Morgantown, West Virginia – The West Virginia Mountaineers are in very capable hands with Shane Lyons and Gordon Gee handling negotiations concerning the future of the programs.
Both are very well-connected, but Gee in particular is close, personal friends with several high-ranking ACC officials and presidents. To be clear, West Virginia could not have better leadership to handle the crazy world of conference realignment.
Although many dismiss the ACC as a dead or dying conference, they are not going to simply roll over and die. The ACC is not just sitting around waiting to have their conference dismantled by the SEC and/or the Big Ten. They are taking proactive measures to stay alive and relevant.
The ACC likely expects to lose Clemson and Florida State to the SEC. They would prefer to add Notre Dame and potentially West Virginia to their current teams, but the Big Ten makes way more sense for Notre Dame and it’s unlikely that the ACC can stop Clemson and Florida State from leaving.
With that said, the ACC will need to find a way to bring Big 12 Conference schools West Virginia, Cincinnati, UCF, Oklahoma State, Kansas and TCU to bolster the 12 remaining teams in the conference.
The (potential) Future ACC:
Pitt, Virginia Tech, Boston College, Syracuse, Virginia, Louisville, North Carolina, NC State, Wake Forest, Duke, Georgia Tech, Miami, West Virginia, Cincinnati, UCF, Oklahoma State, Kansas and TCU.
That is a very strong conference and would be ideal for West Virginia, who would immediately regain all of their geographical and historical rivals.
If the ACC can’t manage to bring over Kansas, for example, they would likely just go with West Virginia, Cincinnati, UCF and either Oklahoma State or TCU (but not both) to pair with the remaining twelve teams in the conference.
Potential to stay in the Big 12
West Virginia is sitting in great position right now because even if they ultimately decide to stay in the Big 12, the Big 12 is rumored to be interested in adding Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah from the PAC-12. This potential conference would also be the very best conference that the Mountaineers have ever been a part of in both basketball and football.
West Virginia is sitting pretty
West Virginia has Shane Lyons and Gordon Gee in control, the ACC is likely going to be desperate to make moves quickly and even if the ACC doesn’t work out, West Virginia will have a comfortable spot in the Big 12 Conference.
