If Memphis is invited to the Pac-12, the Tigers should pack their bags and move on from the AAC

Shortly after Oregon State and Washington State secured commitments from four Mountain West members last week to reinvent the Pac-12, OSU athletic director Scott Barnes said he envisioned the conference adding at least two more institutions “as quickly as possible.” Just five days later, longtime Portland-based columnist John Canzano is reporting that Memphis and Tulane “have emerged as the top targets of the Pac-12 as the conference prepares to take a second bite of the expansion apple.”

So here we go.

Needless to say, there are currently more questions than answers pertaining to this possible marriage — questions about everything from exactly how much it would cost the schools to leave the AAC to exactly when they could officially join the Pac-12 to exactly how much of a toll the expanded travel would take on the athletic departments and everybody who operates within them. Nothing is a done deal, nor should it be.

There’s a lot to sort out.

According to Canzano, Pac-12 leaders will meet later this week to discuss all options thoroughly; I’m certain Memphis and Tulane officials are doing the same. If folks on either side determine a move like this doesn’t make sense financially, perhaps it’s not a move worth making. But as long as it does make sense financially, and I’m inclined to believe it will for everybody involved, it’s clear to me that it’s time for Memphis and Tulane to become the newest members of the Pac-12, geography be damned.

I’ve thought a lot about this — especially from the Memphis perspective, mostly because the University of Memphis is my alma mater, and the Memphis area is where I still make my home. When the school was first identified as a possible Pac-12 target last week, I kept an open mind and explained to anybody who asked that there were clear reasons to go but also possible reasons to pass — the most notable one being that there’s a plausible scenario where the ACC loses some big brands in the coming years and needs replacements, at which point Memphis could emerge as a primary target and reconnect with former league foes like Louisville, Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech in a conference that would be weakened, sure, but still probably superior to the Pac-12 (not to mention a better geographical fit). As the argument goes, it would be a real shame for Memphis to pay millions of dollars to get out of the AAC, enter into a longterm agreement with the Pac-12 and then be more or less stuck there if the ACC someday calls.

That’s definitely something that should be considered.

That’s definitely something I’ve considered.

But, after considering that, I couldn’t help but remember that I am someone who attended the Big East meetings back in 2003, as a young reporter at The Commercial Appeal in Memphis, because the Big East was on the verge of losing members to the ACC, and there was some thought that maybe, just maybe, Memphis would emerge as a replacement-candidate and be given the opportunity to upgrade leagues.

Obviously, it didn’t happen.

And that was more than 20 years ago!

My point is that, for much of the past two decades, Memphis fans have just been waiting and waiting and waiting for good news on the conference front and always been disappointed — except for that one time in February 2012, when the good news seemed to finally come in the form of the Big East formally adding Memphis as an all-sports member. But just 10 months later, before Memphis ever even competed in the Big East, the conference’s seven non-FBS schools at the time — DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, St. John’s, Seton Hall and Villanova — voted to separate from the Big East’s football-playing schools, rendering the dream dead and forcing Memphis to settle for a spot in a new league called the American Athletic Conference, where the Tigers initially competed against Louisville, Cincinnati, UConn, SMU, Houston, Rutgers, Temple, UCF and South Florida.

Was that as exciting as the theoretical Big East?

No.

But the American was a clear upgrade over the Tigers’ previous league (Conference USA), in part because it was a league featuring old rivals Louisville and Cincinnati, an emerging football program in UCF and historically strong basketball schools like UConn and Houston. Problem is, of the 10 original AAC members, seven have since moved on to better situations. UCF, Cincinnati and Houston are now in the Big 12, Louisville and SMU are in the ACC, UConn is in the Big East and Rutgers calls the Big Ten home.

Only Memphis, Temple and USF remain.

In other words, the neighborhood Memphis has resided in for the past 12 years has deteriorated dramatically. That’s among the reasons attendance has been an issue in recent seasons, even though the Tigers have made 10 straight bowl games in football and two of the past three NCAA Tournaments in men’s basketball, because it’s hard for fans to get excited about home games against East Carolina, Rice, Tulsa and Charlotte when they grew up watching their school compete against more recognizable and comparable brands.

To be clear, an invitation to new Pac-12 won’t be as awesome as an invitation to the Big 12 would’ve been for Memphis back when that league took BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF — and there’s no reason to think it’ll get the Tigers the power-conference label they’ve forever chased. Barring a surprise, this will not turn the Power 4 back into the Power 5. Nobody should be confused or misguided about that.

But you know what the new Pac-12 will be?

Better than the American!

And that really is the main thing that should matter to Memphis officials as they consider the pros and cons of accepting an offer if it’s extended. Again, I understand the argument that a move to the ACC someday might be better than a move to the Pac-12 right now. But after thinking about it from every angle, I’ve reached the conclusion that it would be a mistake for Memphis to pass on a clear conference-upgrade in hopes that a bigger and better conference might approach it someday.

Most Memphis fans are tired of waiting on something that’s never happened.

It’s time for the Tigers to take what they can get. The SEC and Big Ten have never been options. The Big 12 has passed on them a thousand times. The ACC could call someday but there’s no guarantee it will.

That leaves the Pac-12 as the best option.

Bear with me while I make the case.

Exactly one AAC football member is currently receiving votes in the Associated Press Top 25 poll — Memphis at No. 26. That means if you moved Memphis into the Pac-12, the AAC would have zero football members receiving votes in the AP poll while the Pac-12 would have three in Memphis, Boise State and Washington State. If the Pac-12 also adds UNLV — which it should definitely be trying to do based on the football and basketball potential the school possesses, and the incredible market it sits in — the Pac-12 would then have four schools in the top 31 of the current AP poll.

That’s the same number as the Big 12.

The ACC only has five.

To reiterate, the AAC minus Memphis would have zero.

Meantime, exactly one AAC men’s basketball member is currently in the top 80 of BartTorvik.com’s preseason rankings — Memphis at No. 32. That means if you moved Memphis into the Pac-12, the AAC would have zero basketball members in the top 80 at BartTorvik.com while the Pac-12 would have four in Memphis, Boise State, San Diego State and Colorado State. If the Pac-12 also adds Gonzaga as a non-football member — which it should definitely be trying to do based on the attention Mark Few’s reliably strong program could bring to the league — the Pac-12 would then have five schools in the top 80 at BartTorvik.com, among them schools that competed in the title game of the NCAA Tournament in 2008 (Memphis), 2017 (Gonzaga), 2021 (Gonzaga) and 2023 (San Diego State).

The new Pac-12 should annually be a multi-bid men’s basketball league.

The AAC likely won’t be moving forward.

So, yeah, it’s time to go.

Bottom line, a move from the AAC to the Pac-12 would suddenly have the Tigers back in a conference with other schools that have accomplished real things in the sports that matter most. In the AAC, they used to have that but no longer do. I don’t write that to be mean. I write it simply because it’s true.

In a perfect world, the Big East would’ve never split. Or the Big 12 would’ve taken Memphis years ago. Or the ACC would take the Tigers now. But college athletics is not a perfect world. Far from it, in fact. So what Memphis officials should do is stop wondering about what could’ve been, stop worrying about what might be, and go ahead and improve their place in this imperfect world of college athletics by accepting an offer, assuming it eventually comes, to join this new-look and still-growing Pac-12.

Would it bring Memphis Big Ten money? No. Would it get Memphis a power-conference label? No. But what it would do is put Memphis in a league that’s inarguably better than the league it’s currently in and provide both the football and men’s basketball programs with more compelling schedules.

It’ll do more than that, to be sure.

But that alone is enough.

So if the Pac-12 offer comes, and there are a lot of reasons to believe it will, as long as it makes financial sense, yes, absolutely, it’s time for Memphis to go. The fans have been waiting for something better forever. The Pac-12 isn’t perfect, I know. But it’ll definitely be better than the AAC. And in this moment in time where nearly everybody in college athletics is either moving forward or being left behind, relocating from a not-so-great conference to an undeniably better one is a move Memphis would be wise to make.