Report: Big 12 Basketball Coaches Want UConn to Join Conference

Big 12 basketball coaches are in favor of having UConn join the conference, sources tell Stadium’s Brett McMurphy. McMurphy also reports that the Huskies are “in the mix” as an all-sports addition to the Big 12.

Big 12 basketball coaches in favor of adding UConn to Big 12, sources told @ActionNetworkHQ. UConn “in the mix” as an all-sports addition to the Big 12, sources said

— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) June 6, 2023

The Big 12 has been linked to many conference expansion rumors with Arizona, Colorado, Gonzaga and UConn at the top. Big 12 Athletic Directors and Presidents met in West Virginia at the Greenbrier last week. Conference expansion was a topic brought up during the week.

“We have some guiding principles when we think about expansion. It’s all strategic here,” Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark said. “At the top is the academic alignment and the leadership and the cultural fit and the geography and the athletic performance and the upside that a potential institution has potentially joining the Big 12. We think about all of those things as a collective group. And we discussed all those guiding principles this week.”

UConn recently just made the move back to the Big East after being held back in the AAC until 2019. The men’s basketball program has seen a resurgence behind head coach Dan Hurley. In April, Hurley led UConn to its first national championship since 2014, the school’s fifth since 1999.

Yormark has been very high about adding basketball-only schools to the Big 12. Before becoming commissioner last summer, Yormark served as the Brooklyn Nets CEO for 14 years.

“We had a great discussion about expansion and we have a plan. We have an appetite to be a national conference and we believe in the upside of basketball.”

Adding UConn for all sports isn’t out of question, either.