Big Ten looking to use leverage for expansion home runs

Texas and Notre Dame are the home runs for the Big Ten when it comes to expansion, but is getting both realistic?

Marvin Fong / The Plain DealerOSU president E. Gordon Gee This had been a day for Texas talk when it comes to expansion, but the Longhorn dance could be pushing Notre Dame toward a partner as well.

An interesting story from the Columbus Dispatch today detailed contact between Ohio State president Dr. E. Gordon Gee and his counterpart at Texas, William Powers.

See the Gordon Gee e-mails (.pdf)

But the most intriguing part of the emails, which The Plain Dealer also obtained from Ohio State today, was this line from Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany in a response to Gee.

"Also need to make sure we leverage this to increase chance of hr additions."

Obviously, Delany is talking about "home run" big-time schools that would be the headliners in a Big Ten move.

There are only two home run schools out there for the Big Ten - Texas and Notre Dame.

So for all the talk about Missouri and Rutgers and Nebraska and all the other expansion candidates, many of whom probably will end up joining the Big Ten, it is clear that the Big Ten, as expected, is working every angle to pull in the big dogs.

Meanwhile other reports have the Pac-10 ready to offer Texas and five other Big 12 schools admission to that league, which would create a 16-team power conference on the West Coast and in the Southwest.

That would be a seismic change, way beyond just the Big Ten growing a bit. That would be the kind of change that would encourage big thinking everywhere, probably guaranteeing what is already near-certain Big Ten expansion, and maybe moving the SEC to act as well.

That's the kind of seismic change that could make Notre Dame determine that staying independent isn't a logical option any longer.

I still wonder whether Texas makes the most sense for the Big Ten, beyond the money side of things. And if Texas is trying to stick with Texas A&M and Texas Tech (check the Tech problem reference in the e-mails), adding three Texas schools seems to make no sense for the Big Ten.

So a Texas move could lead to a "home run" for the Big Ten. Maybe not the Longhorns. But the Fighting Irish.