MORGANTOWN, West Virginia — The landscape in college athletics is constantly shifting and all of the major conferences are always attempting to secure their place in the future of college sports.
The Big 12 appears to be pushing more and more to the West, which is certainly not ideal for West Virginia University, who currently only has Cincinnati within reasonable driving range for fans hoping to travel with the team. With that said, although West Virginia is in a stable conference, they could potentially consider other conferences if the right situation became available.
In an article released back in July by David Cook of ESPN, ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips is quoted as saying, “The ACC has been and remains highly engaged in looking at anything that makes us a better and stronger conference. We’ve spent considerable time on expansion to see if there is anything that fits. We have a tremendous group of institutions but if there was something that made us better, we would absolutely be open to it.”
Cook said the following in his article: “Since the first major realignment dominoes fell with Texas and Oklahoma’s decision to leave the Big 12 for the SEC happened in summer 2021, the ACC has explored possible expansion options, according to multiple league administrators.” West Virginia has been mentioned as one of those teams that the ACC is keeping an eye on potentially adding.
A potential move to the ACC would give West Virginia an opportunity to play geographic and historic rivals, but would West Virginia University really consider moving out of the stable Big 12 Conference? Would they move to the SEC if the top conference in the nation came knocking? There has been a lot of talk about this very subject on social media lately.
Tony Altimore, a popular figure on social media, said the following recently: “My personal, (perhaps?) Unpopular Hot Take: If the SEC is going to expand beyond the state of North Carolina and Virginia, a key to consider is West Virginia. State flagship, great sports, rabid fans, owns the state, strong TV draw, rich history, great tradition at WVU.”
My Personal, (perhaps?) Unpopular Hot Take:
If the #SEC is going to expand beyond the states of North Carolina and Virginia, a key school to consider is West Virginia
State flagship, great sports, rabid fans, owns the state, strong TV draw, rich history, great tradition at #WVU
— Tony Altimore (@TJAltimore) February 3, 2024
Earlier today, popular X account, RedditCFB, posted the following idea with West Virginia ending up in the ACC. Their idea was that California, Stanford and SMU would move to the Big 12, and Cincinnati, UCF and West Virginia would go to the ACC. Their caption read, “It makes too much sense to actually happen.”
It makes too much sense to actually happen. pic.twitter.com/zO9OnElOwn
— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) February 6, 2024
This move does make a lot of sense right now, but ultimately the ACC could potentially fall apart in the coming years with Florida State likely to leave the conference. If Florida State leaves, Miami and Clemson, its other two top teams, would also likely move on, too. With that said, West Virginia would be wise to wait for the ACC to fall apart (which it will inevitably will do) and hope that the Big 12 will add geographic and historical rivals Pitt, Virginia Tech, Syracuse, Louisville, etc.
What are your thoughts? Should West Virginia consider moving to the ACC or SEC, or do you think that they should remain in the Big 12? Let us know in the comments!
