ESPN College Football

USA Today released its annual survey of athletic director salaries, noting that they're rising almost as fast as coaching salaries. How did the Big 12 stack up?

Here's how they ranked:

• DeLoss Dodds, Texas: $1,095,756
• Joe Castiglione, Oklahoma: $975,000
• Bill Byrne, Texas A&M: $690,000
• Mike Alden, Missouri: $659,775
• Kirby Hocutt, Texas Tech: $580,000
• Jamie Pollard, Iowa State: $450,000
• Sheahon Zenger, Kansas: $450,000
• Ian McCaw, Baylor: $423,449
• John Currie, Kansas State: $412,500
• Mike Holder, Oklahoma State: $387,560

I kept old Big 12 schools in this list because they were in the Big 12 when these numbers were taken.

For the new schools?

• Oliver Luck, West Virginia: $405,600
• TCU's Chris Del Conte was paid $115,639 for a partial-year salary. He took over in October 2009, and his full salary was not available on public tax returns.

The most surprising name on the list was Mike Holder, who is at the bottom of the list, despite holding the position since 2005. Oklahoma State's not exactly starved for money these days, either.

Kansas State's John Currie is a newcomer to the job, and a first-time athletic director who has helped K-State become the most profitable athletic department in the country. You've got to expect a raise is coming his way, even though he had a high-profile gaffe when hoops coach Frank Martin exited stage right all the way to South Carolina.

Not surprising to see Texas and OU at the top, but that's a pretty big gap between Dodds, Castiglione and the rest of the league, especially now that Missouri and Texas A&M are gone.

Dodds is only the fourth-highest paid AD, behind Vanderbilt, Florida and Louisville's athletic directors.

What else stuck out to you?

Wow, what an ordeal. And I know a lot about suffering, because I work out. A lot. I think we have a clip.

• Florida State to the Big 12? Where were the Seminoles during the West Virginia/Louisville debate, writes Berry Tramel of The Oklahoman.
• Former Seminoles coaching legend Bobby Bowden says FSU should stay in the ACC.
• Are you ready to see the WVU Mountaineer and Dana Holgorsen in an ESPN commercial? You better be.
• West Virginia athletic director Oliver Luck isn't leaving for Stanford, reports Mitch Vingle of the Charleston Gazette. To do so, the Mountaineers had to get pretty creative.
• If you missed it, here's RG3's appearance on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
• Have y'all heard anything about this? Baylor's having a crazy year after being not very good at the major sports for a very long time.
• All of a sudden, the Big 12 looks quite attractive, writes Mike Finger of the Houston Chronicle.
• An Athlon panel weighs in: Is Geno Smith the best QB in the Big 12?

Sent from one of my four iPads? This guy sounds amazing.

• How do the Big 12 coaches rank by age? You might be surprised, writes Berry Tramel of The Oklahoman.
• According to tax documents, TCU coach Gary Patterson will enter the Big 12 making more than every coach but Mack Brown, Bob Stoops and Mike Gundy, reports Stefan Stevenson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
• A Texas receiver and a TCU offensive lineman make CBS Sports' Bruce Feldman's annual "Freaks" list.
• One awful fall made Darrin Moore's 2011 season take a turn for the worse. Don Williams of the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal tracks the Texas Tech receiver's road back.
• Looking around the Big 12, West Virginia will enter in better condition than most programs, writes Mike Casazza of the Charleston Daily Mail.
• Heisman winner RG3 has decided to try and copyright "RG3," "RGIII" and the catchphrase from his Heisman speech, "Unbelievably Believable." He's also made his own company, Thr3escompany, LLC.
• Matt Tait of the Lawrence Journal-World breaks down the wholesale changes on KU's roster this offseason.
• West Virginia is officially looking into how to monetize its Tier 3 media rights, which the Big 12 allows.
• Oklahoma's welcoming a transfer from Fresno State.
• Will West Virginia AD Oliver Luck leave for Stanford? He's not officially saying no, writes Mitch Vingle of the Charleston Gazette.
• Kansas legislature is honoring K-State coach Bill Snyder today.
• Texas A&M AD Bill Byrne and president R. Bowen Loftin disagree on Byrne's role in A&M's decision to move from the Big 12 to the SEC.
• A panel at Athlon discusses the big question at Oklahoma State: Is a Big 12 title possible with a true freshman quarterback?
• Paul Myerberg of PreSnap Read explains how you should judge Year 1 of the Weis Era at Kansas.
• One of the nation's top receivers is likely to receive an offer from Texas this weekend.

Nothing gets me more amped than Sarah McLachlan.

• Remember before the spring? Oklahoma State OC Todd Monken said he'd be "stunned" if Wes Lunt was OSU's starter. Well, here we are. Gina Mizell of The Oklahoman revisits those comments and others.
• An Iowa State football player has been named in a felony search warrant, and evidence suggests its in regard to a sexual assault from last month, reports The Ames Tribune's Luke Jennett.
• The most profitable athletic department in the country in 2010-11? That would be Kansas State. Colleague Paula Lavigne explains.
• Here's the lowdown on new Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby from someone who has covered him, Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News. He brings realignment experience and TV contract experience to the Big 12.
• I talked K-State football and some other stuff on a podcast with the boys at the Wildcats' blog, Bring On The Cats.
• A deal is unofficially in place that should keep the Red River Rivalry in the Cotton Bowl in Dallas through 2020.
• Former Oklahoma coach Barry Switzer says West Virginia and Oklahoma are the preseason favorites in the Big 12.
• NCAA academic eligbility is changing with the class of 2016. Be prepared to learn the term "academic redshirt," writes colleague Mitch Sherman.
• TCU is making a change to its logo. You'll be seeing a lot less of the frog.
• West Virginia AD Oliver Luck opened up even more about the move to the Big 12.
• The Big 12 website has a preview of Oklahoma after the spring.

Low flow? I don't like the sound of that.

• The impending playoff is one more reason why WVU made the right decision to join the Big 12, AD Oliver Luck told colleague Ivan Maisel.
• Bob Bowlsby is a solid choice for commissioner, writes Berry Tramel of The Oklahoman. Bowlsby has no ties to any Big 12 schools, which is a good political development. He could be a much-needed calming influence for the league.
• The drama between Dana Holgorsen and Bill Stewart is behind West Virginia as it moves into the Big 12, writes Andy Staples of SI.com.
• You down with football sabermetrics? You and Texas DC Manny Diaz could be friends.
• WVU and Florida State settled after WVU pulled out of a home-and-home with the Seminoles.
• Conference champions ranked in the top six could get automatic bids into the four-team playoff.
• West Virginia's moving into a good place in the Big 12, but ACC-bound rival Pitt and the Mountaineers will miss each other, writes Bob Hertzel of the Times West Virginian.
• Oklahoma State landed a coveted wide receiver who had offers from Michigan, Arkansas and Texas Tech. He's the No. 27 player in Texas.

Tonight, West Virginia won't have a player selected in the first round of the NFL draft.

However, the school's athletic director, Oliver Luck will be at Radio City Music Hall, and might be prouder than anyone in attendance.

His son, Andrew Luck, will almost certainly be the first name announced, and begin his career as an Indianapolis Colt.

Colleague Liz Merrill offered an indepth look at the Lucks, and spent some time with Oliver to get to know Andrew more. It's interesting reading.

Here's an excerpt:

They have gathered on this late-April night to see Oliver Luck, a man whose bio in the Wheeling Chamber of Commerce dinner program fills an entire single-spaced page. Luck is all over the West Virginia map these days, dining with Boy Scouts and rubbing elbows with Rotarians, because this is what the athletic director for West Virginia University does in the springtime.

He does not rattle off his résumé, which sounds as if it could be a "world's most interesting man" script. Former NFL quarterback. Rhodes Scholar finalist. World traveler. Former president and CEO of NFL Europe. Ran a Major League Soccer team that won a couple of championships. Oh, and he has a law degree, which he picked up taking night classes while in the NFL. But Luck taught his kids to be humble, which is why you'll hear very little about any of this tonight.

He steps to the center of the stage to give his speech about West Virginia athletics, and breaks code a bit, probably to break the ice.

Great read from Merrill. Have a look.

The Big 12 still hasn't officially welcomed TCU and West Virginia.

That day will arrive on July 1 later this year. Until then (and even after), there will be plenty of discussion on what the Big 12 should do.

Few Big 12 administrators have endorsed either option publicly, but West Virginia AD Oliver Luck made his thoughts clear in a recent interview with ESPN.com.

"My recommendation would be to look long and hard at moving up, whether it’s to 11 or 12, particularly when you look at how big the SEC is, how big the ACC is going to be, the number that the Big Ten and the Pac-12 are at," Luck said. "I think it would be wise to take a long hard look at that because there is some strength in numbers."

The big question for the Big 12, though? Will new members bring in enough revenue to warrant inclusion? Selling expansion to the league's 10 members won't go over all that well if the league can't prove that the annual conference revenue paychecks won't get significant cuts.

So, what do you think the best option is? Vote in our poll.

MORGANTOWN, W. Va. -- West Virginia athletic director Oliver Luck would consider himself a man with foresight, but even he has to chuckle when he looks at his football head coach.

The Mountaineers are entering a brand-new world in the Big 12 in 2012, and the man in charge, Dana Holgorsen, happens to have nine seasons of experience in WVU's new conference.

"Dumb luck," says, uh, Luck.

That part may be luck, but the December 2010 hire was about a lot more. Holgorsen was hired as the coach-in-waiting, and 2012 was supposed to be his first season replacing Bill Stewart as head coach until a drama-filled scandal made Holgorsen's time come early.

"I brought Dana in because I thought he was a great, young coach and had tremendous potential," Luck said. "I’d be pulling your leg if I said I had any premonition that we’d be in the Big 12. Having said that, it’s great that both of our major sports -- football and men’s basketball --have coaches who have coached in the Big 12."

Bob Huggins, who spent one season at Kansas State, came to West Virginia in April 2007.

Holgorsen's arrival preceding Big 12 membership was an accident, but Holgorsen's offseason hires were anything but. Defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel ended an eight-year tenure at West Virginia to join former Mountaineers coach Rich Rodriguez at Arizona, and Holgorsen didn't have to look far to find his new coordinator.

Joe DeForest spent 11 years at Oklahoma State before following Holgorsen east to West Virginia, and he'll share defensive coordinator duties with Keith Patterson, who spent time as a high school coach in Oklahoma and Arkansas before stops at Tulsa, Pittsburgh and Arkansas State.

"Dana's put together a great staff with knowledge of the league we’re fixing to enter, which can only help us," said DeForest, who was the associate head coach, special-teams coordinator and safeties coach since 2005 in Stillwater.

Running backs coach Robert Gillespie was at Oklahoma State in 2009 and 2010, and the Mountaineers just welcomed Andrew McGee as a graduate assistant. The former Oklahoma State cornerback led the Big 12 in interceptions in 2010.

"It takes the element of surprise out," Luck said. "There’s a lot of Big 12 coaching experience in the group and an understanding of the conference and a comfort level with all the things you’ve got to put up with, travel and et cetera. Some of the traditions. And I think having some coaches with experience in the conference filters down pretty quickly to the players because they realize that their guys have been there, and it’s not all just brand new."

What can the coaches explain? DeForest will be sure to warn his players about the Paddle People in Stillwater, and the student section that sits just four yards behind the visitor's sideline.

"I’ll have recall on every team we play," DeForest said. "Whether it’s subtle things, tips that we’ve learned from previous years that they’re still giving away, or any possible thing you can use based on the time you’ve been there and the knowledge that you’ve gained, and I think it’s only advantageous for us."

For DeForest, suddenly he's bridging the gap between new guy and know-it-all. Instead of entering a brand-new world in the Big East, he's helping his players dip their toes into unfamiliar waters.

"There’s a comfort level there. I’ve been to every venue. I can relay things to our players about every venue and every crowd and every student body and a lot of the personnel we’re going to face. That excites me that I have knowledge and I’m not walking in here blind coming into the Big East, with them knowing and me not," DeForest said. "Knowledge is king. I’m just excited to see how our kids match up and how they respond each and every week in a big venue. I’m not saying the Big East didn’t have big venues, but in the Big 12, it’s a big venue every week."

DeForest knows well what Big 12 teams like to do on the field, especially Oklahoma State.

"Maybe they’re continuing to do the same tendencies and I can feed off that to help give them knowledge and help us make better calls," he said.

Holgorsen, DeForest and the rest of the Big 12 will see just how big or small the impact will be come fall, but it's easy to see why Luck is confident in the men he put in charge as they bring West Virginia into its new world out west.

"It’s all positive," he said. "I can’t think of any negatives involved with the experience level of these guys."

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- Texas A&M looked likely to leave the Big 12 in late August. Rumors and speculation reigned on the topic of who could replace the Aggies.

At least one report placed Pittsburgh on the supposed "Big 12 short list."

West Virginia athletic director Oliver Luck saw it, and thus began the Mountaineers' road to the Big 12.

"If Pitt is on the short list, there’s no reason that West Virginia shouldn’t be on the Big 12 short list," Luck told ESPN.com. "That’s when, to myself, I began to think, because normally, you don’t think Big 12 and Pittsburgh. You don’t think Big 12 and West Virginia.

"I remember saying to myself and saying to my wife, 'If that story was accurate, and Pitt used that as leverage to get in the ACC,' I remember thinking: Well, this is certainly a possibility.”

Luck was driving with his family to the Mountaineers' road win over Maryland on Sept. 17 when he got the call. He was just outside Hancock, Md. Pitt and Syracuse were leaving for the ACC.

"We love to hate Pitt, but we have 104 years of history together," Luck said. "When those two schools left, that was a blow to the Big East. I don’t care how you cut it, it was a blow to the Big East."

Weeks later, Texas A&M made its move to the SEC official. The Big 12 plugged its vacancy with TCU, who canceled plans to join the Big East.

"I think it was pretty obvious that the league was going to struggle. We hadn’t added a new member since 2005. Sitting in these AD meetings, there was no expansion committee to speak of," Luck said. "You’re down to five members with no clear-cut expansion candidates, with no activity, so at that point I think people -- and not just me -- realized that we needed to look around and make sure first and foremost that we were going to be in a conference that maintained high standards and high-quality opponents."

Missouri was toying with a move to the SEC, but West Virginia was also a candidate to join A&M in the SEC and become the league's 14th member.

"Missouri held a lot of the cards," Luck said. "We and the SEC and the Big 12 in a sense waited on a final decision on Missouri’s status, and that then prompted additional opportunities and decisions."

Missouri chose to leave for the SEC, becoming the fourth Big 12 member in less than two years to abandon the league it helped found 15 years earlier.

The Big 12 needed a 10th member, both to fill its schedule and television contract.

West Virginia looked around and saw Rutgers as the only original football member of the Big East when the Mountaineers joined in 1991.

"We didn’t really leave the Big East. It left us," Luck said. "We had joined a conference that had certain schools like Virginia Tech, and now we were finding ourselves with only one original member.

"The conference had fundamentally changed."

The Big 12's members had granted their media rights to the conference for six years, establishing some stability for a league that lacked it in recent years.

Compared to the Big East, though?

"We couldn’t afford to find ourselves on the outside looking in," Luck said.

He watched schools like Houston, even with its Hall of Famers and Heisman winner, get pushed out of the adults' table at college football. It took TCU 30 years to win its way back in.

"It’s much easier to stay in than get knocked out and try to get back in," Luck said. "That was always the fear. I’m not trying to say the Big East is on the outside looking in, but clearly, with the loss of so many good teams in the last 10 years between VT, Miami, BC, Pitt, TCU, there’s a lot of top-20 football teams that had left and are playing in other conferences."

West Virginia's mind was made up. It wanted out. The Big 12 needed help. Luck never saw WVU leaving its East Coast history behind, but the school's future and the decisions of the league's members made it a necessary choice.

"I didn’t give [the Big East] any explanation. I said we’re leaving. We never flinched. We never blinked. We said we’re not going to be playing in the Big East any longer beyond this season. We made it very clear we had no intention of compromising," Luck said. "We said, 'We’re leaving, don’t waste your time trying to convince us to stay. We’re gone.' I think that helped the process. It certainly accelerated it, because they realized very quickly that there was no turning back from us."

A lawsuit slowed the exit, and WVU was forced to pay the Big East $20 million -- four times the original exit fee -- to leave for the Big 12.

If that means West Virginia has found its league home forever, there's no doubt in Morgantown that the move will be worth it. Donations and season-ticket sales have been "unprecedented."

"Our episode was a challenging one for us, but I think we find ourselves in a really good spot. It was hectic. There was some anxiety involved," Luck said. "It’s a little bit of an adjustment to say, well, now we’re going to be playing Texas and TCU and Oklahoma and Baylor and those Texas schools. But I think it’s been a very positive change."

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- First things first: Thanks for the big welcome, Morgantown. The WVU administrative staff, coaching staff, fans I encountered and local media all provided outstanding hospitality. It definitely made my first visit to Mountaineers country a memorable one. I'm looking forward to my next visit in the fall. Keep winning, 'Eers, and I'll be there. In the days and weeks to come, I'll have a ton of stories and some video from my visit, so be prepared for that. Keep checking the blog and you won't be disappointed. Until then, here are a few parting thoughts from my three-day stay, campus tour on Thursday to see the WVU facilities, and tour of Morgantown. Some of this is directed at you, 'Eers. Some of it is a mini-guide for Big 12 fans who are curious about this strange land they'll be frequenting soon.

• The WVU campus is a bit odd. Its split between an Evansdale campus that features newer buildings like the creative arts center and engineering building. The other half, called the downtown campus, features older, more historic buildings. You've read a bit about it on the blog before, but the Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) system shuttles students from one part of campus to the other. Imagine a monorail with tiny cars that go about 35 miles per hour and fit five to 10 people. WVU folk seem to hate it for its unreliability, but you'll be intrigued. Trust me on this. The downtown campus transitions seamlessly from university buildings to an area of restaurants, bars and other establishments. In that sense, it reminded me of the north part of Missouri's campus and parts of Oklahoma's campus. I'm sure there are others, too. The downtown campus features some very cool, very classic architecture. The school's administration building, Stewart Hall, looks very much like a castle.
• The downtown area centers around High Street (save the jokes, folks. This ain't the Pac-12 blog), which features your standard fare of restaurants, bars and stores. It very much has the feel of a college town, and the center of downtown isn't very hilly, unlike the rest of the city. That makes it pretty walkable, as opposed to most of the rest of the city. We'll get to that in a bit. There are lots of local joints, with chains like Jimmy John's, Dairy Queen, Buffalo Wild Wings and Cold Stone Creamery mixed in. (See what I did there?)
• If you saw the first broadcast of ESPN's "College GameDay" last season from Morgantown before WVU's game against LSU, the backdrop was the frat houses on the hill, but the show was shot in the thick of the downtown campus, which is nowhere near the stadium, really.
• Getting around Morgantown is a lot different than most Big 12 cities. The landscape demands it. The city is full of narrow, winding roads that look like they go nowhere, but open up to a new part of the city over another hill. It'll be a bit jarring, especially for those of us used to wide-open highways in cities like Dallas and elsewhere in Big 12 country. In three days, I'm not sure my car ever topped 40 miles an hour in the city.
• To answer a burning question I got several times during my visit from curious Big 12 fans: I'd say I only saw a slightly higher than normal rate of beards while in Morgantown. Sorry to disappoint. Not everybody has one. I didn't see a single coonskin cap, either. What gives?
• WVU play-by-play man Tony Caridi and his Sportsline crew couldn't stomach the idea of me leaving West Virginia without tasting a true, original pepperoni roll, the staple of native West Virginian cuisine. We made our way to one of the originals, Colasessano's in Morgantown, and, yes, it lives up to the hype. I eschewed the peppers on mine, but the sauce and generously cheesed roll were delicious. It's essentially a sub sandwich with flavorful pepperoni enveloped with provolone cheese and homemade bread with meat marinara sauce. There are some bold flavors going on. It's delicious and not to be missed. I'm no Don Draper, but here's a slogan they ought to try out. This advice is on the house. "Colasessanos: Our name is impossible to remember, but our pepperoni rolls are impossible to forget." (Do it, y'all. I won't even demand royalties.)
• As I mentioned in my last dispatch, most fans will probably fly into Pittsburgh somehow. (Seriously, airlines. You will make bank if you ramp up the number of fall Friday flights between Pittsburgh and Big 12 fan hubs Kansas City, Dallas and Houston. Probably San Antonio, too.) From Pittsburgh, it's about a 90-minute drive or so (usually less) to Morgantown. There was a bit of construction when I was there. Teams, however, will typically fly into the Clarksburg airport, about 25 to 30 minutes from the school. University charters won't have problems getting to Morgantown, but if you can't get a direct flight to Pittsburgh, it might be a bit of a haul for fans making their way to West Virginia.
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Charles LeClaire/US PresswireSurprise, Big 12 fans: Not everyone in Morgantown sports a beard like this fellow's.
• Milan Puskar Stadium won't wow in size, but I've seen and heard plenty about how loud it gets during games, a decibel level no doubt aided by the school's status as the only Big 12 school that sells beer in the stadium. I guess they caught Owen "Runaway Beer Truck" Schmitt after all. It seats 60,000 -- here's a photo -- and I'm excited to see it in action. WVU sounded like it wanted to upgrade its press box, but it's roomy and large already, and should easily be in the Big 12's top half, probably in the top third. (You're wondering. I'm answering: Texas Tech has the nicest press box in the Big 12 and it is not close at all.) The suite level was nice, but there aren't many. Even college sports are leaning that way, and whenever WVU makes its next stadium upgrade, you can bet "more $uites" will be at or near the top of the wish list.
• The views from the stands, though? Oh my. Top-notch. They'll surpass Kansas as the best view from the stadium and press box in the league.
• The locker room is solid, albeit a bit small. I did like WVU's tradition in the lockers. Each player has a plaque with names of notable players who wore the number they did. Quarterback Geno Smith shares his number with athletic director Oliver Luck. Marc Bulger also has a plaque in the No. 10 locker.
• I got a look inside the month-old, $24.1-million hoops practice facility on Thursday, though. Oh. My. Goodness. You won't find a facility like this in the Big 12. The opening to the facility has an interactive museum for fans of the women's and men's programs, complete with touchscreens that provide a wealth of highlights and video of current players and coaches, among other exhibits. They also have nods to the original fieldhouse on campus, with the original goal and scoreboard from the first-ever game (a 26-23 victory over Salem University) hanging in the new-age lobby. It's open to fans from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. during the week. There are 64 flatscreens in the facility, but none is bigger than the wall-size screen that adorns the wall beside the staircase in the atrium of the players-/staff-only section of the facility. On the opposite wall? Well, Kansas fans seemed to enjoy (read: vehemently disagree with) the Mountaineers' bold claim. There are plenty of meeting rooms, a gorgeous weight room with wall-size glass windows that face a large river and light forest area. There are also player lounges filled with leather furniture and very, very large television screens.
• My favorite and most functional part of the facility? There are overhead video decks in both the women's and men's practice decks that log live video. Don't like what you just saw in practice? Pull the team over to the courtside touchscreen and go over what just happened two minutes ago. Very, very cool. I obviously don't know as much about the nuts and bolts of Big 12 hoops programs, but the 'Eers would have to be in the minority with that little nugget of technology. The gym is open to players 24/7, a much needed move from the nearby Coliseum, which had to be shared between the men, women, university P.E. classes and various university events like concerts. That scheduling nightmare is over, and players have a real home now.
• Like I said: Enjoyed my visit. Enjoyed the people. Enjoyed seeing the football team. It's going to be a fun fall, and WVU should be a great fit for the Big 12.

A couple spare notes via Twitter from my tour that didn't make it into the notes:

• The view from the backside of WVU's stadium.
• Opposing views from the top of Mountaineer Field.
• The Big East Room in WVU's hall of history (it's getting a new name in a few months).
• The equipment managers aren't waiting for July 1 to get a taste of the Big 12 in the equipment room, though.
• A total overview of Morgantown from the president's mansion. Not your average Big 12 landscape.

See you all again soon.

MORGANTOWN, W. Va. -- West Virginia athletic director Oliver Luck remembers looking up at a depleted Big East last fall and seeing only five teams, well short of anything resembling the conference the Mountaineers signed up to play in back in 1991.

The Big East floundered in a world filled with bigger, better leagues playing championship games, and as West Virginia enters the Big 12, Luck wants to learn from the mistakes of the Mountaineers' former league.

"My recommendation would be to look long and hard at moving up, whether it’s to 11 or 12, particularly when you look at how big the SEC is, how big the ACC is going to be, the number that the Big Ten and the Pac-12 are at," Luck told ESPN.com this week. "I think it would be wise to take a long hard look at that because there is some strength in numbers."

When Nebraska and Colorado left the Big 12 in the summer of 2010, the league built itself around playing a season of football to find "one true champion," decided by round-robin play that required the conference to move from eight conference games to nine.

It produced an outright champion in 2011 when Oklahoma State beat Oklahoma on the season's final weekend, but it might have side effects in the future that the league's members won't find quite so marketable.

"Ten is the ideal number for fair and equitable conference play, no question about it, but having said that, I’m not sure that you want to stay at 10, given where everybody else is," Luck said.

You don't have to look far to see the short list of teams rumored to be on the Big 12's list. Fellow Big East member Louisville was under consideration last fall and would seem to top it.

Luck declined to offer his thoughts on who he favored as the league's possible new members, but leaned on lessons learned in the rocky road that led West Virginia into the Big 12.

"My message to my fellow ADs -- and I’m the new kid on the block, so I haven’t really said too much -- but I said to the group that I think the Big East was complacent by remaining at eight (teams)," he said, "and that doesn’t really give you much room for error if somebody does want to pick up and leave, as happened with Pitt and Syracuse."

What's the bigger upset? KU winning the Big 12, considering its roster to start the season? Or KU winning tonight?

• West Virginia will be adding some sports some time, but which ones? AD Oliver Luck isn't so sure. "I think the conference office is probably grateful to us because it's forcing them to take a look at their bylaws," Luck said. "I don't think they'd paid much attention to some of the things that are in there." This is my unsurprised face.
• The Texas QBs? David Ash's chance to win the job this year looks as likely as Garrett Gilbert's did this time last year, writes Kirk Bohls of the Austin American-Statesman. And hey, why didn't UT attempt a field goal in the spring game?
• TCU is changing leagues, but its program's foundation is the same, writes Gil LeBreton of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
• Don Williams of the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal sorts out who'll be playing and who won't among Tech receivers.
• Luck talks more about the Big 12 transition, noting that Florida State is still on the 2013 schedule.
• Iowa State coach Paul Rhoads offers a beard update, and linebacker Jake Knott talks about spending time off the field with Andrew Logue of the Des Moines Register. He also offers a look at former quarterback Jerome Tiller, who sat out last season because of academic issues, but is making an impact at receiver.
• It's not a big change, but Bobby Jack Wright is in charge of special teams at Oklahoma. Mike Baldwin of The Oklahoman explains exactly what that means.
• Cedric Golden of the Austin American-Statesman liked the physicality he saw from Texas in its spring game on Sunday.
• Former Baylor QB Robert Griffin III challenged Brittney Griner to a dunk contest. Hmm ... that sounds familiar.
• Texas unveiled its statue of Ricky Williams at the spring game on Sunday.
• The Sooners picked up a running back from Florida for the 2013 class.
• Oklahoma State offensive coordinator Todd Monken talks about his preparation for Year 2 with Gina Mizell of The Oklahoman.
• Ahmad Rashad checks in with Robert Griffin III and his parents.
• Richard Tijerina of the Austin American-Statesman has a few spare thoughts from Texas' spring game.
• The Statesman's Suzanne Halliburton tracks Baylor's recent rise as part of the "Baylor 2012" program, which sought to make the Bears the Baptist version of Notre Dame.
• Oklahoma would like you to begin drooling over receiver Trey Metoyer. Onward to YouTube!
• John Hoover of the Tulsa World catches up with former Sooner Brian Simmons, who tells what life is like in the Canadian Football League.
• Is Texas Tech moving a safety to defensive end? Looks like it.

Nice weekend for George Thornton, who's on top of the Big 12 Blog Challenge after the tournament's first weekend. He's got 510 points and is in the 100th percentile.

Yours truly is holding it down in the 61st percentile with 400 points. Just looming, you know.

• Fozzy Whittaker's career had an ugly end. But that was his college career. He's fighting to make his NFL dreams come true, and Kevin Robbins of the Austin American-Statesman fills you in on the journey.
• The Big 12 may be due for a big pay day from ABC/ESPN, but is that the best thing for the league? Berry Tramel of The Oklahoman wonders.
• West Virginia's pretty happy about it, though. Money talks after leaving the Big East, writes Jack Bogaczyk of the Charleston Daily Mail.
• West Virginia AD Oliver luck explains why he thinks the Mountaineers are a great fit for the Big 12.
• Yeah, Texas' coaches make a lot of money. You knew that. Here's 10 things you didn't know about their contracts.
• Mike Graham of the Dallas Morning News gives a spring break assessment of Texas Tech's quarterbacks.
• Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops says the new kickoff rules are a good thing for the game. The Sooners' schedule, though? Far from ideal, writes Mike Baldwin of The Oklahoman.
• Want to know where former OSU star Brandon Weeden will land? Keep an eye on who wins the Peyton Manning Sweepstakes.
• Morale is high in Mountaineers' spring camp, and coach Dana Holgorsen likes what he sees.

Congrats to the two folks in the Big 12 Blog bracket challenge who managed a perfect Day 1: Ray Miller and trojansports. Strong, friends.

• Why did West Virginia join the Big 12? AD Oliver Luck says it was about maintaining a national profile, reports Jack Bogaczyk of the Charleston Daily Mail.
• TCU's defense took the front seat at a scrimmage on the way into spring break.
• Veteran assistant Bobby Jack Wright is taking over the special teams unit for Oklahoma, writes John Hoover of the Tulsa World.
• Life is a little easier on West Virginia's offense this time around, writes Ryan Pritt of the Charleston Gazette.
• Here's a little more from Oklahoma's pro day this week.
• Josh Sickles of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review tells the story of Mountaineers lineman Josh Jenkins, who's finally back after big knee problems.
• Mike Baldwin of The Oklahoman has more from the Sooners' scrimmage.

West Virginia AD Oliver Luck shares his thoughts on the Mountaineers' transition to the Big 12, his insight into the conference scheduling process, and more.