The Tech Problem

You're not really living unless you have or have had a "Tech problem". For the Texas Longhorns, it's all about their less-pedigreed kin in Lubbock and according to emails sent from OSU president E. Gordon Gee to Big Ten commish Jim Delaney, Texas president Bill Powers would welcome a call to discuss said problem. The emails were obtained under a successful Dispatch public records request for correspondence related to Big Ten expansion¹ and portray Gee as the Talleyrand-esque player we always knew him to be:

"I did speak with Bill Powers at Texas, who would welcome a call to say they have a 'Tech' problem."

And in an earlier email from Gee to Delaney, Gee correctly foresaw things accelerating in the expansion arms race:

Gee's initial e-mail to Delany on April 19 said that he is "of the mind that we control our destiny at the moment, but the window will soon close on us. Agility and swiftness of foot is our friend."

Delaney's response to Gee's first email confirms Teddy Greenstein's April scoop that was widely ridiculed when it was thought to be bunk in the days that followed. The Big Ten is accelerating the process and given the seismic rumors of yesterday, that's a good thing. Hats-off to the Dispatch for getting their hands on the emails². I'd love to see a dump of all of the emails, but might have to wait until Sunday when they can go out with the Ricart insert.

• ¹ Three weeks ago, Missouri avoided turning over any similar records by citing a "not while business is happening" exception in the state's Sunshine Law.
• ² Seriously. Blogs are great and all, but FOI requests are just one example of why traditional media still matters.