Volume 126, No. 41
Monday October 17, 2016
NEWS
A&C
PAGE 4
PAGE 13
Theatre review: “Ubu Roi”
Bernie to come back to FoCo
CSU pitch to Big 12 centered around academics Colorado State players run out of the tunnel prior to the Border Wars game against the Wyoming Cowboys. PHOTO BY ELLIOTT JERGE COLLEGIAN
By Chad Deutschman @ChadDeutschman
After months of speculation on whether or not the Big 12 conference would expand, the conferences’ Board of Directors will meet Monday in Irving, Texas, and are expected to vote on conference expansion, potentially adding two to four new members. When expansion talks began to heat up in July, there was a bevy of schools in contention. That list was cut to 11 schools in late August, Colorado State being among the 11 finalists. Expansion looked imminent early, however, current Big 12 television partners in ESPN and FOX are keen on putting a halt to any such expansion. Should a Big 12 expansion occur, the two media giants would pay an additional $20 million to each new member annually. The current terms of the Big 12’s media contract is scheduled to run through 2024-25.
While expansion is far from a done deal, CSU President Tony Frank’s push for CSU’s membership in the conference has been underway. Many want to focus on the athletics side of the argument, saying that the most competitive schools stand the best chance. President Frank’s pitch to the conference is centered on the academic fit between Colorado State and the Big 12. “Our case has been pretty simple. We believe we are a match for them in terms of academic peers,” Frank said. “We sit at or above the mean or the median for most of the major academic statistics as an institution. We believe that we would add value to their brand in an academic sense especially. We’ve got a wonderful history of not embarrassing ourselves or our colleagues with athletic scandals; we intend to keep that up. We think we would be a wonderful long-term partner that brings
value to (the Big 12).” Academics, not athletics, are the driving point behind CSU’s pitch to join the Big 12. If the Big 12 Board of Directors are interested in university’s that do not diminish their current academic prestige per member (118th national average according to U.S. News & World Report) as Frank suggests, CSU is a viable option. CSU ranks 127th nationally, which is higher than four current Big 12 members: Oklahoma State (149), Kansas State (146), Texas Tech (168), and West Virginia (175). When the Mountain West underwent conference realignment from 2010-13, President Frank was a part of the process. Should the Big 12 choose to expand and follow a similar path, athletic success takes a back seat to an institution’s academic reputation. “A lot of people have a tendency to look at this year and this football season and say ‘wow, look what Houston’s doing, of
INFOGRAPHIC BY DOUGLAS HAWKINS COLLEGIAN
CSU vs BIG 12 AVERAGE STATISTICS: BIG 12
AVERAGE
SCHOOL
CSU
(Mountain West)
28,155
ENROLLMENT
33,236
118
37-27
NATIONAL ACEDEMIC RANK
127
course Houston is in,’” Frank said. “In my experience … when we the Mountain West were going through conference realignment, losing members and adding new members, I can tell you that when we sat in the room and talked about it, athletic competitiveness was important, but more important to all of us was who our brand was going to be associated with.” From the standpoint of an athletic director, the decision for
58,165
$289.85 $289.85 M M
(2011-2015)
AVE. HOME ATTENDANCE LAST 5 YEARS
PROGRAM VALUE
32-32
22,242
$30.9 M
5 YEAR RECORD
a conference to add new members may have a lot to do with athletics. For the people who actually make the decision, university presidents and chancellors, reputation is more important. That is where Frank believes CSU fits in so well with the Big 12 and has led CSU’s charge with. “In many ways to the presidents of these universities, the most important thing entrusted to us is the institutions reputation,” see ACADEMICS on page 11 >>