Okay, maybe I'm being a bit over-the-top with my title, but the whole hoopla surrounding the conference "expansion" (read "destruction") going on in college athletics right now is showing just how out-of-touch major universities' athletic departments are with their institutions' goals. It used to be that athletics were considered a part of the educational experience, a way of helping the student body develop into well-rounded individuals. Sure, winning was nice, but as important was allowing athletics to play a part in molding the young men (and eventually women) into complete human beings. Somewhere along the way (maybe the 1970s?) this emphasis slowly disappeared. Now, major universities' athletics programs became about one thing only: money. The players and their interests no longer matter.
If you doubt my statement, consider what is driving all of this conference realignment nonsense. Does Nebraska really need to become part of the Big 10 (the conference that can't count because it has 11 teams)? Does the entire Big 12 south really need to join with the Pac-10 to form a new superconference? No! There is not one good reason as far as the athletes or their institutions' educational mission are concerned. The only reason is money, which is downright pathetic, short-sighted, and shallow.
I don't know if the NCAA can do anything about this situation, but it would seem to me that it would be appropriate for the NCAA to step in and say, "Nebraska, if you join the Big 10 (read "Big 11") then you are banned from postseason play." Or to say the same thing to the other Big 12 south schools. I don't know if the NCAA has that sort of power. They probably don't. But it is sad that a few schools (Nebraska and Texas, in particular) care only about themselves and more specifically only about money. Greed is vice, and several excellent universities (Kansas, Kansas State, and Iowa State) are going to find themselves relegated to 2nd class status because of the vices of other schools.
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