In Colorado, there are 9 Regents whom are elected by Colorado voters. Their professionalism and political survival instincts keep them from bad mouthing other educational institutions and conference peers in order to build our reputation. CU prides itself on Nobel prize winners, astronaut alumni, Rhodes scholars, and ultimately advocating the role of Higher Ed around the state and across the nation. CU's Regents took the high road in the conference expansion. CU leadership and elected officials did not go after other conference members, and did not dignify the public statements of Buddy Jones and K*. The professionalism of the CU Regents was rewarded by being a top tier research institution and delivering both the academic integrity and the athletic tradition necessary to secure a PAC-10 birth with or without Big Tex and the four minions. CU's fans will be enjoying out move to the 12 Pac, happy not to look back on the poisonous Texas centric politics that turned a tradition rich Big 8 into the second coming of the SWC, where all roads lead to the I-35 axis of spend.
Baylor has 21 Regents elected by the Baptist Convention and/or themselves. Plus 4 Regents Emeriti, whatever that is. Buddy Jones is the son of a former Baylor president, and is not above strong arm tactics to get what he wants. His resume includes throwing money at some data entry temps to type the names and e-mails of the alumni directory into his own database, form a rogue alumni group, and then send out mass e-mails to the broader Baylor community to further his agenda. He was a loose cannon before claiming CU has money problems and alleging that BU has superior academic and athletic facilities and histories. He utilized his lobbying efforts to initiate legislative activities that pull Texas lawmakers into conference affairs, using an argument that discounts the perspective of TCU, Rice, SMU, Houston, UTEP and other institutions of higher ed when it comes to the concept of Texas institutions sticking together. Why does Baylor keep him around, except out of respect for his skills and tactics?
Baylor creates political power brokers like Ann Richards and Lt. Governor Ballard, and a slew of judges who are not afraid to hedge towards wasting Texas taxpayer money to further Baylor's intrests amongst the BCS elite. When somebody sees a turtle on a fence post, you might not know how it got up there, but you do know it had help. It's no real surprise that former special prosecutor Kenneth Star gravitated towards the Baylor President's office, because the ability to wield political power appears to take priority over running a scandal free athletic department and the pursuit of scientific research that advances civilization. Baylor would rather trash talk and elevate itself through false-alignments and through taking callous and untruthful shots at both CU and Nebraska. That's how the BU Bears roll.
How a Baptist based university and it's leadership can be more like Caesar and so far from the golden rule is baffling.
It's also not surprising that Baylor likes to perpetuate the stigma of CU being poor, or broke, or too cheap to buy out the coach. CU has done an admirable job being responsible with it's cash. While Texas Tech fired Leach for money problems disguised as player abuse, and while A&M is digging itself out of $15M debt due to outlandish facilities expansions, and while Baylor is busy building gymnasiums and squandering money paying the likes of Buddy Jones to waste taxpayer dollars at the statehouse, CU is staying out of debt.
Even with the disastrous underperformance of Coach Hawkins, CU's athletic department is running in the black. The Buffs don't have the budget of NU or OU or UT, but do bring in more athletic revenue than Baylor. One would think a conservative school like Baylor might appreciate that.
Apparently, one would be wrong.
The only thing better than getting away from the inhospitable snake-pit that is the Big 12 is landing in the fan friendly embrace of the 12-Pac.
As is the tradition when opening the game in Waco, all rise to pray nobody gets hurt playing tomorrow in Boulder. And thank you, dear Lord, for the opportunity to play Baylor one last time before moving to the new neighborhood.
