlie weiss was still here you know we actually have a guy that i'm sure you guys saw the list but i think it was pro football focus put out a list of the best college football coaches in the country right now and live pulled ranked ninth on their list i mean that's that's the guy at kansas so so yeah they're confident and then that's that's to say nothing of of the confidence that this um university and athletic department and fan base has from obviously their their historic and storied basketball program um which of course is led by bill self in a hall of famer and the kind of guy that can make you feel good about anything even in the most dire situation if he told you it was going to be okay you'd probably believe him and at least from the fan base perspective so um you know i think they believe that whatever their options end up being if if they do have to go out and find a new place um that that'll work out in their favor and and and i also think that you know the the idea of doing what you're doing or what you just said of the eight sticking together and and moving forward with some uh outside the box thinking and and some creativity and just trying to you know see what can become of a new and revamped big 12. i think there's some some early confidence that that wouldn't be the total doomsday scenario that a lot of people are painting it as now financially you know the numbers are numbers dollars are dollars and it's just impossible to to not look at something that pays you a lot less money as something that's not as good as what you had so even if they find a way to to to merge with somebody or bring in you know a handful of new new programs or whatever that it's just impossible to see this group of eights recovering uh what what what they're losing in in oklahoma and texas walking out the door so you know they're they're going to stand to lose some money if they stick together uh for me and and i think for a lot of people it's just a matter of how much i mean you know payouts averaging over the last couple of good years around 35 million for the big ten or the big 12 schools they're not going to get to that but could they get to 25 i mean if they could they'd probably do backflips and feel okay about that because there's been some numbers and and and some talk about as you guys have heard you know uh you end up in a in a non-power five or the mountain west or something like that and those numbers are way down seven to twelve or something like that you know so that that's a dramatic dramatic outcome and and so i think that helps make that 25 number even 20 seem a little more tolerable but yeah so long ago um such a such a long road ahead before any of that is known or or even we know the options but but i am excited i want to cover this thing and have some fun with it and and i i'm looking forward to seeing how creative and how outside the box the big 12 these eight schools can get i mean i think at this point you got nothing to lose so you know the wildest scenario you can come up with throw it out there and see if somebody will support it or see if it can work and if it can maybe maybe you hit this um unexpected jackpot and and things really go crazy from there so um i i don't know i don't have the slightest idea how it's going to go nor does really anybody but it's going to be a fun ride for sure no it's it's fascinating matt it really is even though there's some nerves obviously for a lot of fan bases it is fascinating stuff and to know that we're not anywhere close to the end i mean this thing's going to drag out for a while not just big 12 related but it looks like across the country uh uh you know in certain states politics come into play we saw oklahoma state in their reaction to oklahoma going to the sec uh and we saw k-state make a statement earlier this week we saw the texas legislature just have a dog and pony show is there any type of connection there with kansas and kansas state where it's you know kind of that package deal or anything along those lines or is that all completely separate and and if separate what what's do you think the pulse of the k-state fan because kansas and that basketball program i mean i think people know why they'd be appealing but kansas state seems like they're probably amongst the most nervous right now i think no question yeah one of my best friends uh and and his dad well his dad's a big donor at k-state and my buddy's a die-hard wildcat fan and the whole bit and you know they're very nervous and and and i think they represent that fan base very well um because um you know you you don't know what's going to happen and you do start to worry and and as much as the football brand over there is solid and and and looks to be on on solid ground i mean this isn't bill snyder taking you know teams to uh the brink of a national championship game like they had a handful of years ago you know so i think they are nervous um to answer your first question though um you know the the board of regents in the state is kind of obviously the the group that oversees all the public universities and and um you know they have a policy that went into place in march i believe it was fully adopted in march that that basically says that any school in in the state of kansas that that they oversee that that wants to even engage in any kind of negotiations or or have talks or anything about moving to a different conference is required to have the the permission basically of the board of regents before they begin any kind of talks so there's some speculation out there that that was put in place to protect k-state from k.u going rogue and and just running off and doing their own thing now um again you know that they have to request permission doesn't mean they'll get permission and that's where it could get ugly and you could you know really get the political part of this in in the great state of kansas you know so um you start looking at at well the the president or the chairman of the board of regents where did he graduate from school well guess what he's a k-state graduate and you know all these things so you start looking at that stuff and it i don't think there's anything that that is um unbreakable that would be tying them together i don't think it has to be a package deal but um there's certainly some people within the state and and um politically but also on the board of regents probably that you know are feeling like that's in the best interest of kansas and so i think there would be some strong movement towards doing whatever they can to make sure that that is is a possibility or or maybe even how it goes so um you know are there ways around those types of things i think the answer is always yes but i i think that new policy like i said it it came up a couple of years ago so this isn't this isn't anything that they they ramrodded through that was that was uh you know really reacting to what's going on right now um it was first proposed or or or brought to the board um like i said in maybe even 2018 so there was probably a little foresight then thinking about well realignment's going to come up someday and and maybe we should get ahead of this thing but i don't think it was a policy that was fully adopted until just this past march so it is there now and and uh like i said a minute ago that gives us one of those things that we could check on every day we can we can send a note to the board of regents uh director of communications and say hey has ku or k-state requested to negotiate with a new con conference and you know they say no and we could do that every day and i don't want to but uh at the same time i kind of do so we'll see where it goes for sure when that yes comes in that'll be all you know worth all the requests uh over time but man it's just so fascinating i mean this season when when texas goes to opposing stadiums or oklahoma goes to opposing states whenever they lose a game it's just going to be madness it's going to be incredible to cover for sure oh my gosh think about all the bad calls that are going to go against those schools i i i mean you know i don't have a dog in the fight but but i i like covering good stories and i'm excited to watch that because um you guys do you guys remember the old mark mangino ku football bcs rant have you seen that yeah oh yeah yeah that's coming that's that's coming i don't know if it'll be lincoln riley or sark down at texas or what but i feel like i feel like one of those guys maybe sometime in november is going to be tired of calls going against them and and they're going to you know have lost a game or got jobs so to speak on a bad call and i think their post game will be instead of bcs it'll be you know big 12. that's what happened big 12 and you know i'm off for it let's let's hear it let's see what that is because that mangino one around here especially still has tons of life and and legs and and i mean it's it's it's one of the greatest all-time rants i think in in big 12 history if not college history so it's uh i think we've got another one coming i i don't know who it'll be but i think i think it's coming matt tate large journal world kusportz.com love talking to matt every time we get to and uh we'll talk a lot during basketball season because that uh k.u team is low dead again uh and uh and believe me i hear it from my k.u grad girlfriend all the time uh how good the team's gonna be uh all right matt uh thanks a lot uh thanks for helping out with us always love talking to you my pleasure guys thank you take care of yourselves you too yeah matt tate love i love talking to matt one of one of the good guys in our business one of the great guys to talk to and yeah i can't wait for that and uh nebraska went through you know the nebraska a m game that was like nine to six or whatever it was you know i know the weather wasn't great or whatever but every call that went against nebraska against a m in that game i mean could i mean it could have every and it wasn't like blatantly bad stuff but it was every thing that could go either way went one way yep that's how it went and then when a m left the next year they experienced that a couple times or like everything it can go either way it's not going to go that way yeah i don't know how involved the official and all that will be although i just hadn't even crossed my mind until they brought that up that'll that'll be another very interesting aspect of this but man just the the tension and the anticipation and the build up for whenever they hit a town for perhaps the final time is going to be something else and you know just in the reaction you know depending on how successful or not successful either one of them are i mean i think we all expect oklahoma to be quite successful this year and i think texas will be pretty good uh but you know for every loss there's gonna be a lot of cheering around the big 12 for i mean like now i mean if you're a big 12 fan we you know i can speak for big 12 fans we've never been like the sec where it's like we hate each other all year round until one of them's playing for a title and then we chant the conference name like that's never been the big 12. uh but you know there there is that uh you know wonder in me as far as the conference already sort of hates each other but this year especially if oklahoma and texas are like in a playoff position the biggest critics will be the big 12 fans themselves like they won't want the big 12 to win a title if it's gonna come from either one of those two teams you know what i mean it's like we'd rather not have all that extra money if it's going to come via youtube then again we're talking about money so they probably would be cheering but yeah i mean like maybe they do but uh you know and again this could be more money on the way out the door but i like my buy out money yeah i'm i'm just i'm very curious to see how it how it changes throughout the throughout the year and how the the ebbs and flows of that and like i think steve sarkeesian and lincoln riley both have the demeanor to deal with it like think about if texas is going to the sec and tom herman had to deal with this he'd have a stroke a poor bastard i mean he would i mean it just that he's a little too high strong yeah a little too high strung and that would not have worked out well for him uh i think based on what we'd seen the last three years or so but yeah i think steve sarkeesian's got a real steady hand obviously he's been through a lot and i think that's shaped him into to a pretty good person who's got a good grip on things and i know he had a good rant that people were passing around yesterday about uh student athletes and what all's on their their shoulders and you know i've actually spoken about it just in different terms but he went on this whole thing about you know how back in the day after a bad game guy has a bad game and you know maybe a couple people outside the stadium or something jeer adam or say something but outside of that you don't hear it you don't hear anything about it and now like the moment you have a bad game you go to twitter and there's people actually talking directly to you telling you how bad you suck or how you cost them the game or and so he was really speaking on the mental health aspect and how texas is dealing with that and that's why i love that iran and them have been doing that now for for a while but uh yeah i think sarkeesian's a good hand and he'll he'll be good there he'll be solid there i think riley's a smart dude too but he he's shown a little bit you know here and there that he'll get a little pissed off and a little a little temporary so yeah i mean if there's something controversial that happens wouldn't be surprised to see either one of them pop off but let's see it happen first all right uh open up

Channel: 365 Sports

Views: 9,029

Rating: 4.8139534 out of 5

Keywords: Baylor, Baylor Bears, Baylor Athletics, College Football, College Basketball, Texas Longhorns, Oklahoma Sooners, Texas A&M Aggies, TCU Horned Frogs, College Football Playoff, CFP, CFB, Big 12 Football

Id: NJHswzWzlLw

Length: 20min 4sec (1204 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 07 2021