In July, Texas and Oklahoma accepted an offer to move to the SEC in the 2025 season, further diminishing the number of teams in the Big 12. However, Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy believes the conference will not only replace those two schools, but add more on top of that.
“We could be at 14 very easily, five years from now, from what I’m hearing,” Gundy said, via The Oklahoman’s Barry Tramel. “I think there’s strength in numbers. When you watch this thing, the Big 12 always had some issues, because people would say, there’s only 10.”
It was reported in September that BYU, Houston, UCF and Cincinnati are expected to join the Big 12, with at least BYU joining as early as 2023. Those four additions, minus Texas and Oklahoma, would bring the number of Big 12 teams to 12, so there would need to be two more additions to complete Gundy’s prediction of 14.
One school Gundy thinks could be a target is Boise State.
“Some people, the only issue they would say is, can they grab the northern California television market?” Gundy said. “Because that’s what it comes down to. From a history of success, from what I would call a football school that grabs people’s attention, Boise would be a team that people would be interested in. The administrators and whoever makes the deals money-wise would have to decide whether they can get enough people to watch the games. That’s what it comes down to.”
Gundy also acknowledged the role college basketball will play in bringing in successful, winning schools to the conference.
“Basketball does play a role. Obviously not as big, financially. But it does,” he said. “Kelvin (Sampson)’s down at Houston. He’s going to win. Central Florida’s going to be a problem because when they put that logo on their shirt and go recruiting down there, they’re going to be an issue. And Cincinnati traditionally can win in basketball also. BYU will grab a 7-foot-2 guy in a heartbeat and then they can win 20 games, right? That’s what they do.”
So if Gundy’s prediction comes true, the Big 12 is going to look way different in four years.
