What Conference Realignment Means for College Baseball

By Kelvin Read

The past few years have led to much turmoil in the college athletic landscape. Politics over revenues brought by college football and basketball have forced many colleges to switch conferences. While many of these conference changes have benefitted revenues and the revenue sports of the universities, it is yet to be seen if these changes will be positive changes for competition in other sports. Here’s an overview of what conference realignment will do for college baseball:

Pac-12: The Pac-12 has welcomed two new schools – Colorado and Utah—to its conference this past year. It is unlikely that either school will have a major impact on the traditional powerhouse conference. Colorado does not sport a varsity baseball program, and Utah had a 6-23 record in the Pac-12 in its first year. Utah’s recruiting may improve with the increased level of competition, but it is unlikely that they will outplay programs like UCLA, Arizona, Arizona St, and USC.

AP Photo/ Alonzo Adams

Big-12: The Big-12 suffered perhaps the biggest blow to its competition, as both Missouri and Texas A&M went to the SEC. A&M represented the Big 12 in Omaha two years ago and Missouri won the Big 12 tournament title in the same year. The conference tried to offset these losses by adding TCU and West Virginia, who both field competitive varsity programs. TCU has made the postseason for nine consecutive years, as well as earning a CWS appearance in 2010 when ousted Texas in the super regional’s. Expect to see TCU remain competitive in the Big 12, unless head coach Jim Schlossnagle leaves.

West Virginia, on the other hand, has been a middle-of –the-road team in the Big East. The Mountaineers finished last season with a 23-32 record, primarily playing the Big East. The upgraded competition of Big 12 play will not do any favors for WVU.

SEC: The SEC scored big after stealing Texas A&M and Missouri from the Big 12. The already deep league added two more programs that will compete year in and year out. Missouri may struggle at times since it has to travel far for away games. A&M lost All-Americans Tyler Naquin and Michael Wacha, but remains a deep team.

Big Ten: Not normally known as a baseball conference, the Big Ten did well to add Nebraska last year, along with Maryland and Rutgers in 2013.  The Cornhuskers finished with a 35-23 record overall and a 14-10 in conference, solid records for a traditional football school. Purdue and Michigan will likely remain as the top dogs in the Big Ten, but Nebraska will add some much needed depth to the conference. Rutgers and Maryland, the future additions to the conference, boasted similar records in 2012, both winning over 30 games.

ACC: Historically one of the deepest conferences in college baseball, the ACC was not particularly interested in strong baseball programs when it decided to add Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Notre Dame, and Louisville. Pittsburgh and Notre Dame both posted winning records last year, but failed to reach the post season. Syracuse lacks a varsity program and though a move to the ACC may increase the likelihood that they add a program, it will be several years before they would become comp etitive.  The biggest addition will be Louisville, which made the NCAA tournament field, but was eliminated by eventual champion Arizona in the regional round. Louisville is the only team that is moving to the ACC to boast an All-American in 2012. Justin Amlung was a third team All-American, with a 2.31 ERA and 105 strikeouts in 109 innings pitched.

Big East: The Big East has seen the most upheaval in the past year. After losing West Virginia, and with Syracuse, Pittsburgh, and Notre Dame expected to leave, the Big East has been forced to add six new teams. Central Florida, Houston, Memphis, Southern Methodist, and Temple will join the Big East as full time members in 2013, as well as Tulane in 2014. The new programs in the conference will likely not unseat St. John’s and UConn, but all should be competitive in the historically mediocre Big East.

Overall, the changes that were made to increase football competition will have similar effects on the baseball landscape. The SEC will get even deeper, but the Big 12 may take a slight step back. All the dust has yet to settle on the diamonds, but it looks like the changes will be good for college baseball.