I received an email from a college professor who once worked at OU but now is at a university out of state. I met the guy a couple times. He had some really interesting things to say, so I thought I would share them with you. He requested anonymity.

I wrote about conference realignment last week, and one thing I focused on was the Big Ten’s history of inviting new members only if they are in the American Association of Universities. You can read that post here .

“Just read your article on the Big 12 that mentioned AAU membership. Here's some background that may be useful to you. AAU membership and "Carnegie Classification" are the two best-known indications of elite academic status. There are 62 AAU members and 108 "Carnegie I" universities (all AAU members also are Carnegie I). Here's how the Power 5 conferences compare by those two criteria:

“Big 10: 14 members, 14 Carnegie I, 13 AAU

“PAC 10: 12 members, 12 Carnegie I, 8 AAU

“ACC: 15 members (including Notre Dame), 11 Carnegie I, 5 AAU

“SEC: 14 members, 11 Carnegie I, 4 AAU

“Big 12: 10 members, 4 Carnegie I, 3 AAU.

“The Big 12 is the only Power 5 conference with a majority of non-elite university members, which gives it an academic profile more similar to the various mid-major conferences.

“When Nebraska, Colorado, Missouri, and Texas A&M left the Big 12, that was an academic loss of 4 Carnegie I and 4 AAU members (although Nebraska subsequently lost its AAU status). In return, the Big 12 added West Virginia and TCU, neither of which is a Carnegie I institution. Of the current Big 12 members, Kansas State, OSU, TCU, West Virginia, Baylor and Texas Tech are unlikely to gain Carnegie I status in the next decade.

“In thinking about new Big 12 schools, Houston, Colorado State, South Florida, Central Florida, New Mexico and Connecticut all are Carnegie I universities. In particular, Colorado State, South Florida, Central Florida and UConn are on growth curves that conceivably could lead to AAU membership at some point.

“In contrast, BYU, SMU, Memphis and Boise State are not Carnegie I and are unlikely to become such.

“OU is unlikely to become an AAU member, as it would have to at least double its current annual research expenditures from nationally competitive grants and currently has no National Academy of Sciences members (most AAU members have at least 10 NAS members and many have significantly more — none has fewer than five NAS members). That kind of change would require at least a decade to accomplish before being considered for AAU (which then has further political barriers to admission).

“Hope this helps.”