Jay Bilas responds harshly to Bob Bowlsby's critique of Texas, Oklahoma

Time may not heal all wounds — at least, not Texas and Oklahoma-sized wounds. But Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby is trying his very best to move on from conference’s two biggest cash cows, which officially announced months ago their decision to leave for the SEC.

“Being, to use your term, ‘pissed off’ about it, I can’t allow myself that,” Bowlsby said in an interview with Brian Davis of The American-Statesman, when asked about Texas’ and Oklahoma’s departure. “I have to get over the sense of personal betrayal and do what’s necessary for our eight continuing members. And that’s what we did.”

Perhaps “personal betrayal” is taking it a step too far. At least, that’s what ESPN analyst Jay Bilas believes.

Bilas had a fiery reaction to Bowlsby’s comments on Oklahoma and Texas, which he seemed to have taken as somewhat insensitive.

“A ‘personal betrayal?’ Wondering WHY Texas and [Oklahoma] left? Please,” Bilas said on Twitter. “They agreed to leave for the Pac-12 a decade ago! Oh, and your answer is ‘money.'”

Bowlsby and the Big 12 are trying to overcome the actions of Texas president Jay Hartzell and Oklahoma president Joe Harroz Jr., which the commissioner labeled “personal betrayal,” by adding four new schools to the Big 12: BYU, UCF, Cincinnati and Houston. He says the four-school expansion is extremely beneficial, both monetarily and competitively, for the Big 12. As for why Texas and Oklahoma decided to leave the Big 12 for arguably the most competitive (and certainly the richest) conference in the country?

“Haven’t the vaguest idea,” Bowlsby said of Texas and Oklahoma’s move. “To this day, they’ve given us no answers to that question. Either one. I’ve asked repeatedly, and they never made us aware of any concerns in advance. When we’ve asked the question since then, we’ve gotten no response.”

Maybe Texas and Oklahoma are in it for the money. Or maybe they’re in it for the competition. Fans of both programs have frequently complained about the Big 12’s schedule, and the lack of a challenge provided by programs like Kansas. Bowlsby doesn’t think the SEC won’t be any better.

“Well, here comes Vanderbilt,” Bowlsby said to The American-Statesman. “Every league is structured similarly to what ours is. There’s three or four bell cows and there’s the rest.”

He acknowledged that the “three or four bell cows” are far more competitive in the SEC. The likes of Alabama football simply don’t exist in the Big 12, but according to Bowlsby, that won’t do anything to help Texas and Oklahoma.

“They’re thinking they’re going to recruit better and they’re going to get more money,” Bowlsby said. “Anybody that thinks Texas’ football problems have been a result of league affiliation are completely delusional.”

Regardless of why Texas and Oklahoma decided to leave, they’re legally binded to the Big 12 and unable to join the SEC until the summer of 2025. According to Big 12 bylaws, however, they could leave earlier — provided that they give 18 months notice of its departure, while also paying a fee of two years of revenue distribution, roughly $80 million per school. But Bowlsby doesn’t expect the two universities to leave early.

“[Texas and Oklahoma] have told us they’re staying until June 30, 2025. I take them at their word until they demonstrate something contrary to that,” Bowlsby said.

Legally speaking, Texas and Oklahoma did nothing wrong in moving from the Big 12 to the SEC. Accordingly, Bowlsby said he has not filed any legal proceedings against the universities.

Personally, however, he’d argue that Texas and Oklahoma did a whole lot wrong. And as a result, they’ve lost his trust.

“We’re going to have to find ways to get along,” he said to The American-Statesman of Texas and Oklahoma, who still have time to kill in the Big 12. “We have to work together, and we will. But I would say trust is at a relative low.”