Wow, isn’t Texas and Oklahoma throwing a wrench into the collegiate sports landscape. As this article explains, (Conference Realignment ) Oklahoma and Texas are in the talks of moving out of the Big 12 soon. Now right now, sports media is only talking about football and the two schools that can potentially move, but there is way more to resolve here.
The first thing we have to resolve is what will happen to the Big 12 once the schools leave? For wrestling, the Big 12 members are WVU, Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, and Iowa State. They also have affiliate schools which are Utah Valley State, North Dakota State, South Dakota State, Wyoming, Northern Colorado, Fresno State (Maybe), and Missouri who was just added to the conference for wrestling a few months ago (Missouri to the Big 12). But as a whole the conference has 10 member schools and that’s what keeps a conference alive. Now with the departure of two schools, that would leave 8 remaining which means the conference can either add schools or implode (most likely). This can create a scrambling effect with other schools so how can realignment shape college wrestling?
Who’s on the move?
WVU, Oklahoma State, and Iowa State will be on the lookout for new conferences to join. For the sake of argument let’s say they target Power 4 Conferences now that the 5th is gone. Where could they go?
West Virginia – ACC and Big Ten
Iowa State – Big Ten and Pac-12
Oklahoma State – Big Ten and Pac-12
For WVU the ACC makes the most sense. It will realign them with Pitt which is a big rivalry no matter the sport and will generate revenue. Plus I think WVU has a great shot with recent recruiting to compete in the ACC. WVU to the Big Ten is purely geographically based and I don’t see the Big Ten as the first choice.
For Iowa State the Big Ten makes sense. It guarantees that Iowa vs Iowa State competitions will continue and will give them a little better standing in the state of Iowa recruiting-wise because when we think of wrestling Big Ten is king. By joining the Big Ten it can cut into Iowa’s recruiting which can balance out the competition, maybe. The Pac-12 only makes sense if the rest of the Big 12 members decide the West Coast is the best option.
Now Oklahoma State is interesting. Out of the three schools, OK State is going to instantly make whichever conference they join better. The Big Ten would make sense if WVU and Iowa State join, I don’t think it’s a solo move. The Pac-12 I think is the fit. The competition will be there but OK State will not have to step in and take on a powerhouse like the Big Ten. I also believe that with the move to the Pac-12, OK State can open up a California recruiting network that can prove valuable.
For the affiliate schools, other than Missouri the Pac-12 will be the move most definitely just based on geography. Missouri will now be in a big pickle, even bigger than what they were in 2012 when the school left for the SEC and the wrestling team joined the MAC. The move will probably be the Big Ten. I think to stay competitive recruiting, the Big Ten will be the better move. The MAC has already been tried and that experiment didn’t work that well for Missouri in March, sorry MAC fans but it’s true.
Watch out for Kansas, insignificant as they are in most sports not basketball, they are rumored to be pursuing a Big Ten merger. Kansas might pursue a wrestling program at that point so maybe a program could be added there.
What about Oklahoma?
I know that Oklahoma wrestling is not on the minds of most people when it comes to this move but it’s on my mind. There are two outcomes to this move and one is great and one is terrible. How about the terrible first.
The terrible outcome would be the loss of the program. Obviously, the MAC is always an option and is probably the answer, but long term Oklahoma might want to replace the sport with something else. I know Missouri is in the same boat but Oklahoma will try to mold themselves around their new conference and will try to compete at the highest level in every sport.
Now for the great outcome. This would be the growth of the sport in the south. This is a dream outcome for wrestling fans and the sport. With the continuing success of Louisiana, Georgia, and Florida high school wrestling at national tournaments it makes some wonder why in-state schools would not want to try to attempt to keep those wrestlers in-state. This could provide the spark for schools like Florida, Georgia, and LSU to add wrestling programs. This growth could cause more competition and spread the wealth of wrestling out to different parts of the country. The sport of wrestling could use the eyeballs so this could be just what we need.
Is This Move Good for Wrestling?
Is it good? Yes and no. First I’ll give the yes and it’s good because the competition will get even better. It is known that most of the Big 12 schools are not that competitive at a national level and I do think it is because they are so far away from the key recruiting states like PA, NJ, and Ohio just to name a few. And people can say “Iowa has a roster full of PA guys”, and yes that is true but they are attached to the Big Ten. See I am from the state of Pennsylvania and if I want to go wrestle and I wanted to leave home I would choose a Big Ten school because there is an opportunity to wrestle at PSU, Maryland, Rutgers, and Ohio State where my parents are more likely come to a match or two than if I decided to go to Oklahoma State. What I am saying is recruiting will get even more spread out than it is and if a West Virginia joins the ACC more high school wrestlers will be willing to go there because they won’t have to travel halfway across the country for a January dual.
Now for the bad. Pitting top-tier competition together will always be entertaining for the fans and some might see that as a great thing. Who doesn’t want to see WVU vs Pitt or OK State vs PSU every year but there are trade-offs to everything and this means that mid-major programs will be on the chopping block. Look we can lie to ourselves and think that centralizing the top-tier competition together will be great for the sport but mid-major schools will suffer. I argue that for any sport to be competitive an underdog is needed not only to keep the fans watching but to keep the top-tier competition on edge. If the smaller programs start to struggle in recruiting, the athletic programs might decide to cut wrestling from the program. Now it takes other things other than success but the upside is important here and small schools aren’t going to benefit from these moves. Maybe some don’t care and feeling that cutting weight is good, but with programs already being cut more than being added. It puts our sport in a tough spot. Do we want to make it a sport where top-tier competition is all we care about? I don’t as a fan and as someone who wants to cover wrestling.
What is Next?
I want everyone to understand that all of this is about how motivated, and how willing are these two schools to bend to get out of the Big 12. And just because the SEC announces Texas and Oklahoma to the SEC is a done deal, doesn’t make it immediate, it’s better explained here: (Realignment Explained) but to sum it up the Big 12 has media rights of these two schools till 2024-2025 so it’s a guaranteed thing that it will happen in 2025 but the schools will want to push for the move sooner than that and possibly it can happen in 2022. There are hoops to jump through but once Oklahoma and Texas leave, the others can then go because unless schools are added to the conference, the Big 12 will no longer exist. This will make it easier to leave and that’s the only way you can see rapid movement as I’ve discussed.
This is a momentous shift in the college sports landscape and I promise you, we aren’t done yet.