KSU's Gene Taylor isn't worried about further conference shifts
Kansas State athletics director Gene Taylor was recently added to the College Football Playoff selection committee as the Big 12 Conference’s representative following Texas’ and Oklahoma’s moves to the SEC. A week later, Taylor believes that the notion of further conference realignment is over, at least for now.
Taylor doesn’t expect more realignment in the immediate future
According to Football Scoop’s John Brice, Taylor said that most athletic directors believe that things have begun to stabilize from a realignment standpoint.
“Nothing’s going to happen this year, I’d be shocked,” Taylor said. “Obviously, I don’t think. I do have friends in other leagues and when I talk to those ADs that I’m close with, I’m hearing that they aren’t doing anything.”
When news initially broke of Texas and Oklahoma intending to leave the Big 12, the college football world panicked. Nobody knew what was coming next or how the news would impact the future of the sport.
“It started as kind of surprise and shock,” Taylor said. “Then you kind of go through, you’re upset and you’re angry. Then all of a sudden, there’s panic that sets in for a little while then you kind of begin to calm down and have more conversations with the other ADs in the room and learn as much as you can. The first week there was a lot of rumors. Oklahoma and Texas weren’t communicating well with either the presidents or ADs.”
After initial shock, focus turned to Big 12 future
Once things settled down a little bit, the Big 12 began to look forward about how the conference can move forward in the future.
“Once we found out more, and actually learned more about how the Grant of Rights work, all those things, you begin to start strategizing a little bit more and kind of get over the shock and the hurt and just say, ‘OK, we gotta move forward,’” Taylor said. “What’s the best route for us to take?
“I think the eight teams, it’s almost galvanized us a little bit. You had the issue in Texas where they had the other schools that testified in front of legislative folks. I think the more we talk about what our options are, what’s our best route for us to take, we keep saying it’s best for us to stay together. The longer we stay together, the more strength it gives us collectively.”
The Grant of Rights in the Big 12, in addition to in other conferences, is a key reason that Taylor believes that realignment talks are slowing down.
“We haven’t solidified anything or headed down a certain direction,” Taylor said. “Just for now, there is time on our hands although people sometimes don’t believe that. Because the Grant of Rights has four more years left on that through 2024-2025.
“The best thing for us is to stay together as a conference. Because if we start to fall apart, we lose the Grant of Rights and all the dollars that go along with that and doesn’t put us in a good position”
Image courtesy of: Ronald Martinez via Getty Images.