12 teams in the Big 10?

[Big Dave2]

Alvarez: Big Ten to push for 12th team

Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez says the Big Ten will soon make a more aggressive push toward adding a 12th member.

Speaking to Wisconsin's athletic board on Friday, Alvarez, the former longtime Badgers football coach, said the conference already has investigated possibilities for expansion "from all over the country." And though he places no timetable on the search, Alvarez thinks conference commissioner Jim Delany will respond to a group of athletic directors and coaches who want expansion.

"I have a sense he is going to take this year to really be more aggressive about it," Alvarez told the board. "I just think everybody feels [expansion] is the direction to go, coaches and administrators."

Penn State football coach Joe Paterno has been the most vocal advocate of a 12th Big Ten team, and he has support from several of his fellow coaches.

A 12th team would allow the Big Ten to split into divisions and hold a conference championship game. The Big Ten typically ends its football season two weeks before the other BCS conferences, though the addition of a permanent bye week in 2010 will shrink the gap by a week.

"We're irrelevant for the last three weeks of the football season because we're not playing," Alvarez said Friday.

Paterno has stumped for expansion several times, but Delany -- who was unavailable for comment -- told ESPN.com this spring that the league has no immediate plans to add a 12th team.

"There's not an obvious move," Delany said in May. "There might be to some coaches, including Coach Paterno, but it's not as obvious to the university presidents and to the athletic directors.

"There are a lot [of schools] that could take a lot away, but there aren't a lot that could bring so much to make the choice an easy one. You have to have a lot to make something go like this, and it's broader than really a championship game or a basketball tournament."

The Big Ten most recently expanded with Penn State, which began competing as a league member in football in 1993. The league has made runs at Notre Dame but hasn't had serious discussions for several years.

[zamboni]

Iowa State makes more sense than anyone, but doubt the Big 12 would let them go

[zepman]

Other than location...what does Iowa State bring to ADD to the Big Ten. Nothing...

[guideman]

There just aren't many major independents left in the midwest. So whomever it would be, would most likely already be in another converence.

The Big 10 also requires all it's members to compete in all major sports. That would also eliminate a number of schools in the midwest that only compete at the D-1 level in a single sport.

"Ace"

[JBMasterAngler]

Iowa State brings to the conference another loss for the gophers every year

Personally I'd like to see penn state move to the big east, and the big ten picks up notre dame and iowa state. Will never ever happen, but that's what I'd do.

[james_walleye]

The Big 10 needs to add that 12th team and split into two 6 team divisions and play that conference championship game.

[Big Dave2]

Iowa State brings to the conference another loss for the gophers every year

Personally I'd like to see penn state move to the big east, and the big ten picks up notre dame and iowa state. Will never ever happen, but that's what I'd do.

Why wouldn't you want to keep Penn State AND pick up Notre Dame? It'll never happen but that would be the best thing that could happen to this coference.

[AuggieDawg11]

If we lose Penn State, everyone is losing an important strength of schedule piece in conference play. I would rather see the Big Ten pick up ND over Iowa State. This conference needs a championship to keep the best teams relevant and up to game speed going into BCS games.

[zamboni]

If Notre Dame came to the Big 10 I can promise you their contract with NBC is no good and they would have to play on the Big 10 network. NEVER happen. That contract is worth alot of $$$. Either Iowa State or make North Dakota a Div 1 school. They have a great hockey team and their football team isn't half bad either.

[james_walleye]

I don't think Notre Dame will give up their "premium" schedule that they play right now...

[zepman]

Notre Dame may someday lose their "premium" package they have with the network and then, and only then, will they consider coming on board the Big Ten.

Notre Dame is the 12th team...I don't think there are any other candidates out there that would interest the conference as them. Notre Dame would be a huge addition to the current conference and I hope they can someday get it done.

[james_walleye]

Notre Dame may someday lose their "premium" package they have with the network and then, and only then, will they consider coming on board the Big Ten.

Notre Dame is the 12th team...I don't think there are any other candidates out there that would interest the conference as them. Notre Dame would be a huge addition to the current conference and I hope they can someday get it done.

Im talking premium schedule where they get to play top Pac 10 teams, top big 10 teams, top SEC teams and so on. Why would they give that up to come to the Big 10 and play the likes of MN and Indiana.

[zamboni]

We could get a Div II school like NW Mo State Bearcats and make them a Div I school and watch them beat the Gophers every year. Believe me, they would, too.

[Double D]

Iowa State might bring average football, but in other sports they would bring a lot.

That being said, ISU will never happen. Maybe Missouri?

DD

[JBMasterAngler]

Geographically speaking I just think it's more fitting to have penn state in the big east. They could create bigger rivalries playing the likes of pittsburgh and cincinnati.

Iowa state would finish around the .500 mark in football in the big ten on a consistant basis. But wrestling is where they'd really come into play...that'd be a 3rd national power house in the conference.

[Big Dave2]

Geographically speaking I just think it's more fitting to have penn state in the big east. They could create bigger rivalries playing the likes of pittsburgh and cincinnati.

Iowa state would finish around the .500 mark in football in the big ten on a consistant basis. But wrestling is where they'd really come into play...that'd be a 3rd national power house in the conference.

I understand what you are saying and I agree but I think it would be a huge step backwards for the Big 10 to lose Pen State.

[zamboni]

No way Mizzou comes to the Big 10. The draw of KU and KSU vs Mizzou games is huge. Both basketball and football

[Big Dave2]

Five Teams the Big Ten Should Target for Expansion by Josh Brewer

The cries for Big Ten expansion go back a couple of years when Penn State's Joe Paterno said the conference was at a major disadvantage with only 11 members.

Paterno's point is a valid one. The Big Ten’s football schedule ends three weeks before the other major conferences. Adding a 12th member may also make the conference a more serious threat in college basketball.

This week, the outcry became more substantiated. Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez has joined Paterno, claiming Big Ten officials will put a heightened interest in expanding the conference to 12 schools in the near future.

Notre Dame is the logical choice, but the school declined an invitation to the conference in 1999 and won't be giving up its independent status in football anytime soon.

Conference bylaws require any potential Big Ten additions to meet two major requirements.

First, the school must be located in, or directly next to, current Big Ten territory.

Second, any new school must adhere to the conference's high academic standards. Each of the 11 current member schools belong to the Association of American Universities and rank in the top 75 of U.S. News & World Report 's list of top American research institutions.

Paterno went as far as naming a couple programs that could be targeted under the conference's expansion plan. I'll raise Paterno by giving you five schools Big Ten officials should target as their next member.

5. University of Cincinnati

Brian Kelly put the Bearcats football team on the map before bolting for Notre Dame. Bob Huggins helped bring the men's basketball team back to prominence. The women's basketball program is fairly competitive.

But quite simply, the university's academic rankings just aren't high enough. Cincinnati is the only school on this list that isn't an AAU member or ranked in the top 85 of U.S. News and World Report 's aforementioned list.

And finally, Cincinnati just joined the Big East in 2005. Another conference jump seems highly unlikely.

4. Iowa State University

ISU is quite possibly a parallel version of Cincinnati. The university's academics are good enough but the football and men's basketball teams are not very good.

The Cyclones' women's basketball team, however, is pretty competitive. The wrestling team is one of the country's most successful, boasting many conference and national championships.

If ISU were to join the Big Ten, they would join Wisconsin as the league's only schools not fielding a baseball team.

3. Syracuse University

The University of Syracuse is the first of three very real possibilities for the Big Ten.

Academics are clearly not an issue—Syracuse ranks higher than nearly half of the current Big Ten member schools in USN&WR 's list.

The problem for Syracuse is in the athletic department, most specifically, the men's basketball team. There's little doubt the Orange is one of the country's best under Jim Boeheim, but what reason(s) would the university have to move out of the Big East?

Syracuse is one of the best teams, year in and year out, in the country's deepest men's basketball conference. That clout alone likely would allow the school to stay put.

2. Rutgers University

Many Big Ten expansionists want to widen the league's footprint instead of condensing within the current territory. What better place to expand than to a school with ties to the New York television market?

Rutgers would add another high-middle class football program to the conference. The Scarlet Knights likely wouldn't be threatening Ohio State and Penn State for conference supremacy any time soon, but would look to be another version of Wisconsin or Iowa.

The conference's women's basketball clout would rise dramatically. C. Vivian Stringer leads one of the nation's best women's basketball teams and would compete with the likes of Ohio State and Michigan State for Big Ten, and national, bragging rights.

1. University of Pittsburgh

Adding the Panthers might not extend the conference's national footprint, but adding Notre Dame wouldn't have either.

Pittsburgh brings it all: a strong football program, an up-and-coming women's basketball program, a top-notch men's basketball program and outstanding academics.

Even more, the Panthers could intensify their rivalry with Penn State while creating a potential rivalry with Ohio State, whose campus is just a three-hour drive down I-70 away.

With the Panthers on board, the conference would have to split its 12 teams into two six-team divisions, a la the Big 12 and SEC.

The best and most logical alignment would be a North and South divisions. The alignment would look something like this:

Big Ten North: Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Northwestern, Michigan, and Michigan State.

Big Ten South: Illinois, Purdue, Indiana, Ohio State, Pittsburgh, and Penn State.

Only time will tell us who will be added to the Big Ten, if expansion even becomes a reality. If logic prevails, the University of Pittsburgh will jump out of the Big East to immediately become an athletic force in the Big Ten.

[LMITOUT]

Will they please change the name of the conference if they go to twelve? Even now it's a bit ridiculous.

[Big Dave2]

Dirty Dozen?

[LMITOUT]

I like it!

[zepman]

Pitt would be a nice fit and addition to the conference.

[zamboni]

Will they please change the name of the conference if they go to twelve? Even now it's a bit ridiculous.

Yeah I agree, but there is already one Big 12, so then what? Too bad there is already a Mid America Conference.

[Big Dave2]

Heartland Conference

[LMITOUT]

lol, I was thinking the same thing.