Big 12 Head Coaches Favor Houston And BYU For Conference Expansion

Big 12 expansion isn't exactly up to current football head coaches. University presidents will make the calls, but it's still interesting to see what the football coaches are thinking.

By Michael Miller@michaelmillerWV Jul 21, 2016, 9:30am EDT

Welcome, By-Godders, to the Shotgun/Throwdown: WVU's best place for sports links, information, sophomoric humor and daily distractions.

Basketball:

WVU men's basketball freshman Maciej Bender is off to a strong start for Poland at the U20 European ChampionshipsDivision B group in Chalkida, Greece. The 6-foot-10 freshman from Warsaw, Poland, is third on the team in scoring, averaging 7.8 points per game and leads his team in rebounding at 9.2 boards through the team's first four games. Bender leads Poland with a 13.5 efficiency rating.

West Virginia Athletics:

A total of 11 current and former West Virginia University student-athletes will participate in the 2016 Summer Olympic games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from August 5-21.

West Virginia University women's soccer seniors Kadeisha Buchanan and Ashley Lawrence have been named to the 2016 Missouri Athletic Club's Hermann Trophy Watch List.

Around The Big 12:

The Big 12 is expanding, and the announcement came at a time when we were right to assume the league wasn't so aggressively interested in doing so. But what do we ever know about the Big 12?

The good news for the Big 12 Conference is that there is no shortage of suitors. Commissioner Bob Bowlsby has been asked to start evaluating expansion candidates and the league office should already have a stack of files from schools eager for a spot in the Power Five league.

Now that the Big 12 has laid out its checklist of what they are looking for in new members, here is how the candidates stack up.

From improving the conference's playoff chances to strengthening its fan appeal, Big 12 football coaches weighed in on the possibility of expansion.

Big 12 coaches also voted under the condition of anonymity when polled by ESPN's Brett McMurphy on their preferred expansion candidates. Houston and BYU led the way with five votes each.

Around The NCAA:

The Ivy League is moving forward with an experimental rule that will move kickoffs up to the 40-yard line in an effort to improve player safety. Standard kickoffs in college football come from the 35-yard line, and moving them forward five yards is an attempt to boost touchbacks and decrease the number of dangerous hits that frequently happen on return plays. As part of the rule change, touchbacks will result in the ball being placed at the 20-yard line, moving it back from the 25.

Tracy Claeys wasn't the most creative hire Minnesota could have made, but he's attempting to raise the Gophers' recruiting ceiling, and his 2016 squad has enough experience (and a favorable schedule) to contend in a crowded Big Ten West.

In the latest Q&A episode of The Solid Verbal, Dan and Ty touch on a number of college football, food and relationship topics as only they can.