Rick Pitino suggests college football form separate leagues from other sports conferences amid realignment

Rick Pitino thinks football leagues should be separate from other college sports conferences.

Amid the last round of conference realignment that rocked the college sports world, Pitino took to social media to share his thoughts. The former Kentucky basketball coach, currently at St. John’s, asked his followers on X, “Doesn’t it make more sense for football to break away to separate leagues and allow the rest of the sports to compete regionally? Rivalries remain (and) minor sports don’t spend half their day looking for bad food at airport restaurants!!!”

As we previously saw with USC and UCLA joining the Big Ten, concerns over travel time for student-athletes are being raised with Oregon and Washington also joining the B1G. With its 2023 expansion, the Big 12 footprint currently ranges from Iowa to Florida north to south and West Virginia to Utah east to west. Arizona, Arizona State and Utah are joining the Big 12 in 2024.

Softball players from Oregon and Arizona State recently took to social media to call out their new travel schedules. According to Michigan regent Jordan Acker, non-charter travel from Ann Arbor to Oregon campus in Eugene takes longer than from Ann Arbor to London.

Doesn’t it make more sense for football to break away to separate leagues and allow the rest of the sports to compete regionally? Rivalries remain n minor sports don’t spend half their day looking for bad food at airport restaurants!!!

— Rick Pitino (@RealPitino) August 6, 2023

Andrew Olson

Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.