Houston board of regents chairman and booster Tilman Fertitta isn't mincing his words over Texas hiring Tom Herman away from the Cougars or the Big 12 conference failing to expand.
In a two-hour interview on the "The Michael Berry Show" on KTRH-AM , Fertitta explained why he was most aggravated with the Longhorns' executives.
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"It's disappointing that the University of Texas — who wants to open a campus in Houston and said they would never do anything to harm the University of Houston, with all the football coaches in America, who said that they would stand up for us to get into the Big 12 and then didn't even vote for us when they met with the commissioner and all the schools — had to come take our little football coach," he said.
"But that's business and it's a great opportunity for Tom and I wish him the best. I hope they all do well, but I just hope we do better."
Houston was considered perhaps the best bet to make the cut in the Big 12's expansion given its recent rise to national prominence in football under Herman, and political leaders around Texas had made clear their support for the Cougars' bid as the process unfolded.
Fertitta, who is also host of CNBC's "Billion Dollar Buyer," voiced his concern about what he believed to be big-dollar deception from the Big 12, calling the conference's expansion vetting process "a sham."
"You know when I knew we were in trouble?" Fertitta said. "There were three (university) presidents who were on the (Big 12 expansion) committee and when we went to the interview, they weren't even part of the interview process. I walked out of that meeting and said 'Wow, this is a sham. There's no intention of doing anything.'
"It was one of the great shams in college football, and college athletics, and just college period. ... It was a total sham and I sit here today and I laugh at the Big 12 and their leadership."
None of the potential expansion schools came up with the required eight out of 10 votes from existing members to make the cut. But that's not all, the Big 12's national television rightsholders, ESPN and Fox, were not enthused about the prospect of expansion. The broadcasters expressed their concerns that adding schools might dilute the product and reportedly offered to pay off current conference members to keep the conference at its current roster of 10 schools.