2020. This ain't your daddy's Big XII anymore

So we know this is a boring time of year unless you're a basketball fan, which I'm not.  I'd written a couple of notes about possible expansion of the Big 10 and how it might affect the University of Missouri.  However, just for fun, let's take a look at how this might go down and change the look of college athletics forever.

January 31st, 2011.  With much fanfare the Big 10 holds a news conference to announce their selection as the 12th member of their conference.  The rumors have been flying back and forth for months and the 2 schools being mentioned the most were Syracuse and the University of Missouri.  In the end, the conference decided to stick to proximity and selected my Tigers as the 12th member of what is to become the Great Lakes Conference.  Breaking into east and west divisions the Tigers will enter at the start of the 2013 season as a member of the Western Division along with Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois and Northwestern.  

The Big XII conference, led by it's commissioner and village idiot, Dan Beebe apparently had no idea they would or actually could become a picking ground for other conferences.  It was hard for Dan to understand how the Tigers would be willing to give up their storied 14 year traditional rivalry with Texas Tech to move for a mere 12 million dollars a year in additional revenue.  What a dumb fuck.
On Missouri message boards; Tigerboard in particular, Nebraska and kansas fans flock telling the Mizzou faithful that they won't be missed and we'll just wind up being the red headed stepchild in our new conference.  Tigerboard is indifferent as members rush to various boards inviting their new partners over for some trash talking.  Several do stop by with some words of welcome, and the Northwestern fans brought wine.  wtf?
In their haste to add another member, the conference immediately chooses to invite TCU as the new 12th member of the conference.  Now the only real problem with this, other than the fact that TCU brings absolutely nothing to the table revenue wise, is that it now brings to 7 the number of teams in the southern half of the conference.  The logical thing to do is to move Oklahoma State to the northern division which of course infuriates both they and Oklahoma as it puts their "Bedlam" game into a 2 years out of 4 proposition.  Beebe manages to calm down Bob Stoops as the conference promises that his wife will receive an additional 1 million per year in Mary Kay sales.  T Boone Pickens however remains unimpressed.

February 11th, 2014.  Not to be outdone, the Pac 10 now looks to expand.  Of course they could find a couple of teams within their region and go the same route as the Big 10, err, Great Lakes, but this is a conference based on the west coast and that really isn't good enough for them.  So in the summer of 2014 it is announced that they will become the first Super-conference as they add BYU, Utah, Boise State and Colorado to the new and improved Pac 14.   They also hint that they may not be done and rumors run rampant about possibly bringing in Texas and T A&M.  Once again the Big XII has been raided but several prospective new members have already bolted for the new Pac 14.  Message boards are flooded with speculation of the conference raiding the SEC to pick up Arkansas, who of course isn't interested in taking a 12-16 million dollar a year hit just to get back under UT's thumb. The conference winds up inviting Memphis who immediately accept.
April 3rd, 2016.  The SEC, in an effort to maintain their elite status decides to one up the Pac 14 and announces a search has begun to add 4 new members.  The search goes on for almost 2 years until the end of the 2017 season when they announce the first real raid on other BCS conferences.  Texas and TAMU leave the Big XII to join the Western Division of the new SEC, while West Virginia and South Florida leave the Big East to join the Eastern Division.  Now we have some real problems in what is left of the not so Big XII.  The remaining Texas schools don't post the television numbers that UT and A&M did so the Texas market, particularly Dallas is greatly diminished.    Oklahoma is unhappy and announces that they will consider any offer fitting their stature.  Dan Beebe leaves as the conference commissioner but receives his golden parachute as the new Sports Information Director at Texas.

August 3rd, 2018.  At a news conference attended by news celebrities from Oklahoma City, KC and Waco, it is announced that the Big XII conference will disband following the 2020 season.  Efforts to form some sort of alliance with the ACC failed when North Carolina basketball coach Roy Williams, at a tearful news conference in Chapel Hill announced that he'd be forced to resign if he were to have to coach against the university of kansas.  In his words, "I just couldn't do it to the kids".  Never mind that no one playing for kansas was alive when he was coaching there.   Oklahoma and Oklahoma State attempted to broker a deal to the Pac 14 but it was cut short due to no one on the selection committee realizing there was a state called Oklahoma.  They will form a loose affiliation with Nebraska, Iowa State, Kansas State and TCU for scheduling purposes.  The remaining Texas teams join a new Mountain West conference and kansas bolts for conference USA and announces that football will now be relegated to club sport status.  This allows them to cut 3 womens programs and devote more of their dwindling resources to mens basketball.
The remaining conferences continue to add and move members until by the fall of 2024 we're left with 5 mega conferences of 16-20 members each.
Do I think this will happen?  Not especially, but I bet it's a hell of a lot more possible than it sounds.

The 600 lb gorilla in the room.

So, last time I talked about the proposed Big 10 expansion and what it could possibly mean to the University of Missouri.  As I stated, there are 4 universities being mentioned as possible candidates.  It's a hot topic on sites such as ESPN, Fox Sports and most any college message board.  There are differences in opinion among Missouri fans as to this being a good move or not.  Most that would consider themselves to be traditionalists point out that the university would be leaving behind decade long rivalries with kansas, Nebraska and others that were built up during the Missouri Valley, Big 6, Big 7 and Big 8 days.  
While I agree that it would be hard to replace the sheer joy we get from hating some of these programs, you simply can't dismiss the increased revenue that would come from a move.  As I said in my last post, the Big 10 distributed 22 million dollars per team last year in the football portion of shared revenue.  By that I mean that Indiana received the same amount of television dollars that Ohio State and Penn State received.  Missouri was in the upper half of Big XII revenue and made only 13 million.  The conference simply doesn't make as much money due to the fact that they have so fewer potential viewers than Big 10 states.  Yes, Texas is one of the kings, but Missouri is the second most populous state in the conference and I just don't see people lining up to move to kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska or Iowa.  Like it or not, the next television contract may not be significantly better and it's not going to compare to Big 10 or SEC viewership in my lifetime.

So we know that we'll continue to make less money in the Big XII, but would a 9 million dollar payday in football offset the increased costs incurred shuttling non revenue producing teams to Happy Valley, Columbus and Madison?  The simple answer would be, probably not.  However, there is more, much more in play here than a few dollars in athletic revenue.  The big dog here is admittance into the CIC, or Committee on Institutional Cooperation of which every member of the Big 10, plus the University of Chicago is a member.   While it may not be as satisfying as kicking a field goal in the final second of a game to finish off the beaks "history awaits" season, we need to remember that the main purpose of a university is to provide a quality education for it's students.  The CIC members engaged in over 6 billion dollars of funded research last year.  That currently amounts to 500 million per member.  Think that the medical and veterinary schools could find something to do with that grant money?  In addition member schools have saved over 28 million dollars due to increased buying power and less need to purchase items that can be shared by the member schools.  At a time when state budget cuts are threatening funding this is huge.  Therefore, while I (and you if you are reading this) are sports fans first, you must agree that financially this would be a huge boon for the university.   

So what happens now?  We know that the Big 10 has planned a 12 to 18 month study to determine who will receive the invitation.  My gut feeling is that they'd still love to add Notre Dame.  It's proximity to schools in the conference and it's academics make it the obvious choice.  However, they've turned down the opportunity before and I see little chance they'd accept this time.  While I think the conference is still extending feelers to them, we'll probably never know since they certainly don't want to be turned down a 2nd time.  That leaves us with the 4 institutions previously mentioned, unless they go completely against conventional wisdom and invite someone we haven't considered or decide to add more than one other member.  I think that both those possibilities are remote at best.  My best guess is that the Big 10 milks this for all that it's worth and makes sure that everyone in the country realizes what a financial windfall this will be for the lucky university chosen to become a member.  They've suffered a lot the last few years by bowl game failures and early exits from the NCAA tournament so they absolutely want someone that will boost their standing in the athletic community, but also find a school that matches up academically. 

While Missouri doesn't carry the academic reputation of Ohio State or Northwestern, they still are members of the AAU, which is a requirement for membership in the Big 10.  It is also a land grant research institution which happens to have a 1 billion dollar endowment.  The university is also one of only 6 institutions with a law school, medical school and veterinary school on campus as well as a world renowned school of journalism.  This is just nothing to sneeze at and we also have one of the better engineering schools in the country at Rolla which is part of the system.  Whether people want to admit it or not, the University of Missouri has much to offer the Big 10, including a pretty damn successful athletic department.
What's going to happen?  I have no freaking idea.  But I do know that if membership is offered, it will most likely be accepted and maintaining a rivalry with a bunch or corncob hat wearing hicks or Johnson County mama's boys won't play any part in the decision.  I apologize for the attempt at being serious in my last 2 posts, but this is a pretty important subject.  I promise to get back to my normal self next time.  Have a great week and stay warm. 

Big 10 expansion. What does it mean for Mizzou?

So the Big 10 found a way to put themselves in the spotlight for the next 12-18 months by announcing they were going to add a 12th member to the conference.  This is a big deal in college athletically and financially, and could very possibly start a chain reaction as other conferences try to claim a bigger share of the television pie due to an increased number of potential viewers.   This has a chance to provide more drama than Jon and Kate's divorce. 
The conventional thought is that this comes down to a 4 team race among Missouri, Rutgers, Syracuse and Pitt.  Based on an athletics based decision only, I think Syracuse and Pitt would both be eliminated immediately since I don't believe either wants to leave the Big East.  It's pretty clearly the best basketball league in the country right now and it's an easier run to a BCS bowl, but the Big 10 does offer an attractive slate of lower bowl affiliations that would be an improvement whether you came from the Big East or the Big XII for that matter.  Rutgers however has had very little basketball success other than a trip to the final 4 in the 1975/76 season.  (hey still one more trip than my Tigers have had)  Missouri would be leaving a conference they've been a member of since the Missouri Valley opened it's doors in 1907 with Missouri, Iowa, Washington (Missouri) and kansas.  That's giving up a heck of a lot of history right there.

However, when you compare the amount of television revenue and the distribution, you see that it would be quite a windfall for Missouri were it to receive an offer and then accept it.  The Big 10 distributed around 246 million dollars, around 22 million per team in an equitable split among all conference members.   While Missouri had a good year, finishing in the upper half of the conference at something less than 13 million, it wasn't as rosy for teams like Iowa State, Baylor, Colorado or K State.  Half of the television money collected for a game is the property of the featured teams.  So if you get less appearances, you get less money.  Kind of like having the Super Bowl champ get the first pick in next years draft.  So we immediately see a 9 million dollar raise for Missouri should a move occur. 
Another factor for whoever is offered are travel costs, particularly when it concerns the non revenue generating sports such as wrestling, gymnastics, soccer etc.  Trips to Iowa and Minnesota are going to be expensive from New York and New Jersey.  For Missouri there is no doubt that the travel to Ohio State, Purdue and Penn State are probably further than anything we have now, but the inclusion of Texas, particularly College Station, Waco and Lubbock are hardly day trips.  I don't see this as a deal breaker for anyone involved.

As to possible favorites, there have been rumors in both directions concerning all four of the Universities that are now considered favorites.  I've read that Penn State wants another team from the East to cut down on their travel expenses.  I've also read that they would like to renew their rivalry with Pitt.  Then a few days later that while they'd like another team from the east, no way they want it to be Pitt.  Which is true?  I have no idea. 
The claim with both Syracuse and Rutgers is that they can bring the New York City market if they are included.  However, there is no evidence that either would make much of a blip on the screen.  The fact is, New York has the Yankees, Giants, Rangers and Knicks in that order with the Mets and Jets catching anyone that's left.  Missouri offers the St Louis and Kansas City markets.  However, the Big 10 already has a good presence in the Lou, so the main target would be the KC area, which still would be shared with ku as well as K State.
So, we can see some pluses and minuses for all 4 contenders from both their standpoints as well as the Big 10's.  The Big East has less history but the current success as a basketball conference, while Missouri was one of the two original members left of the conference.  We'd have to remember we'd be losing rivalry's not only with the beaks, but long time conference members such as Nebraska, Iowa State and Oklahoma.  We also have built much of our football success on the staffs ability to recruit the state of Texas.  Would we have as much success if we played in the Big 10 Conference? 

The jury is mixed about whether this makes sense for Missouri athletically.  I personally imagine that Coach Pinkel would prefer staying in the current conference, and in turn, so would Mike Alden.  I think that it would be less important for Coach Anderson.  However, this decision, while it means much to athletics, may well be decided on the academic side.  We haven't talked about the elephant that's sitting here in the room.  That would be the CIC and that's what I'll talk about next time.  Stay warm folks.

Bowl week. Now what do I do?

This is the saddest time of the year for me.  Bowl season is over.  I watch almost no college basketball and baseball season, at least spring training, coming in a month doesn't mean much to me anymore.  What we're, or at least I am left with is getting back to the grind after my annual vacation, which really wasn't long enough.

I confess that I really didn't watch as many of the bowl games this year as in the past.  We had much going on at work when I came back and most of my free time has been spent shoveling the approximately 10 inches of snow that was in my driveway when I got back home.  Hard to believe, but I saw more snow here than I did anywhere in Colorado or Utah at an elevation below 10,000 feet.  Oh well, I knew that sooner or later we were going to pay for the mild winters and summers we've had for the past couple of years.
We got back to town on New Years eve, in time for the Missouri game vs the Naval Academy.  After watching the first half, I confess I missed much of the 2nd.  Missouri looked confused, uninspired and really left us no reason for optimism coming into next year.  If I had one wish it would be for Coach Pinkel to send defensive coordinator Dave Steckel down to Tuscaloosa to spend a few weeks with his old buddy Nick Saban and his staff.  A few days trips for OC Dave Yost might be in order also.  Note: when they are dropping 9 into coverage coach, you might try running the ball a bit.
But keeping things in perspective, it wasn't a bad year when you remember that Missouri was one of the youngest teams in Division 1 football, 2 first year coordinators, and a quarterback that was pretty much playing a good portion of the season on one leg.  Throw in a recruiting class full of playmakers and road graders and I think I'll have no problem renewing my season tickets.
For the bowl season I finished 5-3 on my picks both straight up and vs the spread.  For the year I was 93-33 straight up and managed to go 62-59 against the point spread.  Not bad for me at all.
All spring and summer I expect to see hick nation out in full force on all of the Missouri message boards proclaiming that now, order has been restored, following their 33-0 thumping of Bob Stoops and his Arizona Wildcats and their last second loss to Texas in the Big XII title game.  If you venture onto any sports message boards, then I imagine that you, like I realize the perception of Nebraska fans as "classy" is something that may have been true at one time, but certainly isn't the case now with their new generation of fans.  We've seen one of their long time fans fired from his job and sued with his little stunt of placing a fake newpaper article about an Oklahoma player being arrested for drug dealing.  It's just so much easier being a good fan when your team was consistantly winning wasn't it?  Besides which, there is that pesky little rumor concerning figurehead defensive coordinator Carl Pelini tagging a few of the boosters wives.  Now while I realize most Nebraska women would be just as at home with a yoke around their neck and pulling a plow I still have my doubts about this one.  I mean, I realize that Nebraska women aren't much to look at, but have you seen Carl?  It isn't easy to make Bo look like the attractive brother, but he managed to do it.
We'll also get an opportunity to listen to kansas fans touting their new coach, Turner Gill as he tries to turn around a program that absolutely collapsed the final 7 weeks of the season.  TG has his hands full as his first job will be trying to decide what to do with offensive lineman Darius Parish who was arrested and charged with criminal threat. 
And also, on a sad note, the conference is poorer, in my opinion at the loss of the pirate; Mike Leach from the Texas Tech Red Raiders.  Seems Leach was mistreating the son of former SMU paid running back Craig James and Craig wasn't about to let that happen.  At least the James family can now boast that they've helped run 2 programs into the ground.

Happy Bowl Season!

I love this time of year, other than it means college football season is almost over.  I've been getting ready for our annual Christmas trip to Colorado and doing some extra praying that I don't wind up face planting a tree.  I've been reading stories and message boards about how my favorite team was screwed in the bowl selection process.  (again)  And some interesting reading on how the Big 10 is planning on expansion and guess who is one of the prime candidates for said expansion?
All these will make some nice candidates for topics during the cold, dreary days of January.  For now, I wanted to take a quick look at the conference bowl match ups and give myself an opportunity to humiliate myself one last time with a few predictions.  I actually had a pretty good year straight up as I went 88-30.  The rub was against the spread where I wound up 57-57.  So really, if I had bet 50 toothpicks on every game I'd predicted, I'd have the same number I started with.  A lot of work to wind up exactly where you were when you started don't you think?
Anyway, let's start out with my favorite team.  Missouri travels to Houston to face the Naval Academy in the Texas Bowl.  I'm not going into the fact that the Tigers wound up in the 8th bowl to pick.  As I said before, that's a topic to talk about in January or even February.  The Tigers have had problems stopping the pass this season but have been one of the best in the Big XII at stopping the run.  Navy has a very good running attack but very little success throwing the ball.  I think this is a good matchup for the Tigers and the team is young enough that I don't think they'll go into the game flat because they think it's beneath them.  The Tigers open as a 6 point favorite and I happen to think this is a sucker bet.  I'm going to go with Mizzou to win and cover easily, 38-17.  Then we can move on to more interesting things such as what appears to be a top 15 recruiting class or a possible move to another conference.

Moving on to the Rolls Royce of the Big XII bowl package would always be a glorious December trip to sunny Shreveport, Louisiana where Texas A&M takes on the Georgia Bulldogs in the Independence Bowl.  Few places offer what the city of Shreveport does as you get a chance to share a shitty room at the local Super 8 with some of the cities finest cockroaches at only 200 dollars a night.  Missouri made 2 trips to the bowl game and I think that Mike Alden might have been fired had they wound up in this bowl game again.    The 'Dawgs open as a 7 point favorite in this one. I believe this game is a huge letdown for them following multiple trips to the BCS locations over the past few years.   I think that they'll have enough to win, although an upset wouldn't surprise me.  I'll go with Georgia to win, but fail to cover.  Dawgs 24-21.
In San Diego the Holiday Bowl pits 2 of the countries better defenses, as well as 2 head coaches most likely to be charged for attacking a referee as Bo Pelini and corn nation take on Mike Stoops and the Arizona Wildcats.  This game could set college football back 50 years.  The Wildcats open as a 1 point favorite.  I have no intention of watching this but I'll go with Arizona to win and cover, say about 5-3.  A late safety should put them over the top.  zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

In El Paso, Jim Harbaugh brings the Stanford Cardinal (they are still the cardinal aren't they) to play the Oklahoma Sooners and Big Game Bob Stoops.  Bob has had some problems in bowl games the past few years as they've disappointed in BCS appearances following successful regular seasons.    The Sooners finished the year a disappointing 7-5 after opening the season as a top 5 pick.  The Sooners open as an 8 point favorite in this one, but I'm going to go with Stanford in the upset, 31-30, as OU spends much of the game trying to figure out why a giant tree is dancing around the Stanford sideline.
We move on to the Insight Bowl in Tempe, Arizona.  This is the bowl game that logically Missouri should have been selected for.  However, they decided that picking a 6-6 Iowa State team that MU defeated by double digits would be a better selection to play a 6-6 Minnesota team.  The NFL network is a perfect place for this game since very little of the country will be watching it anyway.  Minnesota opens as a 2 1/2 point favorite.  I'm going with the Cyclones in an upset 23-17.
In Dallas, the first Cotton Bowl to be played in Jerry World will pit Oklahoma State against Ol' Miss.  Okie Lite finished the season in disappointing fashion when they were bombed by Oklahoma 27-0 in a game that not only offered bragging rights but a possible trip to Phoenix as the conference representative in the Fiesta Bowl.  Ol' Miss opens as a 3 point favorite but I think this won't be that close.  I'm taking the Rebels 31-24.
In San Antonio the Alamo Bowl matchup will be Texas Tech against another mediocre Big 10 team in Michigan State.  Tech hasn't had great luck in bowl games but I think the Spartains are just what they need for what ails them.  The odds makers have made Tech an 8 point favorite in this one but I'm predicting a blow out.  I'll take the Red Raiders 38-14 as Mike Leach makes his first statement about next years team down in Lubbock.

Finally in the game for all the marbles, Big XII champion Texas takes on the SEC champ Alabama.  In the title game against Nebraska, the Longhorns showed that they could play defense when their O wouldn't carry the day.  The Crimson Tide may well be better defensively than the huskers and I'm fairly confident their offense is much better.  The Tide opens up as a 5 point favorite.  I think this is a pretty good line.  I'm going to pull this one out my ass and predict the winner and your 2009 national champion will be 'Bama, 27-21.
I'm heading out this weekend for a well deserved rest in Colorado.  I'll see you guys after the first of the year and we'll have some things to talk about including bowl results, possible implications if Missouri would jump to the Big 10 and a possible interview that I'm trying to put together with former kansas coach Mark Mangino.  Have a great holiday folks and drive safely!
Merlin 
 

A few surprises and some more "almost" surprises

Although I didn't get a chance to watch the team I choose to support, it was still a great Saturday of football.  The conference championship games gave us a taste of everything.  We got to see a lot of offense in the ACC final where Georgia Tech outlasted Clemson 39-34 in a game that featured almost 900 yards of total offense.  Combine that with Cincinnati's 45-44 last second win over Pitt in what wasn't a championship game, (the Big East doesn't have one) but simply fortunate scheduling where the top 2 teams happened to meet at the proper time.

In what should have been the best game of the day, we watched 2 SEC heavyweights taking each other on in the Georgia Dome.  What we witnessed instead was a complete dismantling of Tim Tebow and the Gators, 32-13.  I think Tebow has been a credit to college athletics in general, but I admit I enjoyed watching him wipe tears away as the clock wound down.  I've just seen the lovefest continue for the last 4 years and it's time to move on.  Next year we'll watch Tim T. catching passes in the NFL while playing tight end for someone with his favorite Bible verse written into his eye black.  I'm certainly not blaming the kid because he received a 4 year head job, but enough was enough.  I think the kid will be fine.  Roll Tide.
Of course, in my neck of the woods the main event was Nebraska and Texas in the Big XII title game held at the all new Jerry World in Dallas.  The Longhorns opened as a 14 point favorite and I thought that while the spread didn't seem unrealistic, I wouldn't be at all surprised if this game was tight for at least the first 3 quarters.  Instead, we were treated to either one of the best displays of defense or inept offenses since the teams wore leather helmets.  Ndamukong Suh put on the most dominant performance I've ever seen from a defensive tackle as he controlled the line of scrimmage and was responsible for 4 1/2 sacks of Colt McCoy.  Let me be the first to say that I'm glad he'll be getting paid to make plays for some team I don't give a shit about in the NFL next year.
For all the Husker defense did last night though, the offense was, well offensive as Nebraska churned out 106 yards of total offense, (39 through the air) in their "1.9 yards and a cloud of dust" formation.  Despite the trip to the title game the internet is flush with rumors of corn offensive recruits preparing to jump ship for programs more familiar with the term "forward pass".

After the game, Husker coach Bo Pelini was his usual composed self as he screamed random obscenities to whoever would listen calling for the heads of any and all Big XII conference officials.  The Pelini Brothers go off!    While I understand the passion, I confess that I'm looking forward to the day when this idiot implodes and wraps those hands around some referee's neck.  You just know that it's going to happen.  Bo just can't help himself.  It would be like asking him to suddenly quit being ugly.
I only picked 4 games this week and pretty much kept with my normal statistics as I went 3-1 outright, (missing only the SEC winner) and 2-2 vs the spread.  For the year I'm sitting at 88-30 straight up but only 57-57 against the point spread.  The bowl game selections will come out this afternoon and I'll get an opportunity to bitch, whine and complain about where my Tigers are going.  See you in a couple of days.

Adios big guy. I'm going to miss you.

So when I wake up this morning I read that Mark Mangino "resigned" last night and all details would be kept confidential.  I was really hoping that they'd be able to keep this clusterfuck going on for another couple of weeks.  This didn't last nearly long enough.   I wanted to watch Lew Perkins twist some more. 
By now we've all heard the stories of mental and physical abuse that Mangino heaped on his players.  I have no doubt that he was an asshole to both players and coaches that were under him.  But, in my opinion if the beaks had finished up 7-1 in conference rather than 1-7 none of this would ever have come up. 

So now that the ties between Mangino and the university of kansas have been cut, where do the two parties go from here?  The best thing that the big guy could do would be to take a year off, and try to get his health under control. (if anyone ever needed to visit weight watchers, it's MM)  While I think he was one of the most physically disgusting human beings to ever walk the planet, it's hard not to feel bad for him after the attacks, orchestrated by Perkins were played out in the media over the last 3 weeks.  However, I expect Mangino will be wanting to get back into coaching as quickly as possible, and he has a fairly decent reputation as an offensive coordinator.  He's just a piss poor face of the program. 
Given the problems Oklahoma had putting points on the board this season, I wouldn't be at all surprised if he wound up with his old buddy Bob Stoops as offensive coordinator or at least the offensive line coach.  Another possibility is Arizona where little brother Mike Stoops is the head coach. 
Either way, I'm going to miss Mangino in a way.  He was an endless source of material for anyone that enjoyed poking fun at kansas and it will be hard to imagine they'll hire another coach that offers us the possibilities he did.  Unless.....isn't Phil Fulmer available?