Reports: Memphis, Temple not among Big 12 expansion finalists

The University of Memphis did not make the cut of finalists for Big 12 expansion, ESPN reports.

The Commercial Appeal has not independently confirmed the report and attempts by the newspaper to reach Memphis President M. David Rudd for comment have been unsuccessful. However, the university on Friday released to the newspaper a non-disclosure agreement with the Big 12 prohibiting schools from publicly discussing the expansion process.

A person with direct knowledge of the situation confirmed the Memphis cut to The Associated Press. The AP also reported that Temple has been removed from the Big 12's field of candidates.

Rudd has made a Power 5 berth a major priority of his presidency. With the support of FedEx, a resurgent football program, and multimillion-dollar upgrades to facilities, Memphis was seen as a strong contender, particularly if the Big 12 added four rather than two schools.

Big 12 no longer considering East Carolina, UNLV, New Mexico for expansion

It appears the Big 12's finalist list places an emphasis on academics, a criteria that may have doomed Memphis. When the league's board of directors asked commissioner Bob Bowlsby to "actively evaluate" expansion following a July 19 meeting in Dallas, among the criteria was "the academic standards of schools" according to board of directors chairman David Boren, the Oklahoma president. In the most recent U.S. News & World Report education rankings, the 12 finalists — as per the ESPN report — were in the top 190 (Air Force was ranked 29th in the National Liberal Arts Colleges Rankings). Memphis was not ranked as the magazine lists only the top 200 national universities.

In interviews earlier this year, Rudd said the rankings rely heavily on the subjective opinions of university administrators.

Earlier this week, Memphis' hopes still seemed very much alive, as TMGcollegesports.com reported that the Memphis was among up to nine schools making the initial cut. The original list of Big 12 hopefuls included 18 to 20 schools.

Big 12 expansion snub is devastating news, but Memphis must carry on

However, ESPN then reported the finalist list included at least 12 schools — and said it "could not confirm whether Memphis, which was also under consideration by the league, made the cut."

ESPN now reports that 11 made the cut. They are: Air Force, BYU, UCF, Cincinnati, Colorado State, UConn, Houston, Rice, South Florida, SMU and Tulane.

Rudd and athletic director Tom Bowen, honoring the non-disclosure agreement, have consistently declined to discuss the topic.

However, earlier this summer Rudd made clear how important Power 5 membership was, not just to U of M athletics, but the entire university:

"We’ve said from Day One, we are making every effort to move this university forward academically, athletically, our integration with this community, and with a national footprint.

"The only way to do that as a public research university, and to make that kind of progress, and to do it in a timely way, and to do it in a reasonable way, is to do that through the visibility of athletics, and to be a part of what is now called this Power Five group.”

David Williams is the sports editor of The (Memphis) Commercial Appeal, part of the USA TODAY NETWORK.

Contributing: AP

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