Houston athletic director meets with Pac-12 commissioner
Houston athletic director Hunter Yurachek met with Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott as the program could be exploring a potential move out of the American Athletic Conference.
The Big 12 has been the conference exploring options for expansion but as their Media Days kicked off on Monday afternoon, it was the Pac-12 who may be stealing their prized target.
According to Joseph Duarte of the Houston Chronicle, Houston athletic director Hunter Yurachek met with Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott. This is interesting because Houston has pushed for entry into one of the Power Five conferences and the Big 12 would represent a natural geographical fit and could form rivalries with Texas, Baylor, TCU and Texas Tech as other programs from the Lone Star State in the conference.
Yurachek had to do his due diligence and keep all of his options open and that’s why a meeting with Scott took place. Unlike the Big 12, the Pac-12 has been content with the current member schools and according to CBS Sports Dennis Dodds, the Pac-12 will not be adding Houston or anyone else for that matter.
Just filed to CBS Sports: UH AD says “no substance” to implication that meeting with Scott was a pitch meeting. “Pac-12 not expanding."
— Dennis Dodd (@dennisdoddcbs) July 18, 2016
Adding Houston would give the Big 12 access to the nation’s fourth-largest market and further strengthens their stranglehold in the state of Texas. The Big 12 which has been linked to other AAC teams like Cincinnati, Memphis, UCF and USF as well as BYU, Boise State and Colorado State.
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With head coach Tom Herman in place and the Cougars coming off a 13-1 season and a Peach Bowl win over Florida State, there is no better candidate from the Group of Five to join a Power Five conference.