The Big 12 Conference’s alliance with Fox Sports and TBS has been good for all parties involved.

Fox Sports’ nine nationally televised Big 12 football games drew an average audience of 65 million viewers in 2002. Six games on TBS averaged 88 million viewers, and seven regional Fox broadcasts averaged 60 million, according to figures Fox provided this week during the league’s coaches meeting.

Kansas coach Mark Mangino said there was a chance the Jayhawks’ Sept. 27 home game against Missouri would be part of this year’s TV package.

“That would be great,” Mangino said. “The more TV exposure, the better.”

Kansas didn’t draw much attention last year during a 2-10 campaign. The season-opener at Iowa State was KU’s only televised game last fall.

The Big 12 coaches met Monday and Tuesday in Dallas to discuss a variety of topics.

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ACC expansion: Big 12 coaches are paying close attention as the Atlantic Coast Conference attempts to expand from nine teams to 12. The ACC would like to lure three Big East teams — likely Miami, Boston College and Syracuse — to create a superconference on par with the Big 12 and Southeastern conferences.

NCAA rules require a league to have at least 12 teams before it can play a conference title game. Such events generate as much as $12 million a year for their leagues.

If the ACC does expand, the 11-team Big Ten could follow suit. For leagues such as the ACC, Big Ten and Pac-10 to expand, they must raid other conferences for members. College football could change drastically by the time the Bowl Championship Series contract expires after the 2005 season.

“It’s unclear what impact it would have on the Big 12,” Mangino said.

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New rules: Donnie Duncan, senior associate commissioner of the Big 12 and chair of the NCAA rules committee, met with coaches to discuss rules changed in the offseason.

The NCAA eliminated the two-yard “halo” rule on kick returns, but return men still must be given an unimpeded opportunity to catch the ball. The penalty for failing to do that or for contacting a player who has signaled for a fair catch will be increased from five yards to 15 yards.

Kansas State fans were livid last season when a Southern California special-teams player made a vicious hit on return man Aaron Lockett as the Wildcat waited to make a catch.

Mangino said players making that type of intentional hit could be ejected.

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Branching out: Big 12 coaches voted unanimously to make proposals to conference athletic directors, faculty representatives and presidents to participate in future coaches meetings. Those groups attended coaches meetings in the old Big Eight Conference, but have been absent since the league expanded.

“It gives us a chance to know each other and share thoughts,” Mangino said. “We get to see their viewpoint, and they get a chance to see ours. It gives us a chance to share views on rules and implementations.”

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What’s next: The NCAA allows schools 20 days in April and May for spring recruiting. Mangino’s staff used its final day Friday.

KU’s coaches will turn their attention to evaluating players on tape and preparing their summer recruiting board.

The staff also will be busy with camps, including one-day camps June 3 in Wichita and June 5 in Stilwell.

KU’s one-day camps for seven-on-seven teams and linemen will be June 7 before summer camp June 8-11.

For more information, go to www.kuathletics.com/football/camp.