Have you had enough of conference realignment yet? Too bad.
Earlier in the summer, we talked about what life would be like for TCU in the Big East, which may be even more of a theoretical exercise now than we imagined at the time. We found out this weekend that Texas A&M has finally freed itself from the shackles of its Big 12 oppressors and will be heading to the Southeastern Conference in 2012.
Let’s project how this move plays out for the Aggies from a purely competitive standpoint.
Allen Kenney: Initially, I thought this was a colossal blunder by A&M. The Aggies haven’t even won a division title in the Big 12 since 1998. If they can’t hang with Oklahoma and Texas, how does moving to an even tougher conference improve their lot?
Let’s talk Moneyball for a second, though, and what we can lean from Billy Beane and the sabermetrics geeks here. First, of course, the Oakland A’s of the early 2000s taught us all about the competitive advantage that can be gained through the magic of steroids. Do with that what you will, Aggies
More importantly, Beane’s teams benefited from a fresh approach to building a baseball roster. Oakland switched it up on the rest of Major League Baseball and injected new life into franchise that was going nowhere. Although the A’s ultimately fell short of winning a World Series, Beane changed their fortune by defying convention.
Maybe a fresh approach is what A&M really needs. Given that the Aggies keep coming up behind OU and Texas in recruiting battles, why not take a shot on trying to sell Lone Start State prospects on playing in the SEC?
Honestly, given A&M’s history in the Big 12, I’m starting to believe switching conferences is worth a shot.
Tom Perry: No way this is a good move from a competitive outlook.
Texas A&M will be lucky to be Mississippi State or even South Carolina in the SEC. All they are doing is helping Alabama, Auburn, LSU, etc. recruit even better in Texas.
I’m going to use Penn State as an example. I have always felt that Penn State’s inclusion in the Big Ten hurt Joe Paterno’s recruiting in the east. He used to own the northeast and western Pennsylvania. I think the move to a midwest conference caused some serious damage. It’s also a big reason why I think Texas and Oklahoma really don’t wan to go to the Pac-12.
I could see the same happening to Texas A&M.
Kevin McGuire: I am usually reluctant to bring in the recruiting aspect to these kinds of discussions but as far as Texas A&M is concerned it may actually be something that plays in their favor and hurts them all at the same time. The idea of selling a kid on playing in the SEC might be enticing, depending on the recruit. If it comes down to a kid choosing between Texas, Oklahoma and Texas A&M then the Aggies certainly have one thing in their favor. That being that they can say they’ll be playing against the best of the best and will get to play against programs like Alabama, Auburn, LSU and perhaps Florida, and Georgia. Texas and Oklahoma get to say, well, Texas and Oklahoma.
But the point about Penn State is a good one. While I believe that recruiting has evolved the past couple of decades to the point where it has grown to be more national than ever, Penn State has certainly seen more competition in their own state since joining the Big Ten. Since joining the conference in 1993 the recruiting efforts of Ohio State, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa and more have increased in the Keystone State and a number of highly recruited players have opted to go to play for the Buckeyes and Wolverines instead of the Nittany Lions. It has been one of the biggest negatives Penn State fans have pointed to in suggesting Joe Paterno is hurting the program. The same will certainly happen to Texas A&M.
Not that SEC schools aren’t recruiting in the state of Texas anyway, but now those SEC schools will get to sell a kid on the fact that they’ll be in the SEC and get to play in their home state every so often. And I agree that Texas A&M will struggle to compete in the SEC, especially if paired in a division with LSU and Alabama.
Aaron Torres: Just for the sake of argument, let me play devil’s advocate here.
On the one hand, yes I do think that to some degrees it will help recruiting. To some star-struck kids, the idea of playing in Gainesville, Tuscaloosa and Baton Rouge every other weekend will be enticing.
But conference affiliation is only one part of the game, the other is this: For every Texas A&M recruiter selling the virtues of the SEC, there’s going to one from Texas, Oklahoma and Baylor selling the virtues of not playing there. And that’s something I think that people don’t factor in enough when they think about A&M to the SEC.
Understand, I’ve never been recruited, so it’s only conjecture, but the more people I talk to and listen to about the subject, the more I realize that a lot of people, not just the recruit, have their hand in where a kid ends up going to school. Parents want to see their sons play, and so too do uncles, aunts cousins and grandparents. So while Mike Sherman is sitting in a kid’s house and talking to the recruit about playing Alabama and Auburn, Mack Brown and Bob Stoops are going to be also talking to the parents about playing at Alabama and Auburn, and how they’ll never seen little Johnny play. And I think it’ll work.
At the end of the day, people seem to forget that these are 18-year-old kids that we’re talking about here. And for every one Brian Cushing that’s willing to move all the way across the country to play football, there are 100 Colt McCoy’s, Matt Barkley’s and Tim Tebow’s that want to play in their own backyard, and have mom and dad come to every one of their games, home and away. In the direct case of Texas A&M, going to the SEC might not impact the kid that lives an hour from College Station, but for the ones that live 6-7 hours away, and have two or three Big XII stops that are easy for mom and dad to get to, I think it will directly effect them.
So to answer Allen’s original question, it’s definitely a unique concept, but I’m not sure I’m buying it. Just because the last 10 years in the Big XII didn’t work out well, doesn’t mean the next 10 wouldn’t have been better.
Once they go to the SEC, I don’t think it’ll matter.
