In October 2011, West Virginia added to the psychedelic trip of conference realignment by joining the Big 12. One year later, the Big 12 lost its grip on 15-year veteran Missouri, who transferred to the SEC in 2012.
However, Oliver Luck, former A.D. at West Virginia and now the NCAA’s V.P. of regulatory affairs, mentioned in a press release to Connect Bridgeport that if Missouri rejected an invitation to be a part of the SEC, then West Virginia (despite not receiving a formal RSVP to the SEC) would have gracefully replaced the Tigers.
Oliver Luck on conference options for West Virginia:
“I think it’s accurate to say the ACC was never an option and all you have to do is go back and look at the history of the ACC and WVU’s history with the Southern Conference. The ACC changed its membership four or five times and never was WVU in the discussion and never invited…there was zero opportunity with the ACC – none.”
“The SEC was a little bit different. Missouri took a long time to decide what it wanted to do and I think they were on the fence for six, seven, maybe eight months. Some thought Missouri was waiting for an offer from the Big 10 or may stay in the Big 12. Had they stayed or had they become a member of the Big 10, we may have had an opportunity – and I emphasize the word maybe – to be in the SEC. The thing is nobody really knew what would have happened. What we do know is that Missouri’s move closed that door.”
Since associating itself with the Big 12 in 2012, West Virginia has accrued an 18-20 record and two bowl game losses (2012 – Pinstripe, 2014 – Liberty) under Dana Holgorsen. Meanwhile, Missouri – since its inaugural season as an SEC program in 2012 – has compiled a 28-12 record and two bowl championships (2013 – Cotton, 2014 – Citrus).
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*Featured Photo (above) credit to USA TODAY Sports
