IRVING, Texas — Texas and Oklahoma have yet to be heard.
It’s hard to imagine the Sooners and Longhorns as anything but the class of the conference and yet the stars of Big 12 football media days appear to have already taken their turn. Because Tommy Tuberville and Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe spoke Tuesday and, well, stole the show.
Tuberville is the first-year Texas Tech coach charged with taking the Red Raiders to the next level, even after Mike Leach took them to a level they’d never yet visited until he arrived in Lubbock.
All Beebe did was save college sports by keeping what’s left of the Big 12 together after Nebraska and Colorado announced their impending departures, holding back the dawn of the 16-school-super-conference era, maybe forever, even if he had to give Texas, Oklahoma and Texas A&M star treatment along the way (or not).
Of course, they already have a history, as Beebe was forced to give the dreaded public reprimand to Tuberville after the new Tech coach spoke on the radio about the financial disparities between conference institutions.
The new guy
Tuberville has more presence in front of cameras and bright lights than maybe the conference has ever seen. If they made a movie about his life, he’d have to play himself.
How good was he?
Well, the very first thing he said to about 75 print reporters reinforced exactly what earned him his reprimand, even as he did it in a way that only endeared him to his inquisitors without causing any additional ripples between him and Beebe.
“In television,” Tuberville began, referencing his year out of coaching and in the broadcast booth, “they taught us to speak our mind. I forgot to get that out of my mind a few weeks ago.”
With that, he was off and rolling and winning over the room. Apparently, he’s already won over his players.
“I went in and made it as tough as possible, physically and mentally,” Tuberville said. “Do everything right, be on time, you’ll pay the price if you don’t. And I’ve had not one complaint nor one player quit the team. That’s the only team out of the three (I’ve taken over) that nobody quit.”
Without appearing to congratulate himself, he spoke of bringing Ole Miss from also-ran status back to the top 25, and by voicing another opinion sure to make waves — that coaches and media should revote the final polls of the 2004 season if Southern Cal’s ultimately stripped of its title (won over Oklahoma at the Orange Bowl) — he reminded everybody Auburn also went undefeated that season, under his command.
The commish
If Tuberville’s duty was tough, taking over for Mike Leach, the most quotable coach of all time, Beebe’s wasn’t much easier.
Could he convince everybody that all the feel-good talk about the unity and the excitement of the soon-to-be slimmed down Big 12 has been on the level?
Pretty much, yeah.
He broke some news, too.
The conference championship game, despite Kansas State coach Bill Snyder’s nostalgic lust, will soon be finished. The NCAA requires 12 teams in a conference to have one, and Beebe can’t see petitioning the NCAA to change its bylaws or allow an exception. It might be different if the Big 12 added teams but …
“There’s absolutely no interest at this point in time by our members in expanding whatsoever,” he said. “… There’s so much excitement about continuing with the round-robin in football and the double round-robin in basketball and the other sports, that I think that’s going to carry the day for the foreseeable future.
He took a light swipe at the media for a fair amount of erroneous reporting as the conference teetered on the edge. But it was hardly harsh and his point that had to be made.
The remaining conference schools, like a baseball team on an early season road trip, stayed together by coming together. And, it wasn’t all about money. Since the Big 12 became 10, no financial formulas have been changed, no new legislative regime is in place.
Yes, Oklahoma, Texas and Texas A&M were given assurances their annual payouts from the conference would be around $20 million, perhaps a few million more than the rest, yet already the Sooners and Longhorns have said thanks, but no thanks, if it means receiving preferential treatment.
Anyway, you have to like what Beebe has to sell: a football league that determines its champion on the field, in the regular season, each squad taking on all comers; and a basketball league with hardly a weak program — men or women — taking on everybody, home and away.
Also, nobody sold their soul.
It’s a lot to like.
Clay Horning 366-3526 cfhorning@normantranscript.com
