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Expansion talk is really heating up for the Big 12 with reports that Florida State is knocking on the door, as is ACC partner Clemson.

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On Wednesday morning in Lubbock, TCU athletic director Chris Del Conte clued in, perhaps rather inadvertently, about 200 Red Raiders fans at a breakfast event called Committee for Champions, that Miami might also be up to some relocation reconnaissance with an eye on the Big 12. Of course, TCU and West Virginia join the league this year to keep it at 10 teams with the departures of Texas A&M and Missouri to the SEC.

This bit of news came via Chris Level, a talk radio show host in Lubbock who tweeted Del Conte's comments this morning. The Frogs' AD said that the Big 12 -- which not too long ago was on life support -- now has schools like FSU, Clemson and Miami trying to get in.

A TCU spokesman said the context of Del Conte's comments were in reference to the recent rumor-mill activity and that this time around teams are not wanting to depart the league but rather join it. The spokesman said in no way was Del Conte confirming any such interest from any particular school or schools.

The Big 12 added clout to its name in recent days when it dropped a blockbuster on the college football scene with the announcement of a partnership with the SEC for the two conference's football champs to play in an annual bowl game starting after the 2014 when a four-team playoff is expected to replace the current BCS.

Conference power brokers such as Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds have remained consistent in suggesting the preference is to remain a 10-team conference (all the fewer schools to share the TV money pie). Incoming commissioner Bob Bowlsby has said that he will remain vigilant when it comes to expansion but won't rush it.

It certainly does appear that the Big 12, twice left for dead, is back in a power position and could soon have difficult choices to make as to the size of their league and the members they want.

The move to the Big 12 and a totally renovated Amon G. Carter Stadium have elevated TCU football to the big time, and Horned Frogs fans are ponying up to be a part of it this fall.

The school announced Wednesday that it has sold out of season tickets, having hit a school-record 30,000.

It's the third consecutive season that TCU has set a new season-ticket mark, with 22,500 sold in 2011 eclipsing the 19,143 in 2010.

"We are incredibly proud of the Horned Frog Nation," TCU athletic director Chris Del Conte said in statement. "With the momentum in our program under (head coach) Gary Patterson, the new Amon G. Carter Stadium set to open this fall and the excitement throughout TCU, Fort Worth and the entire Metroplex with our Big 12 membership, this is an incredible time to be a Horned Frog.

"We truly thank everyone for allowing us to achieve this milestone."

TCU has sold out its last eight home games and 10 of the last 14. The Frogs open the landmark 2012 season at home Sept. 8 against Grambling State and play their first home Big 12 game Oct. 6 against Iowa State.

TCU's 2012 football schedule
Sept. 8 vs. Grambling State
Sept. 15 at Kansas*
Sept. 22 vs. Virginia
Sept. 29 at SMU
Oct. 6 vs. Iowa State*
Oct. 13 at Baylor*
Oct. 20 vs. Texas Tech*
Oct. 27 at Oklahoma State*
Nov. 3 at West Virginia*
Nov. 10 vs. Kansas State*
Nov. 24 at Texas*
Dec. 1 vs. Oklahoma*
*Big 12 game

College Football Live's panel of experts preview TCU's first season in the Big 12.

SMU had three more players selected in the NFL draft Saturday.

Following in the footsteps of OG Josh LeRibeus, who was picked in the third round (71st overall) by the Washington Redskins on Friday, was defensive end/tight end Taylor Thompson (145th overall), Richard Crawford (213th overall) and Kelvin Beachum (248th overall).

Thompson, a fifth-round pick by the Tennessee Titans, had 22.5 tackles for loss and 18 sacks in his career at SMU and was a three-time All-Conference USA selection.

Crawford will join LeRibeus in Washington. Taken in the seventh round by the Redskins, Crawford picked off six passes and recorded 101 tackles in two seasons and was a first team All-Conference USA selection in 2011 as punt return specialist.

Beachum moves on to Pittsburg after starting four years at left tackle for SMU, where he earned first team all-conference honors his junior and senior seasons. Beachum will be reunited with former Mustangs teammate Emmanuel Sanders with the Steelers.

Horned Frogs duo drafted

TCU linebacker Tank Carder and defensive back/kick returner Greg McCoy received draft calls Saturday.

Carder, famous for his “immaculate deflection” in TCU’s Rose Bowl win over Wisconsin, was selected 147th overall in the fifth round by the Buffalo Bills and becomes the fifth TCU linebacker in as many season to join an NFL team.

Carder was a two-time All-American and a Mountain West Conference Defensive Player of the Year in his junior and senior seasons, amassing 70 tackles for the Horned Frogs his senior year.

McCoy will head to Chicago. Taken in the seventh round (280th overall) by the Bears, McCoy was an All-American return specialist his senior season, as well as the Mountain West special teams player of the year.

McCoy, who played at Dallas Woodrow Wilson, saved TCU’s Poinsettia Bowl victory by returning an interception 24 yards to set up the game-tying touchdown.

He returned two kicks for touchdowns in 2011 and his 30.6-yard return average his senior year ranked sixth nationally.

Cader and McCoy are Gary Patterson’s 30th and 31st players drafted in his tenure at TCU.

The Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl returns to Fort Worth in 2012 as a lead-in game on Saturday, Dec. 29.

The game was played at at SMU's Gerald J. Ford Stadium the last two seasons because of the $143 million renovations to TCU's Amon G. Carter Stadium. It drew a game-record 36,742 fans in 2010, when Army defeated SMU on its home turf, 16-14. BYU rallied over Tulsa for a 24-21 victory in last year's edition.

ESPN and ESPN Radio will air the game, with kickoff set for 10:45 a.m. CT.

"We are very pleased to have our 10th anniversary game featured on ESPN as the Saturday lead into other bowl games," bowl executive director Brant B. Ringler said. "We also look forward to continuing our great relationship with TCU after staging several highly successful events at Amon G. Carter Stadium for the first seven years of the bowl game."

Ticket information will be released through the Armed Forces Bowl website. Capacity at the renovated Amon G. Carter Stadium will be approximately 45,000.

Johnny Jones made 20-win seasons an expectation at North Texas, a program that had a grand total of 20 wins in four seasons before his arrival in Denton.

That’s how the former LSU point guard and assistant coach earned his dream job at his alma mater, which hired Jones to replace new TCU coach Trent Johnson.

That’s also why North Texas has never been a more attractive job for a head coach. Athletic director Rick Villarreal, who hired Jones about two weeks into his UNT tenure, should have a pretty impressive pool of candidates in his search to find an experienced head coach that can keep the Mean Green program’s momentum going.

“You probably need somebody that you’re not taking a chance he’s pulling the trigger for the first time,” Villarreal said. “That’s my preference. As a program, we’re at that point.”

The program, which qualified for the NCAA tourney twice in the last six years, is at a point where it could be poised to join the midmajor powers.

The Mean Green’s five-year streak of 20-win campaigns was snapped this season, when UNT finished 18-14 and lost a down-to-the-wire Sun Belt tournament final for the second straight year, but the entire rotation should return intact with an impact juco big man headlining the recruiting class. Potential first-round pick Tony Mitchell has decided to wait at least a year to declare for the NBA draft, opting to focus on improving his game and leading UNT back to March Madness, unless he reconsiders following Jones' departure.

This will always be known as a football state, but there aren’t many more fertile basketball recruiting bases than the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. UNT has a 10,000-seat arena and has positioned itself, with a facilities overhaul highlighted by its new $78 million football stadium, to benefit from future conference realignment dominoes falling.

This is no longer a job for a man desperate for a chance to become a head coach. It’s a job for a proven winner who can build on the foundation Jones leaves as he heads home to LSU.

FORT WORTH, Texas -- As far as buzz goes, TCU's hiring of LSU's Trent Johnson as its basketball coach Monday didn't exactly shake the Big 12 basketball landscape.

But in fairness, probably only the hiring of hometown basketball hero Jamie Dixon could have done that. And TCU tried hard to get him, though it's unclear how close Dixon came to actually leaving his post at Pittsburgh. It wasn't meant to be (the fact that his contract is through 2018 at Pitt was one of the obstacles). They talked to Buzz Williams, one of the biggest names around thanks to his success at Marquette. They called Ben Howland.

In the end, TCU athletic director Chris Del Conte settled on a coach that fit his criteria. He wanted someone with a track record of turning around a program that was struggling (Johnson did that at Nevada) and someone who had taken teams to the NCAA tournament (he did that at Nevada, Stanford and LSU). But he also wanted someone who would run the program with honesty and integrity. Johnson has done that at every stop.

Johnson will make $1.5 million base, but I'm told he's got incentives that could push things toward $2 million. It shows much more of a commitment than TCU has made in the past (the departed Jim Christian made around $600,000).

Johnson inherited some good teams at Stanford and LSU, and in Baton Rouge, after going to the NCAA tournament his first season, Johnson's teams struggled the next two seasons before going to the NIT last year with the same number of wins as TCU had under Christian.

What does it all mean? We'll see. The bottom line: The only buzz that matters is on the recruiting trail and, consequently, on the court. TCU loses its three top players next season and the roster has players from all over the place, though not that many from the Dallas-Fort Worth area (or Houston, for that matter). Those are two fertile recruiting areas and Johnson recruited some there while at LSU. It's critical that his staff establish relationships with those coaches. Maybe the move to the Big 12 will get more players interested.

"It's extremely important that some of the best players in the area and in the state attend the university for attendance purposes, for family purposes and you look at the good programs and the good players stay home," Johnson said. "It's about relationships."

Johnson mentioned Robert Hughes at Fort Worth Dunbar and said he's going to go about establishing those relationships. Good. He needs to do that to create a solid foundation.

Johnson said all the right things at his news conference on Monday. Then again, what new coach doesn't win the introductory presser? But I thought Johnson was more impressive once he wasn't standing behind the podium. He's a bit feisty, and I like that. He's confident and I think that's important for his team to see. It sounds like practices will be closed to the media, because he feels like that's his private time with his players. Normally, that might make me suspicious. But I like Johnson's reasoning on it. He's going to run a tight ship and reports from his previous stops say his teams play very hard and with energy.

Is all of that enough to win? How is that different from Christian? We'll just have to wait and see.

The second part of the winning equation is up to Del Conte and the administration. And they're already working on it. The plan is to renovate Daniel-Meyer Coliseum in terms of locker rooms, concourses and the exterior. It's long overdue.

If Johnson can turn things around, he could be here for a long time. Or success could propel him to another job. But if he doesn't succeed, the university has at least sent a signal with the financial commitment that it is starting to get serious about basketball. That can't hurt if and when it has to make another hire.

Johnson knows it takes time but admits he's not patient.

"I'm just a grinder," Johnson said. "I'm a morning, noon and night guy. I wish I golfed. I wish I had some social life. My life is in the gym and sports and my life is based off of making sure kids get a good education and play good basketball and my family."

The Cowboys' Dallas Day kicks off today at Valley Ranch with several area players getting a chance to talk with team officials.

SMU guard Josh LeRibeus, a 6-3, 312 pounder and TCU defensive end Braylon Broughton, 6-4, 255, will visit the complex.

LeRibeus missed his junior season for academic reasons but played his senior season. Here's the scouting report on him from NFL.com. Our guys at Scouts Inc. have this report.

Broughton improved his stock among NFL teams with a strong effort at TCU's Pro Day. He ran a 4.5 40 and has the size and power to maybe get drafted in the middle-to-late rounds.

Broughton also visited the Detroit Lions.

TCU basketball coach Jim Christian won't be back with the Horned Frogs next season. Here is the statement from TCU director of intercollegiate athletics Chris Del Conte.

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"Jim Christian will not be returning as TCU's head men's basketball coach. We appreciate Jim's contributions to TCU and wish him the best. A national search for a new head coach will begin immediately. With our entrance into the Big 12, the momentum on the TCU campus and the great city of Fort Worth, we are very excited about the future of our men's basketball program."

Christian is rumored to be taking over the head coaching job at Ohio. Christian is coming off an 18-15 season at TCU but was just 56-73 in four seasons with the school.

Watch Texas Tech outfielder Brennan Moore make a dazzling catch to rob TCU of a home run.

LAS VEGAS -- Pierce Hornung had 16 points and 14 rebounds to lead six players in double figures for No. 4 seed Colorado State, which routed No. 5 seed TCU, 81-60, in the opening round of the Mountain West Conference tournament Thursday.

The Rams (20-10), who kept alive their bid for their first NCAA tournament berth since 2003, will face top-seeded and No. 18 San Diego State in the semifinals Friday night. SDSU beat Boise State, 65-62.

Wes Eikmeier, who had two 3-pointers in scoring the game's first eight points, finished with 15 points. Will Bell scored 14, Dwight Smith 13, Dorian Green 11 and Jesse Carr 10 for the Rams.

CSU jumped to a 9-0 lead and had the margin up to double digits before the midway point of the first half.

Hank Thorns, who is from Las Vegas, scored 19 for TCU (17-14) and J.R. Cadot had 10.

LARAMIE, Wyo. -- Leonard Washington scored 23 points and grabbed 12 rebounds -- his second straight double-double -- to lead Wyoming over TCU, 71-59, on Tuesday night, giving the Cowboys 20 wins for the first time in nine years.

Wyoming (20-9, 6-7 Mountain West), which had only one turnover, got 19 points from Francisco Cruz and 14 from Adam Waddell.

J.R. Cadot scored 11 while Hank Thorns and Kyan Anderson added 10 apiece for the Horned Frogs (17-12, 7-6).

Wyoming made 13 of its first 17 shots to go up 29-15. During that stretch, Cruz was 4 of 5, including three layups and a 3-pointer, plus three assists.

TCU hung tough, drawing within 47-42 on a 3-pointer by Thorns with 15:51 remaining. But the Cowboys then scored six straight, including dunks by Waddell and Washington, to build the margin back to 11.

Big 12 spokesman Bob Burda said the 2012 football schedule isn't completely set until television decides which times and special dates it's looking at for games -- including Thanksgiving.

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The league is expecting the TCU-Texas game in Austin will be played on Thanksgiving night, which is one reason why both the Horned Frogs and Longhorns were given a bye week the previous Saturday.

"Judging by Texas' history of playing that day, we anticipate that game would be selected by TV to be played on Thanksgiving," Burda said.

(All dates subject to change)

Sept. 8: vs. Grambling State
Sept. 15: at Kansas
Sept. 22: vs. Virginia
Sept. 29: at SMU
Oct. 6: vs. Iowa State
Oct. 13: at Baylor
Oct. 20: vs. Texas Tech
Oct. 27: at Oklahoma State
Nov. 3: at West Virginia
Nov. 10: vs. Kansas State
Nov. 24: at Texas
Dec. 1: vs. Oklahoma

How do you think the Horned Frogs will do in their first Big 12 season?

DALLAS -- Robert Nyakundi scored 17 points, London Giles added 14 and SMU rode a late run to a 68-62 victory Wednesday night over crosstown rival TCU.

Nyakundi was 6 of 13 from the field, including three 3-pointers. Jeremiah Samarrippas and Aliaksei Patsevich added 10 points apiece for the Mustangs (11-13), who shot 52 percent from the field.

J.R. Cadot led the Horned Frogs (13-10) with 14 points, and Amric Fields and Garlon Green scored 10 each.

TCU led 59-58 after two Fields free throws with 2:06 to play, but a Giles 3-pointer gave SMU the lead for good. Patsevich added a layup, and he, Nyakundi and Samarrippas each hit two free throws in the final minute to seal the victory.

This is the 10th straight year the Metroplex rivals have met as nonconference opponents; the teams played together in the Southwest and Western Athletic conferences from 1923 to 2001.