Mike Gundy ponders whether one team can dominate new-look Big 12

Ever since the conference’s creation, Texas and Oklahoma have been the Big 12’s top dogs. The Sooners were frequent winners while the Longhorns bookended their time with championships. But there is now an opening for somebody to take over.

Oklahoma State would likely be a popular choice if polled. Mike Gundy has been as consistent as anybody in the Big 12 over the years and competed at the highest level. Making the Big 12 Championship last season was a great moment for the program.

However, if you ask Gundy about the conference’s future, he believes there will be a ton of parity.

“In my opinion, as we move forward, there’s going to be a lot of parity,” Gundy said at Big 12 Media Days. “I should say more parity in college football than there has been over the last few years. If revenue sharing takes effect, I would guess that most schools in this league will distribute money somewhat equally to football.”

Revenue sharing is seemingly coming to college athletics in the near future. Schools will have a certain amount of money to hand out to athletes across all sports. Football is expected to get a good chunk, if not the majority, due to the revenue the sport creates.

Gundy believes the future of college football roster talent will be determined based on how schools distribute their revenue. Make the right moves with solid recruiters in place and you will be able to compete annually.

“The direction we’re going, that’s going to determine the type of players that you have in your organization, whether we like it or not,” Gundy said. “Recruiting is still recruiting, but it won’t be as much recruiting as it is now. It will be the ability to distribute money to the right players that you need based on the talent that you think you’ve seen at that particular time.”

The expanded College Football Playoff certainly gives the Big 12 hope too. Getting into the field and competing for a national championship can give programs an extra boost, especially if they have success. Whether or not that will happen, Gundy is waiting to see.

“I think that we’ve got a number of teams in this league that have an opportunity to make a move national,” Gundy said. “Whether anybody can take over and dominate for an extended period of time would be hard to tell at this point.”