Report: Washington set to meet with Big Ten about joining conference

The Big Ten may not be done adding teams to their conference after all, as the Washington Huskies are the latest program to meet with the conference regarding joining the party.

On Thursday, Brett McMurphy of The Action Network revealed the news of the meeting.

“Washington is latest Pac-12 school to meet w/Big Ten about joining the conference, sources told @ActionNetworkHQ,” tweeted McMurphy. “Huskies’ meeting w/B1G comes a week after Oregon met w/BIG. Big Ten targeting 4 Pac-12 schools & Notre Dame as new members, sources said.”

Evidently, Washington could join Oregon and Notre Dame in the Big Ten’s latest haul, among others. Continuing, McMurphy shed some more light on the meeting, stating Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren was absent, but this is how the initial meetings usually go.

“These meetings did not involve university presidents or Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren, sources said,” McMurphy wrote. “The meetings were conducted with lawyers and consultants representing the schools and the Big Ten to determine the school’s compatibility with the league, sources said.

“It is among the first steps a potential new member must take to join the Big Ten, a source said.”

Following the addition of USC and UCLA earlier this offseason, it seems as if the Big Ten isn’t done looking for some more west coast flavor. If Washington was to join the conference with Oregon, Notre Dame and others, the Big Ten could have their hands on plenty of the biggest fish left in the sea.

Kevin Warren on Big Ten expansion: ‘We will not expand just to expand’

Having just welcomed USC and UCLA to the conference, Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren fielded questions about further expansion at Big Ten Media Days earlier this summer. Warren said the entire landscape is in a “perpetual state of evaluating.”

“Where we are right now, I’m focused on being realistic about the state of college athletics,” Warren said at the Big Ten Media Days podium. “About accepting our responsibility to shape college athletics, lead and fortify, to be bold … strong, and innovative. Regarding expansion, I get asked every single day, ‘what’s next?’ It may include future expansion, but it will be done for the right reasons, at the right time, with our student-athletes’ academic and athletic empowerment at the center of any and all decisions that we make.”

“We will not expand just to expand,” Warren continued. “It will be strategic. It will add additional value to our conference and it will provide an even larger platform for our student-athletes to build their careers and have an opportunity to grow and learn.”