TCU’s AD says next 2 football seasons are most important in school history
The ghost around TCU is the same one that floats around Lubbock, Houston, Highland Park and Waco, as well as Durham, Tucson, Boulder and most every other town that has a school in the Big 12 and ACC.
No one has seen it recently, but they’re certain it’s there.
Major college conference realignment is not a ghost, but rather a cute term for the more menacing reality of what it really is - wealth consolidation.
As TCU prepares to begin its 2025 football season with its game at North Carolina on Monday night in Chapel Hill, it does so with a set of needs different than those in TheBigSEC10. This is not just about winning a football game, but a university-wide plan that it embraced almost 30 years ago when it invested in sports to grow the school.
Few did this better than TCU.
“When I tell people that the next two seasons for TCU football are the most important ever in its history, I truly believe that,” TCU director of athletics Mike Buddie said in an interview this week.
TCU doesn’t need to win a national title, but now more than ever it needs to be a part of that discussion. Now more than ever, it needs to be around the playoffs.
The constant speculation, and threat, that the Big Ten and SEC will soon invite a few more schools to join what would amount to a glorified “super league” has created a level of perpetual uncertainty, and fear, throughout the Big 12 and ACC. And the NCAA, which is increasingly powerless against any group, including the Girl Scouts.
Regardless of what the respective leaders of those conferences say publicly, the consensus is that they will again expand. According to multiple administrators at colleges in Texas that are in Power Four athletics, the feeling is another round of realignment will come sooner rather than later.
“What scares me the most about potential realignment, if it were to happen today, if it was the SEC and Big Ten and a handful of ACC and Big 12 schools plus Notre Dame, is that there are 36 mammoth, state schools,” Buddie said. “It would be basing it on eyeballs and living alumni, and we’re never going to get our foot in the door.
“I don’t know if anything we do matters, but that doesn’t mean we’re not going to be doing things to make a difference. All we can do is to position ourselves to be competitive as hell on the football field. That will open the doors.”
Why TCU football matters more than ever
As TCU expands its footprint and aggressively pursues a plan to reach the valuable R1 status — the highest designation for a research university — nothing will impress the people who make the decisions about college sports more than a winning football team. Since 2000, TCU has established itself as a relevant, competitive football brand that attracts people.
That identity has changed TCU’s status as a small, regional private school into a nationally recognized name that draws students from places far beyond Texas.
For those not in TheBigSEC10, the prospect of losing its ability to sell itself as a school that plays football games against the higher tier of competition is not disconcerting. It’s frightening.
What happened to Washington State and Oregon State after the Pac-12 was fleeced by the Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC terrifies the administrations at schools all over the U.S. WSU and OSU made the best of it by re-creating the Pac-12, but being affiliated with Boise State, Colorado State, San Diego State and Utah State is not the same as being in the same room as Cal, Stanford, UCLA and USC.
The schools in the Big 12 and ACC have invested heavily to be in the highest tier of NCAA sports as their primary means of marketing, recruiting their general student population and the best way to drive fundraising.
TCU has been a willing spender in the madness of college sports. It is committed to doing whatever is necessary to remain a player in the power structure.
To remain on its trajectory, it needs to be where it is in college sports — included with Ohio State, Michigan, Texas, Oklahoma, Florida, USC, Oregon and the other big schools. The same goes for Baylor, Texas Tech, Houston, Kansas, Utah and the other schools in the ACC and Big 12.
They may not be on the same level, but they’re in the same discussion.
The uncertain state of Power Four NCAA sports
The College Football Playoff’s contract with ESPN expires after the 2031-32 season, but that does not mean everything will remain status quo within the Power Four structure.
The gap between TheBigSEC10 and the ACC and Big 12 is already so visible that adding a few more schools will only widen the breach in college sports that will effectively create an “NFC and AFC” in major NCAA football.
There are 34 schools in the Big Ten and SEC combined; adding four, six or even eight more will give those leagues more revenue, and power.
Erase the notion that those two leagues’ “bottom dwellers” will be kicked out based on results. If you’re in, and willing to spend the money on players, coaches salaries and facilities, you’re in. A Purdue or an Arkansas is just as secure as a Michigan State or Kentucky.
Why TCU will be ‘OK,’ or won’t
The priority for TCU, and schools in its situation, is either to be asked to join the Big Ten or SEC, or hope there is enough support to keep the model of Power Four sports mostly intact.
TCU’s problem remains the problem: size. The primary metric in conference realignment is enrollment, and living alumni. Like most private schools, TCU can’t offer that. Its current undergrad enrollment is just over 11,000.
You could take all of its living alumni and fit them inside Darrel K Royal Memorial Stadium at the University of Texas.
The Big Ten has two private schools, USC and Northwestern. It would love to add Notre Dame, but there is zero sign that the Catholic school in South Bend, Indiana, is willing to give up its independence. The SEC’s private school is Vanderbilt, a ground-floor member.
When these leagues have expanded, the target is big, state schools. Results were not a part of the discussion, which explains how Rutgers and Maryland were asked to join the Big Ten. Or Texas A&M to the SEC, the same for Missouri.
There are only so many of those schools remaining; Florida State, North Carolina and Clemson are at the top of the list. The departure of this trio from the ACC is viewed as a when not if.
Countering this expansion will be a list of influential people, most likely senators and people in Congress. Throw in Texas Tech booster Cody Campbell, who was recently appointed to the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition; the president said the creation of this commission is to “find solutions in college sports.”
Campbell is a fierce advocate for his alma mater, and keeping schools like Texas Tech in the upper echelon of college sports.
“I see it as two avenues: The first is competitive performance,” Buddie said. “If you look at who gets put on NCAA committees, or the College Football Playoff committees, it’s people associated with winning programs. Winning programs give you a voice in the room. Winning 10 games every year and competing for Big 12 championships and a playoff gives you a voice.
“The second avenue is advocacy, whether that’s through social media or the media. People who tell our story. There is a place for TCU, and we have to make that realistic.”
A school like TCU will have support, but without giant numbers, its best way to influence those who make decisions is to keep its brand attractive, which begins by winning games. Games such as at North Carolina on Monday night.
That is the best way to keep the ghosts off campus.
This story was originally published August 28, 2025 at 8:51 AM.
