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What’s next for SMU, other AAC schools after latest Big 12 expansion news?

Memphis leadership said in a statement “the final whistle hasn’t blown, and it’s far from over.”

The Big 12 officially announced its plans to expand Friday, including the addition of three American Athletic Conference teams. Houston, as well as Cincinnati and Central Florida, are in.

SMU, as well as Memphis and some other Big 12 conference considerations, aren’t — at least for now.

“The Big 12 commissioner, presidents, and athletics directors have selected four new members who each bring entirely new TV markets to the Big 12 Conference,” SMU President Gerald R. Turner and Athletic Director Rick Hart wrote in part of a joint statement. “However, this change is only one phase in the ongoing restructuring of the intercollegiate landscape.”

Memphis leadership echoed that sentiment, writing in a statement “the final whistle hasn’t blown, and it’s far from over.”

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AAC commissioner Mike Aresco also released a statement in the wake of Friday’s official realignment news, calling it ironic that the Big 12 would make up for the losses of Texas and Oklahoma with three schools from a conference that’s sought to turn the Power 5 moniker into a Power 6.

“Our conference was targeted for exceeding expectations in a system that wasn’t designed to accommodate our success,” Aresco wrote.

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In addition, Aresco wrote that he expects Houston, Cincinnati and Central Florida to follow conference bylaws to “ensure an amicable and orderly transition.” Teams leaving the AAC have to give 27 months notice, according to conference rules, and pay a $10 million exit fee.

As of Friday afternoon, none of the three teams leaving the AAC had officially submitted their exit notices, a source with knowledge of the situation told The Dallas Morning News. That means the earliest all three could leave is July 1, 2024, but they could negotiate to leave early.

UConn negotiated with the AAC in 2019 to leave in a shorter time frame, and paid a $17 million exit fee instead.

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ESPN reported Friday night that Aresco said he is willing to let the schools leave early if they negotiate a higher exit fee.

ESPN also reported that Aresco said the AAC plans to move “deliberately and expeditiously” to add two to four teams to beef up the league to 10 or 12 teams following the three departures. Aresco declined to name specific schools in which the AAC is interested but said they would entertain only “institutions that have shown an interest in us.”

Texas and Oklahoma are set to leave the Big 12 for the Southeastern Conference in 2025, though that could happen earlier.

So, for the time being, the college football landscape stays intact with plans for the future already set in stone. When the reshuffling happens, the AAC will be left with eight football teams. Realignment has proven, however, to be a chain-reaction phenomenon. Aresco wrote in a statement that the AAC and its member universities will consider all options as it moves into the future. That undoubtedly will include doing what the Big 12 just did: Aggressively targeting schools from other conferences to fill the gap.

“Moving forward, we will work closely with our American Athletic Conference peers to shape our own destiny and to create new opportunities for future success,” Turner and Hart wrote in a statement. “In partnership with our passionate supporters and the City of Dallas, we will continue to invest and take the appropriate steps to maintain our momentum and position each and every sport to win championships and compete nationally as college athletics continues to evolve.

“We have a clear and simple goal at SMU — to be the best athletics program in our conference. That goal remains no matter the banner under which we compete. Over the last decade, we’ve made significant investments in pursuit of our collective goal; and we are proud of our accomplishments.”

Earlier this week, SMU head coach Sonny Dykes was asked about realignment. He also said he doesn’t think realignment is over.

“It’s like I’ve been saying since I stepped foot on campus: Every day is a battle for credibility,” Dykes said. “We’re at a school that had a great history of winning, and then didn’t have that history, and we’re trying to get it back. It’s a process. People who are making those decisions are looking at long-term things, and we need to control what we can control. That’s the product we put on the field, the recruiting, the investment in the program.

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“So, we’re on the clock. So we better do what we can do to move the needle, because we haven’t done it up to this point, so we better figure out a way to do it.”

Find more college sports coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.

Find more SMU coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.