Pac-12 expansion to add Texas State completes conference’s long Lone Star pursuit

It took years five swings and a near-death experience but the Pac- in the end is planting its flag in Texas As it exists nowadays the conference is a shell of the version that originally attempted to raid the Lone Star State And Texas State is certainly not Texas or Texas A M or even Texas Tech But a quest that began four commissioners ago was completed Monday when the Bobcats accepted an invitation from the rebuilt Pac- to join the conference next summer as the eighth all-sports member Texas State has competed in the Sun Belt for the past years You can t go wrong being associated with football in the state of Texas disclosed an industry source who has tracked the Pac- s rebuilding project since Washington State and Oregon State were left adrift two years ago The conference first set its sights on the state in when then-commissioner Tom Hansen made a play for Texas and Texas A M But politics intervened Ann Richards who was then the governor mentioned Baylor s my alma mater and they re going wherever Texas and Texas A M go Hansen described the Orange County Register in near the end of his tenure in charge of what was then the Pac- Then in a less clear message but still pretty well defined we were communicated the legislators who control the oil money that goes to the Texas universities was controlled either by alumni of or representatives of the area of Texas Tech and now there was a group of four schools and we were not interested in going from to so we noted thank you anyway Two decades later Hansen s successor Larry Scott stunned the college sports world with a bold pursuit of not only Texas but Oklahoma and others as he tried to create the first super-conference The plan fizzled which didn t stop Scott from trying again the following year A disagreement over revenue distribution derailed the attempt A dozen years passed before the Pac- considered another Texas school but it wasn t the Longhorns or Aggies During the purgatory period of - after USC and UCLA informed their move to the Big Ten then-commissioner George Kliavkoff put SMU in the crosshairs along with San Diego State The plan never materialized In August of Kliavkoff s wayward strategy sparked the collapse of the -year-old conference and the Mustangs eventually ended up in the ACC Texas State s acceptance Monday of the Pac- s invitation comes on the third anniversary of the thunderbolt from the L A schools The Bobcats won t do for the reconstructed Pac- what SMU would have done for the weakened version in much less generate a sliver of the impact the Longhorns would have provided years ago But in selected regards their presence will serve the same purpose just on a relative basis They allow the Pac- to expand its footprint into the Central Time Zone which creates more flexibility for kickoff and tipoff times and to establish a foothold in a state that cares more about football than any town city region or state west of the Rockies Texas State is located in a booming corridor between Austin and San Antonio It has students a president Kelly Damphousse committed to investing in athletics and a head coach GJ Kinne who will walk into the Pac- as one of the highest-paid coaches in the conference He earns million annually The Bobcats are one of just teams with bowl wins in each of the past two seasons They have embarked on a million renovation of their football performance center and invested million into athletic facilities and infrastructure in the past three years Related Articles Pac- expansion Texas State makes it official as eighth football member of rebuilt conference Recap NCAAT expansion nears NBA Draft aftermath Pac- invites Texas St Mailbag Pac- invites Texas St the CBS deal the X factor MW moves CFB recruiting BYU lands Ryder Lyons Colorado awakens Oregon grabs a QB Pac- invites Texas State as critical th all-sports member As the Pac- s flagship school in Texas we proudly embrace the opportunity and responsibility that comes with it Texas State athletic director Don Coryell commented in a news release confirming the move into the Pac- Texas State isn t Texas and this Pac- certainly isn t that Pac- But Monday s move orchestrated by Pac- commissioner Teresa Gould offers real estate where football matters money flows and promising exists The conference needed an eighth football school to meet the Football Bowl Subdivision certification requirements by next summer But the expansion strategy that has played out over the past nine months was about the s as well about acquiring the pieces that could provide the greatest long-haul value College football could undergo another massive restructuring early in the next decade when a series of media rights contracts holding the sport together expire within a two-year window A super-league could form with the top or football schools The SEC and Big Ten could expand again The ACC and Big could merge Football could break away from the other sports Nobody knows what s coming but everyone believes something s coming The current state of play isn t sustainable given the competitive legal and financial pressures How the Pac- fits into the next era is anyone s guess But with the move into Texas the conference took a small but substantial step to fortifying itself for the next round of realignment chaos Send suggestions comments and tips confidentiality guaranteed to wilnerhotline bayareanewsgroup com or call - 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