‘Everything is better in the Power Five.’ But what if TCU doesn’t make the cut?
TCU Chancellor Victor Boshini has seen what it’s like to be among the Power Five schools and what it’s like to be among the non-Power Five schools during his 19-year career at the university.
There’s a clear distinction after spending the past nine years in the Big 12 compared with the previous 10 years in the Mountain West and Conference USA.
“Everything is better when you’re in the Power Five ... except for parking,” Boschini told members of the Texas Senate during a hearing on the future of college athletics in the state earlier this week.
“Enrollment is up. Applications are up. Our merchandise sales are up. Our visibility is up. Our academic standards are up. All of these things are up. There is a direct connection between academic excellence and athletic success. The Power Five schools in general show that.”
That’s why TCU is determined to remain a Power Five school as the Big 12 faces an uncertain future. The conference is on the verge of potential collapse with Texas and Oklahoma heading to the SEC at some point within the next four years.
For now, TCU’s preference would be to remain a member in the Big 12 if the league is somehow able to weather the storm. Maybe a scheduling alliance with the Pac-12 is possible, or a similar pact is formed with another conference.
A Big 12 source described the remaining eight’s mindset on Tuesday, saying: “We are all very much on the same page about hanging together.”
Or, as Boschini put it, “I see it as we’re going to try to make the Big 12 great again. That’s my main goal — stick together with these schools and get something great going for these eight schools again.”
Whether that proves to be realistic remains to be seen, just like whether any of the eight remain in the “Power Five” echelon.
Boschini and athletic director Jeremiah Donati offered grim prospects if TCU is demoted to a non-power conference. TCU’s officials used a comparison of the Big 12 payout ($35-40 million) compared with the final year in the Mountain West ($5 million).
Boschini said there would have to be significant cutbacks given the revenue loss, which would likely impact female, minority and first-generation students who make up a large portion of the student-athlete population.
“How do you make up the other $30 million? You cut sports,” Boschini said. “What sports are you going to cut? Football? I don’t think so. Equestrian, tennis, other sports that provide access for a lot of kids to college … you no longer can pay for all of those sports. That’s my fear.”
Added Donati: “We hope we don’t get there but when you have to downsize or downscale those are real issues we have to deal with.”
From an optimistic perspective, though, TCU believes it deserves a seat at a power conference whether it’s a reformed Big 12 or an invitation into a league such as the Pac-12.
The Frogs are too familiar with being stuck in the wilderness as they were following the Southwest Conference breakup. TCU bounced from the Western Athletic Conference to the C-USA to the Mountain West to the Big 12, slowly rebuilding the reputation by winning at each level.
“I’ve heard from our donors and our alums. The scars of that often reveal themselves almost every day,” Donati said. “And when the news broke last week, of course, I heard from probably all of them: Don’t let this happen again.”
Boschini, Donati and the rest of the university are doing everything within their power to ensure it doesn’t. And they’ve got a stronger resume than when they joined the Big 12 in 2012.
The school has invested $500 million in upgrades and improvements to athletic facilities over the last decade. The football program has finished in the top-10 three times and has seen its season-ticket base grow to 30,000. The basketball team has made the NCAA Tournament. The baseball team has made multiple trips to the College World Series.
“We pride ourselves on being Fort Worth’s team. We weren’t always,” Donati said. “We were a smaller school, but we’re growing every year. We up to almost 12,000 students. The feeling about TCU across Fort Worth is much different than when I arrived.”
This story was originally published August 4, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
