The Big 12 is planning on expanding to, um, 12 teams soon, as reported by just about everyone. So the obvious question that people are asking is which universities, exactly, will be the lucky two to find a golden ticket in their chocolate, so to speak? Lots of names have been thrown around, but what makes this round of expansion so interesting is that the Big 12 has basically opened up the floor for interested parties to nominate themselves. It made it almost irresponsible for any athletic director from a non-Power 5 university to not express interest. Because of that, the Big 12 is reportedly going to listen to the pitches of a whopping 18 universities, including UNM, before making a decision.
Because we’re a UNM Lobos blog, and not, say, an ECU Pirates blog, we’re clearly most interested in what this means for the Lobos. First off, this isn’t the first time that UNM has flirted with the idea of joining the Big 12, with the most notable occurrence happening in 1994, when the conference was supposedly close to adding both UNM and BYU to the conference. If we can take a quick step back here, can you imagine what UNM athletics would look like right now had they been a member of the Big 12 for the past 20 years? Hindsight can be rough.
One question we have to ask ourselves is whether or not the Big 12 makes sense for UNM. After all, of the Power 5 conferences, the Big 12 is currently in the shakiest position and, especially with the perceived lack of great expansion candidates, it always feels like there is chance that Texas and Oklahoma will pull a Texas A&M and bolt to the SEC or Pac-12. To me, that has recently made the Pac-12 more desirable and all things being equal, I’d rather see the Lobos in that conference. But, that’s not on the table right now, and there’s no guarantee that the Pac-12 will expand again any time soon. So, if the Big 12 comes calling, then the Lobos should absolutely answer the call. College sports are becoming a mix of “haves” and “have-nots.” If the Lobos don’t find themselves in one of the Power 5 conferences in the relatively near future, they’ll be in danger of permanently being on the outside looking in.
Anyway, I guess the most important question for the Lobos is how much sense do they make for the Big 12? As I see it, here are some pros and cons:
Pros
Geography
To be honest, in terms of proximity to the other schools, most of the schools make sense geographically (Hi UConn!), so this isn’t a huge advantage for the Lobos. But, where the Lobos do shine is their lack of competition in the region. While a lot of the other schools on the list are firmly planted in territory that effectively belongs to other schools and conferences, New Mexico is basically just UNM territory. If the Lobos were added in expansion, it would in all likelihood immediately become Big 12 territory too.
I think that, if anything, the Big 12 might be able to learn some lessons from the Mountain West in this regard. After all, the main argument I remember for the conference to add San Jose State was that it would increase the conference’s footprint into a major metropolitan area. Turns out, when you’re having to compete against established brands, like Stanford or Cal, that concept just doesn’t work. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that most people in the Bay Area who didn’t attend SJSU couldn’t care less about the Mountain West. With that in mind, I’m honestly not sure if adding, let’s say, USF is going to put much of a dent in the Florida market, not while Miami still exists.
Academics
Let’s look at the list of schools being considered that are also R1 (Highest Research Activity), which are universities with a high level of funding and research output. Incidentally, that’s what 7 of the 10 currently Big 12 schools also are:
- Colorado State
- Houston
- UCF
- Tulane
- USF
- Temple
- Cincinnati
- UConn
- UNM
I can’t pretend that UNM is the best school on this list, academically, but it would profile similarly to some of the universities already in the conference. Several of the other schools that are under consideration – *cough* Boise State *cough* – would not fit in quite as well in the classroom. But, this is sports we’re talking about, and the Big 12 seems to have the least emphasis on academics of any of the Power 5 conferences, so who knows how much weight this will actually carry. Because it’s the university presidents making the decision, it might, but they’re also concerned with dollars and cents, I’m sure.
Non-football Athletics
Even with a couple of down years, the men’s basketball team has a solid reputation as a program and would slot in nicely with the schools currently in the Big 12. Plus, they would likely make the NCAA Tournament with more regularity when the worst potential loss on their conference schedule becomes Texas Tech, which in the current Mountain West would be one of the best potential wins.
However, although most of the focus in general is on men’s basketball and football, the rest of the athletic program, as a whole, is doing pretty well. Baseball seems poised to break through the Regionals any year now, men’s soccer has its sights set on a national championship, skiing and women’s cross country have already won a national championship, and most of the rest of the programs are pretty healthy and competitive right now. For whatever faults we want to place on Paul Krebs, he’s done a pretty good job across the board at building a well-rounded athletic department.
Cons
Football
Unfortunately, this is the single factor that turns UNM from a reasonable option to one that is being mocked by some. Aside from last season, it is true that Lobo football has been largely bad for most of the past decade. Rather than being a team that consistently makes bowl games, the Lobos became the sort of team that other teams would pay to play just so they could have an easy win towards bowl eligibility on their schedule. I’m largely optimistic about the future of the program right now, but if we’re being completely fair, no one is going to be impressed with any football conference that adds UNM right now. On top of all that, University Stadium, for all of its charm, its updated playing surface, and its new scoreboard, is still worse than a lot of high school stadiums in Texas. If we’re going to play with the big boys, we’ll probably need some wealthy benefactor to come swoop in and pay for a large-scale remodel. All I know is that I haven’t won the Powerball yet, so that person is unlikely to be me.
Lack of Name Recognition
As familiar as all of us are with the Lobo brand, it doesn’t really have much reach outside of our state. Take, for example, ESPN’s inability to distinguish us from New Mexico State. That might be the single largest and most influential figure in sports right now, and they can’t seem to figure out that there are two universities in the state. And, because football is what is driving everything right now, if people are aware of the program right now, it’s more likely that it’s because they saw us in a “Bottom 10 Rankings” type of article than anything else.
I’m sure that there are more pros and cons that we can list, but it might be irrelevant. After all, if the Big 12 is looking to boost the perception of the conference’s football, we don’t have a chance. However, as much as any of the schools that are interested do, I think that UNM offers some of the greatest long-term potential for both athletics and academics. If I were Paul Krebs, my pitch would be that not only is UNM a solid choice for several reasons right now, it still has room to grow and could be an excellent investment by the conference that could pay dividends in the future.
Or just send them some Hatch green chile. Texans go crazy for that stuff.