Conference Expansion: Just Sticking with Tradition.

 In January of 1895 a group of seven colleges met in Chicago, Illinois to discuss the regulation and control of intercollegiate athletics, especially student-athlete eligibility.  Those schools were the University of Chicago, University of Illinois, University of Minnesota, University of Wisconsin, Northwestern University, Purdue University, Lake Forest College.   A year later, in February of 1896, the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives was founded.  This included the University of Michigan and six of the seven schools that met the previous year.  Lake Forest College did not participate in this meeting. 

 So, after only one year of discussions the movement had already lost and gained a school.  Although the official name of this conference was The Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives, it was commonly referred to as the Western Conference (not to be confused with the Western Athletic Conference).  I guess no one could remember a name like The Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives.  Can you picture a radio announcer saying, “Today’s match of Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives teams promises to be a barn burner!”?  

 In 1899, Indiana and Iowa joined the conference giving it nine teams, and it became known as the Big 9.  However, in 1908, the University of Michigan left the conference, leaving it with eight teams.  So, now the Big 9 was the Big 8 (Not to be confused with the modern Big 8 conference).

 One year earlier in 1907, another conference was forming that would later become part of today's Big 12 and Missouri Valley Conferences.  The University of Kansas, University of Missouri, University of Nebraska, Washington University (St. Louis), and the University of Iowa formed the new conference (the Big 5?).  And, not to be outdone by the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives, it became the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.  Yes, Iowa was a member of two conferences, neither of which had a name that anyone wanted to say or remember. At this time the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives could have been called the Big 4 1/2.  In 1908, Drake University and Iowa State University joined, giving the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference seven teams (the Big 7).  But, in 1911 the University of Iowa withdrew from the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, giving it six teams, then commonly referred to as the Big 6. 

 In 1912, Ohio State joined the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives returning the number of schools in the Big 9 to nine. In 1913, not to be outdone by the Big 8, 9 or 10, the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference added Grinnell College making it the Big 7.  However, in 1917 the University of Michigan decided to rejoin the Big Nine, growing the conference to ten teams.  At this time, The Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives became informally known as the Big Ten. 

 In 1919 the Big 7 lost Nebraska who decided to become independent, making the conference the Big 6 for a year until the University of Oklahoma joined in 1920 making it again theBig 7.  In 1921, Nebraska returned to the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Associationmaking it the Big 8. And, in 1925 Oklahoma A&M (today’s Oklahoma State University) joined theBig 8 to make it the Big 9 not to be confused with the other Big 8 or 9 that is now the Big Ten. Three years later in 1928, a chunk of teams broke off of the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association to form The Missouri Valley Conference.  This left the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association with Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma. The conference was again known as the Big 6 to the fans and media.  The Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association and the Missouri Valley Conference both claimed to be the original and declared the other as the spinoff. So, even the conferences were getting confused by now.

 Just after World War II (1946), the University of Chicago withdrew from the Big Ten, but maintained its connections in other ways.  So, now the Big Ten had nine active teams and a team that was quasi-associated but did not play in athletics.  At this time, talk of adding a team to theIntercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives was the fervor.  Names such as Pittsburgh, Nebraska, Michigan State, Marquette, Notre Dame, and Iowa State were discussed.  Sound familiar?  Meanwhile, back in the Missouri Valley mess known again as the Big 6, the University of Colorado joined in 1948 and the conference again became known as the Big 7. In 1949, Michigan State University joined the Big Nine, returning its number of institutions to ten and its informal name returned to the Big Ten.  The name Big Ten remained stable for 40 years.

 In 1958, Oklahoma State University (formerly Oklahoma A&M) moved to the Big 7 making the conference again unofficially the Big 8, but officially the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association not to be confused with the Missouri Valley Conference. 

 To complicate things further, the Pacific Coast Conference disbanded in 1959 due to a pay-for-play scandal. California, Stanford, UCLA, USC, and Washington formed the Athletic Association of Western Universities which was popularly called the Big 5 and then with the addition of Washington State in 1962, the Big 6 (not to be confused with the Big 6 that was later the Big 7, Big 8, and Big 9, or the Big 8 that became the Big 9 and then ended up the Big Ten).  Thankfully, there was already informally a Big 8 conference so the Pacific-8 (PAC-8) formed to eventually become the Pac-10.  This name is further confusing because it now has seven associate members meaning that the Pac-10 is actually the Pac-10 + 7 others that occasionally play in the conference. 

 In 1964, the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association officially changed its name to the Big 8 Conference ending the Missouri Valley name confusion but continuing the debate about whether the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association or the Missouri Valley Conference was the original or spinoff; and continuing the numerical confusion with the Big Ten.  To date the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association was never known as the Big Ten (only the Big 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9) but the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives had historically been known as the Big 8 (from 1908-1912) and at other times as the Big 7 and 9.  

 In 1987, the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives decided to change its name.  Can you blame them? After all, this name had been around for the better part of a century and I can't remember ever hearing someone refer to it by name!  So, it officially changed the name to the Big Ten. 

 To maintain stability, three-years later in 1990, the now Big Ten added Pennsylvania State University.  This gave the Big Ten eleven teams, but the conference did not change its name because being the Big 11 would be odd.  The Big Ten put a four-year moratorium on expansion and then proceeded to investigate and invite teams for expanding in many different ways.  During the 1990s both Notre Dame University and the University of Texas entered discussions and/or negotiations to enter the Big Ten.  Had they joined, the Big Ten would have included 13 teams. Notre Dame's faculty voted to join the Big Ten, but the board of trustees axed the idea and they joined the Big East except for football.     The Big Ten rejected Texas’ proposal, possibly because of the extreme distances and the moratorium.  Texas was also investigating membership in thePac-10.  In the end, Texas decided it preferred a 12 pack to the Pac-10 or Pac 11 (+7). 

In 1993, while still under the self-imposed moratorium, the Big Ten explored adding Kansas, Missouri, and Rutgers to create a 14-team conference with two divisions and a playoff. Instead, in 1996 the Big 8 merged with a selection of teams from the Southwestern Conference and renamed it the Big 12 Conference.  The Big 12 does not claim to be the Big 8 Conference plus 4.  It is a new conference and ended the spitting match between the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association and the Missouri Valley Conference.  Talk of adding to the Big Ten any of Notre Dame, University of Connecticut, Rutgers, Syracuse, Missouri, Nebraska, Pittsburgh, Texas, Maryland and others continues until now. 

 If Missouri or Nebraska Leaves the Big 12 to enter the Big Ten, then the Big 12 will have 11 teams, and the Big Ten will have 12 teams.  If both leave, then the Big 12 will be back to 9 and the Big Ten will have 13.  Of course, ultimately the Big Ten will end with anywhere between 11 and 16 teams or more.  The Big 12 will end with anywhere between 0-12 teams because if it loses Nebraska and Missouri it could add TCU and possibly another team, maybe Arkansas? However, if the Big 10 grabs a larger portion of the Big 12 and a chunk of the Big East Conference, then theAtlantic Coast Conference, Southeastern Conference and Pac-10 may devour the remaining teams from the Big 12 and Big East.  Whatever happens, it promises to be Big News and create a Big Mess for those trying to decipher old newspaper articles discussing the Big 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, and whatever new Big Names appear.  Regardless, INSTABILITY is the only numerical tradition among the conferences discussing expansion today.