Big 12: ‘Nothing imminent’ on potential expansion

It was reported Thursday the Big 12 was not “in a rush to make a move” toward expansion after Texas and Oklahoma previously announced their planned defections to the SEC set to officially occur in the summer of 2025. 

According to Heather Dinich of ESPN, a Big 12 subcommittee made up of Texas Tech athletic director Kirby Hocutt, Baylor athletic director Mack Rhoades, Iowa State president Wendy Wintersteen, and Kansas chancellor Douglas A.

Girod confirmed Friday they haven’t yet contacted other institutions about potentially joining the conference. 

“Not to my knowledge,” Hocutt told ESPN about such potential conversations. “There’s nothing imminent.” 

Hocutt added: “I think we’ve really got to be careful and thinking through this the sequencing of decisions and timeline in the months ahead. … We know that we’re going to continue to be an Autonomy Five conference. We still plan to have our continued standing in the College Football Playoff, so we need to think through how we’re going to strengthen this conference from a football standpoint.” 

As of late August, there’s no indication Texas and/or Oklahoma will look to break free of the Big 12 before their grant of rights agreement expires at the end of June 2025.

Meanwhile, the Pac-12 announced Thursday it also isn’t close to adding schools. 

“Following consultation with our Presidents, Chancellors and Athletic Directors, the Pac-12 Conference has made the decision to not pursue expansion of our membership at this time,” the conference said via a released statement. “This decision was made following extensive internal discussion and analysis, and is based on the current competitive strength and cohesiveness of our 12 universities. It is also grounded in our confidence in our ability as a conference to best support our student-athletes and to grow and thrive both academically and athletically.”