I note that KS is a member of the AAU. And that, by a scant margin, the school ranks just behind ISU in avg. annual research dollars, at the top of the B12 heap. It’s a geographic natural, and the home of the game itself. I imagine there are synergies to take advantage of in pursuing research projects jointly with other B1G unis. So there is all that. I also remember, OTOH, an incredibly damning summary of KS bball chicanery that circulated on message boards for a time whose veracity, at least in general outline, seemed to be accepted by people in the know.
I have privately exulted at the fact that Michigan, with Juwan Howard at the helm, is in the fairly unique position of not having to cheat. A lot goes into establishing that rather unique advantage for a revered member of the Black community, with the illustrious playing past and network that he brings to encounters with parents, etc.
Bring in Bill Self and I wonder: How might that confound the recruiting picture for Michigan and the rest of the conference?
Is there some way of forcing KS to clean house, or assume a more upright stance going forward? Joining the B1G would be a gift to KU, in terms of scholarly prestige, etc. A huge long-term boon to a school that is in fact pretty mediocre. Their football program under Les Miles was a joke. If the B1G means to establish itself as the more dignified and ethical counterpart to the SEC–and I continue to hope for something like that–then concessions from KS would want exacting on the front end. If we’re reading five years from now about Bill Self’s latest payola recording. . . yuck.
Does NIL move some of the garbage and dirty dealing out of the way?
Robert Anderson
Larry Nassar
Jerry Sandusky
Joe Paterno
Jim Tressel
Zach Smith / Urban Meyer
Jeff Long
Les Miles
All Big Ten fellas on that list. I understand Michigan and the Big Ten are the gold standard. Rightfully so, but I don’t think the bias should blind anyone from the fact that everyone’s hands have been filthy at one point or another. Kansas’ hands happen to be dirty at this moment, which makes it easy to point the finger.
There are three types of schools, in my opinion: those who have been caught, those who will be caught and those who will be caught again. College sports is, and has always been, a greedy mess.
Fair. I do think that the Sandusky/Nassar/Anderson crimes–while as or more awful–are of a slightly different woof and weft. But–pace colin–it’s ugly at KS right now. If you invite them in what changes do you demand? Seems like now, if these rumors have legs, is the time to demand them.
JMO but I don’t think that list is all the same thing, or that it’s helpful to group multiple different problems in the same category and just call it a thing.
This is not a hill I’m going to die on so this will be my last comment on it, but the point I’m trying to make is that the Big Ten is not some spotlessly clean example of all things just and virtuous. There are things that have happened in the B1G that point to sports being more important than academics or individuals. I’m not sure we have the moral ground to condemn Kansas as a university based on the actions of individuals. The same way that the individuals listed above do not represent the integrity of the specific universities that they are, or were, associated with. I don’t think it’s right to claim that Kansas is “rotten” and doesn’t belong in the Big Ten based on the actions of individuals who are involved in sports programs. There are schools in the Big Ten that have made decisions based on winning percentage that have had similarly ugly consequences. In short, we shouldn’t be throwing rocks from our big glass house.
As is always the case, if the money is right, Kansas will join the Big Ten. If it isn’t, they won’t. I don’t think that we should pretend that a potential addition to the Big Ten is about anything other than financial incentive for everyone involved. I don’t think Texas and Oklahoma are fleeing the Big 12 because the SEC mission statement is more in line with their philosophical beliefs as a learning institution. It’s about football and money, and also money, and the ability to generate more earnings in the form of money. Which is why it’s a dirty business. Don’t pretend that it’s about educational synergies between institutions. It’s about staying relevant in the 18-35 demographic, neutral site ESPN games in the Garden, and selling $75 sweatshirts for Christmas. Kansas to the Big Ten is marketable. People will watch Kansas play Michigan State twice a year. That is what makes these moves happen. No one, except for us, cares that Bill Self is dirty. People know that Kansas is good at basketball and they will tune in for 9pm tip on ESPN against the fighting Izzo’s because they’re good at basketball too and its the middle of January.
Is Kansas going to accept a graduated scale-up of payments like Nebraska, Maryland, and Rutgers had to? I think that deal exacerbated the inherent disadvantage those schools faced coming in.
This kind of avowal that only money/markets are all that matters and that anyone who doesn’t think so is kidding themselves. . . is popular, if a little nihilistic. All of the recent entries (MD, Rutgers, NB) were at the time, as noted above, members of the AAU. And a Kansas entry would preserve that fig leaf.
Talking to my wife last night (academic at FSU) and it’s clear that uni’s DO, increasingly, seek big research projects together. I’d be very surprised if that kind of thing isn’t on the docket in talks between B1G presidents–looking, for example, at how KS and NB could boost ag research, etc.–so here maybe we disagree.
But if we don’t CARE about corruption, let’s say so. And if we do, let’s keep speaking against it. And KS corruption is, even if papered over in the end, is undoubtedly an undercurrent of such talks.
I don’t have an understanding of how conference alignment impacts, and the accuracy of EB’s statement of the facts as regards to money being in the driver’s seat has prevented me from feeling the need to, but what would it be about AAU membership or the teams playing in-conference that facilitates shared scholarship? You apply for funding, you put the faculty membewrs and institutions on the application, and away you go, right? I’m sure it’s more complicated than that, but the Department of Energy isn’t evaluating grants to academia based on whether the professors’ schools’ basketball teams play each other, right?
I completely respect your opinion. I would love for any addition to be a purely educational decision. I guess I’m just jaded and tired of the corruption. I’m tired of universities pretending they are looking out for the best interest of kids and their education. Let’s call it what it is.
For clarity’s sake, here’s specifically what Kansas did and what I care about:
Per the article I linked to, the players are accused of committing assault and possibly attempted manslaughter, accusations KU found credible enough to pay the accuser to keep quiet. Miles not only condoned that behavior, but his own equally bad behavior is what disqualified him from the job at Michigan. Presumably Long, who knew Miles at Michigan, was well aware of what he was signing up for.
I.e. Kansas decided that dudes blatantly committing crimes were needed in order to resuscitate the football program and we have no idea how far up the chain approval for those actions went. To date, a full investigation of who knew what when has not been done as far as I’m aware.
I don’t care even a bit about Bill Self or $$ being paid to athletes or whatever. I also don’t care if it’s somehow hypocritical given the past misconduct of various members of the B1G. I don’t want to see what they did rewarded and I especially don’t want to see it before there’s evidence they’ve credibly changed.
From what I understand, it’s not that AAU membership causes incremental grant money, but that member institutions that have proven the ability to get gobs of cash for research are subsequently granted AAU status. Maybe that’s wrong, I dk.
I know football is where the majority of the money is but if you’re the Big 10 don’t you at least think of pivoting and becoming the premier college basketball conference at this point? Like no matter who you add you aren’t competing with an SEC that just added Texas, Oklahoma, and probably Clemson and FSU.
We already know Kansas to the Big 10 already had juice behind it so why not just send a strong asss offer out to Duke/UNC and some other prime time basketball programs across the country? So long as OSU stays in the conference you can send them to the playoff every year and build your brand as the best basketball conference in all the land.
From what I can tell from the reporting, B1G is actually making more $$. Texas & Oklahoma may change that somewhat, but the B1G fanbase is one that makes the other conferences very envious. SEC schools have only recently become similarly prestigious and big and their non-alumni fans tend to be much less wealthy. E.g. pretty sure the difference in endowments of their respective median schools is an order of magnitude.
I know there’s a large degree of sentimentality in my remarks here, but it’d be a shame to lose the ACC as a basketball conference. I still feel the loss of the Big East and specifically the days of Georgetown/Syracuse. There is room for only so many great national-scale rivalries in a conference. Rivalries are special.
I still think you can chase the goal of being the best basketball conference in the country though. If the conference is considering Western schools, why not Gonzaga?
I guess I should amend what I was saying. I was talking less about the actual money and more about the fact that I feel like realignment talk is driven mainly from a football point of view. My only point is that at this point the Big 10 could just as easily shift focus to basketball and really come away as the best in the land in terms of competitiveness of basketball.
Yeah. I guess I’m just feeling like the conference isn’t going to be the vehicle through which we address that problem. The conference can hardly manage to field competent referees or properly name its two divisions. Harumphing about Kansas would only invite allegations of hypocrisy. (And maybe some suggestions of booting Sparty out, which would be worth it for the amusement factor. I’ve now convinced myself Kansas is a great idea.)