Big Ten expansion talk 'hot buttons' around Iowa State AD

CEDAR RAPIDS - Big Ten expansion rhetoric swirls around his Big 12 Conference, and Iowa State Athletics Director Jamie Pollard fields the questions with regularity. But that doesn't mean he one of the few insiders actually talking, either.

“I think as long as it's going to be speculated about in the media for however long it's going to take the Big Ten to decide what they want to do, it will continue to be hot buttons for all of us,” said Pollard, who was part of the fourth annual Cyclone Caravan last night at U.S. Cellular Center. “From our perspective, I'm not going to spend a lot of time dealing with just all the speculation because that's exactly what it is from this juncture.”

Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany announced last December the league will consider expansion on a 12-to-18 month time period. Numerous reports - whether they are accurate or inaccurate - have the league accelerating its expansion time table. In many ways, Big Ten expansion talk has held college athletics hostage since the Delany's announcement.

A Kansas City radio station reported this week that Big 12 schools Nebraska and Missouri, along with Notre Dame and Rutgers, all had been extended invitations to join the Big Ten. The schools later refuted that report, and Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany also issued a denial.

Pollard sat in on joint discussions between the Big 12 and Pac-10 conferences concerning a working relationship that could include sharing a television contract. He declined to talk specifically about those discussions, but he said the Big Ten's future is a conversation topic in every corner.

“You get asked it a lot,” Pollard said. “It's pretty easy to say we have no comment about it, but I wouldn't say it's easy to stay away from it because it is the most-asked question.”

Pollard's football coach, Paul Rhoads, does think the Big Ten's decision will alter the college football landscape.

“I think change is coming, and it's going to affect a lot of people,” Rhoads said. “But in the end, college football and college athletics will continue to move on and be just as exciting as ever.

“It's going to be a part of every conferences discussion just because it's out there so strong publicly right now.”

Iowa State fans echo Rhoads' thoughts. Doug Matheny, 62, finds the expansion discussion fascinating but doesn't think it will form a doomsday scenario if a chunk of the Big 12 heads for the Big Ten.

“I think it will work out. I'm not overly concerned about it,” said Matheny, a Cyclone Club member from Center Point. “If Missouri and Nebraska go, we'll form something else and keep on rolling.”If the changes come - most speculation swirls about a 16-school Big Ten taking Missouri and Nebraska from the Big 12 - then what's next for Iowa State? If Pollard knows, he's not sharing.

“I just come back to historical perspective,” Pollard said. “There's been expansion and contraction in just about every league in the country in probably the last four or five decades. The constant through all of that is college athletics continues to be very exciting and vibrant, and that's what I anticipate going forward in whatever shape or form it takes.”