Kelly Lyell

kellylyell@coloradoan.com

CSU isn’t openly lobbying for a spot in the Big 12 or any other Power Five conference, athletic director Joe Parker said Tuesday.

But by continuing to pursue a goal of having the best athletic programs in the Mountain West, the Rams will position themselves to be an attractive candidate should one of those conferences choose to add members, he said.

Colorado State University is one of 10 universities that has been mentioned as possible additions to the Big 12 in recent weeks, should that conference choose to expand beyond its current 10 members. CSU President Tony Frank sent a brochure promoting the school to members of the Big 12's composition committee last summer, ESPN.com reported Tuesday.

The Big 12 and the Mountain West, of which CSU is a founding member, each held meetings last week for football and basketball coaches and athletic directors in and around Phoenix. But Parker, who has worked previously at Big 12 schools Oklahoma, Texas and Texas Tech, said he hasn’t talked to anyone from the Big 12 or any other Power Five conference about CSU possibly joining their ranks.

“From our perspective, we want to be the very best version of Colorado State University that we can be,” Parker said. “And in doing that, I think we will hopefully garner some attention and maybe be able to enter into a dialogue or conversation about whether we would be a likely option for expansion if expansion is going to be contemplated.”

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Speculation has run rampant that the Big 12 plans to add two or more teams ever since Oklahoma President David Boren suggested the need to do so last summer. Presidents of the universities of Central Florida, Houston and Memphis also sent brochures to the Big 12 composition committee promoting membership for their schools, according to the ESPN.com report. Other schools mentioned in recent weeks as possible additions include Cincinnati, Brigham Young, Connecticut, South Florida, Boise State and Southern Methodist.

A story over the weekend by Chuck Carlton of the Dallas Morning News suggested that the goal of any expansion by the Big 12 would be to enhance its television reach with hopes of adding a conference network. In that scenario, he listed his top four candidates “are believed to be Connecticut, BYU (which has a national following), Cincinnati and possibly Colorado State (Denver market), although the situation is fluid.”

While not addressing that rumor specifically, Parker did say one of the ways CSU can enhance its position in the college athletic landscape is through improved alumni support, including attending games in person and tuning in to watch those that are televised.

Conference membership decisions are made by university presidents, not athletic directors, coaches, athletes or boosters.

CSU teams have won Mountain West titles in five sports — volleyball, women’s basketball, men’s and women’s outdoor track and women’s indoor track — in the 13 months Parker has been the Rams’ AD. The volleyball team has won seven straight MW titles, and the women’s basketball team has won three straight. The football program played in a bowl game for the third consecutive year last season, and the men’s basketball team is in the midst of the best four-year run in school history and turned down invitations to participate in some lower-level postseason tournaments this year.

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Parker doesn’t claim credit for any of those accomplishments, but he believes the school is creating an environment that helps foster success in all of its athletic programs.

That’s his job, he said.

“We feel excited about who we are, the trajectory of the university, the things that athletics lends to helping people understand who we are as an institution,” Parker said. “I feel like we align well with our current peer group, and I feel like we are in a position to really emerge as the pre-eminent program within the Mountain West.”

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