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26 May 2010
The word from both schools is that they plan to sit out any wave of conference reconfiguration triggered by the Big Ten's prospective expansion. The Irish prefer to stay independent in football. The Longhorns say they're committed to the Big 12. Athletics directors at both schools nonetheless acknowledge their resolve could soften if change is momentous — say the Big Ten expands to 16 schools and the Southeastern follows suit — and both programs are faced with being left out of a newly defined upper tier of college sports.
"It's not something we have to think about. It's something we are thinking about," says Texas' DeLoss Dodds.
"If we have our way, we're never going to get caught in a situation where we're not part of something that's really viable nationally. If that's the way the world goes, then we'll go in that world."
At Notre Dame, AD Jack Swarbrick says, "You've got to think about it and evaluate it, and make sure you don't wind up with a different division of college football all of a sudden. DeLoss and I have a similar perspective."
Another connection: Among the options Texas has explored, according to Dodds, is independence in football.
The 'Horns' program is one of the few with enough resources and national appeal to allow consideration of that move, though hurdles would loom. One is state legislators' insistence that Texas and Texas A&M remain a tandem. Another is the need for a conference home for basketball and other sports.
"We've had those conversations. We've thought about it. It's a possibility, but it's not something we're thinking about seriously," Dodds says. "You could do it in football. It hurts basketball badly unless you find a conference. It's got lots of flaws."
Still, he says, "Nothing's off the table."
