Looking forward to UH joining the Big 12 L
ast September, UH’s longawaited dream of getting into a Power Five conference became a reality as the University announced it had accepted an invitation to join the Big 12. This announcement came after a waiting period of 25 years as the University has been bouncing around conference after conference looking for a permanent home among one of college sports’ power conferences after getting the short end of the stick when realignment happened following the disbandment of the Southwest Conference. In 2016, the Big 12 was rumored to be expanding, and UH was one of the schools that would be considered for one of the new spots. The expansion never happened, forcing the University to wait five more
By James Mueller years before it finally secured its seat at the table among college athletic’s elite conferences.
once the four schools officially join is still being discussed.
New Big 12
Timeline
Along with BYU, Cincinnati and UCF, UH will form the new Big 12 with Texas and Oklahoma set to leave for the SEC no later than 2025. Once all four schools officially join, the Big 12 will consist of 12 teams again for the first time since 2011 when Colorado departed for the Pac-12 and Nebraska went to the Big Ten. By the summer of 2012, the Big 12 was down to eight members as Missouri and Texas A&M left for the SEC. Whether the Big 12 will go to an eight or nine-game conference schedule in football as well as if it will divide the conference into two divisions
UH athletic director Chris Pezman and head football coach Dana Holgorsen were among those who attended the Big 12’s annual spring meeting in Scottsdale, Arizona, during the first week of May as UH prepares for its future in its new conference. The University hopes to begin competing in the Big 12 in the fall of 2023, but there are still details that need to be ironed out for that to happen as UH is currently under contract to remain in the American Athletic Conference through 2024. In order for the University to begin competing in the Big 12 in 2023, it must reach an
agreement with the AAC on the exit fee which UH is required to pay if it is to leave the conference early. The Houston Chronicle reported that the initial exit fee the AAC asked for was $45 million, but that number is still being discussed. While UH will continue to compete in the American Athletic Conference for the duration of the 2022-23 college athletic calendar, all signs point to the Cougars officially jumping ship to the Big 12 in the fall of 2023.
TRANSITIONS // MAY 2022
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