Texas Legislature and SWC

[SMUstang]

Don't know why nobody has posted this here but here is an interesting article that was in the Startlegram today.

Aug. 29, 2003

Lawmaker wants a new SWC
By Jack Douglas Jr.
Star-Telegram Staff Writer

In the wake of the Baylor basketball scandal, a state senator has proposed returning that school to a reorganized Southwest Conference that would include TCU and other colleges in and around Texas.

A return of the SWC, formally known as the Southwest Athletic Conference, would generate new enthusiasm among Texas fans and might help alleviate some of the pressures for a school like Baylor to compete in a much stronger Big 12 league, said Sen. Kim Brimer, R-Fort Worth.

In a letter to Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, Brimer said he believes it would be "timely" for him to lead a three-member state committee to "investigate whether there is a potential to form a new Southwest Athletic Conference."

Dave Beckwith, a spokesman for Dewhurst, said Brimer's proposal would be given serious consideration.

"Everybody misses the traditional rivalries of the Southwest Conference. It may not be possible to bring it back, but it's an idea worth looking at carefully," Beckwith said.

The thought of a resurrected SWC was warmly greeted by TCU coach Gary Patterson, and Darrell Royal, the famed former football coach of the Texas Longhorns.

"I think it would be a great idea," said Patterson, adding that he believes such a move would rejuvenate the "natural rivalries" of the SWC, forged within the conference before it was dissolved in 1996.

Patterson said a return to the Southwest Conference would also help ease the sports budgets for schools like TCU that now have to travel around the country to compete.

"To have something like [a renewed SWC] would be interesting," he said.

Royal agreed, saying he believes Brimer's proposal would help beef up fan support for many of the former Southwest Conference teams that have struggled since the league's breakup.

"What a good thought. I like that. It sounds interesting," said Royal, the Longhorns' coach for 20 years before retiring from coaching in 1976.

Royal, however, is not interested in Brimer's hopes of recruiting him and others of old SWC fame to help bring the conference back.

"I'm not in the athletic business [anymore]," he said, adding: "I lost my steady job 27 years ago."

In his letter to Dewhurst, Brimer said: "The dissolve of the previous conference was for economic reasons to enhance programs at the University of Texas, Texas A&M University, Texas Tech University and Baylor University.

"Some have questioned whether the latter two should have made that move."

Athletic officials at Baylor and Tech said Thursday they were not interested in returning to a new SWC.

"We're firmly committed to the Big 12," said Heath Nielsen, an interim assistant athletic director at Baylor.

Chris Cook, assistant athletic director at Tech, echoed that sentiment. "I know right now we're in a great situation in the Big 12 Conference, [and] I don't imagine Texas Tech, at this point, would be interested" in leaving it, Cook said.

A former football player at Houston, Brimer said that since the breakup of the SWC "I have seen a diverse change in the economic, enthusiastic and competitive spirit of both private and public higher education athletic programs in Texas."

The senator suggested that a new SWC, along with Tech and Baylor, should include former conference veterans TCU, Houston, SMU and Rice, as well as other Texas colleges, such as UT-El Paso.

"All of our neighboring states have universities that, if given the opportunity, would be willing to participate in this discussion," Brimer wrote to Dewhurst, predicting that such conversations would be "lively."

SWC: Then and now

State Sen. Kim Brimer wrote a letter to Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst asking permission to chair a committee formed to study the possibility of re-forming the Southwest Conference, which ceased to exist after the 1995-96 school year. A list of schools in the old league at its demise, and schools that Brimer wants in the new league:

Old SWC

Baylor

Houston

Rice

SMU

Texas

Texas A&M

Texas Tech

TCU

Proposed SWC

Baylor

Houston

Rice

SMU

Texas Tech

TCU

UT-El Paso

[GoRedGoBlue]

Isn't the Southwest Athletic Conference actually the SWAC, and is currently in existence??

[Hoop Fan]

Sounds like some joker of a politician is trying to get his name in the paper. A legislature may be able to prevent a state school from changing conferences but they can't make them leave one to establish another. Its beyond absurd to think about the state telling Tech to leave the revenue of the B12 to play for relative peanuts in a SWC that would mostly help private schools. Yeah, that sounds fiscally responsible.

[SMUstang]

I'm not defending the article. There are lots of problems with it. I agree Tech would never voluntarily leave the B-12. Baylor could be another story though. If Sloan is forced to leave. They could end up with another Pye.

[Mustang75]

Kim Brimer is suffering from flash-backs of the brown-window-pane he dropped during his college years. No B-12 member is going to give up THE annual check. It's AMAZING how the love of past rivalries becomes more important with the September 2003 BS vs non-BCS inquiry begins with the house judiciary comm (c-span on your cable or dish). SWAC or SWC, give me a break...

[StangEsq]

A governor helped them in the first place, would only be fair to screw them now.

[LongIslandMustang]

Just goes to show that this guy isn't on top of things.

1st there is the money. Nobody is giving up that B-12 check.

2nd To be a BCS conference don't you need at least 8 teams?

[TCU_backer1]

Why are they leaving out UT and ATM... If they force any of the public schools, they need to force all of them...

If this league did become more than just an article... I would hope that TCU and SMU would fight the idea until it died.

[Sam I Am]

Given that the state senator is from Fort Worth, you have to wonder to what audience is he posturing. The proposal is so laughable that you have to be totally ignorant aobut the voluntary nature of inter-collegiate athletic memberships. Lawsuits to force an NCAA football playoff make sense, but nothing else does.

[LA_Mustang]

Conference realignment is the least of our concerns.

[Waters]

Guys,

Let me take some of the speculation out of this.

First, Brimer, is a former University of Houston Football player who finished up at Stephen F. Austin.

It would appear that he is concerned about University of Houston holding on despite their multi-million dollar athletic department deficites. It is reported so bad at U of H that the Faculity and some members of the Administration are calling for moving down a division.

The losses reported are staggering. Reports are between 1 to 4 million a year. In a state supported University, you are not supposed to fund athletics with any state money. I understand that the NCAA gave them a warning about their attendance and staying 1A.

It is crystal clear that he is looking out of only the interest of University of Houston. SMU, Baylor, TCU and Texas Tech sure don’t need Brimer attempting to interfere in their athletic departments. It is pure folly for him to author such a wish list that would benefit U of H and be to the detriment of so many other schools. As it is, it appears that U of H may have problems finding a home should or when the CSU folds.

It appears that conference expansion will take the profitable CSU programs and U of H will have to settle lesser home.

[SMUstang]

Who is the CSU? Could it be C-USA?