Texas Big 12 linchpin
Decision could come Tuesday
AUSTIN, Texas – With the future of the Big 12 at stake, University of Texas regents have scheduled a meeting for next week to decide whether the Longhorns will remain in the fast-disintegrating conference or switch to another conference.
Texas is considered the linchpin to the Big 12’s survival, particularly after the conference lost Nebraska (Big Ten) and Colorado (Pac-10) in a matter of two days this week. The regents said they will hold a meeting in Austin on Tuesday for “discussion and appropriate action regarding athletic conference membership.”
The Pac-10 is reportedly interested in inviting Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech to form a 16-team conference. Texas Tech officials also scheduled a Tuesday meeting.
Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe said Friday he is still working to convince the remaining 10 members to stay put.
“We’re working with all those members. We’ve had a lot of positive feedback about the desire of those institutions to (stay) together,” Beebe said. “There’s been a lot of speculation about people going west. … I’m going all the way to the final whistle. I’m playing it out as hard and fast as I can.”
Still, Texas A&M president R. Bowen Loftin told the Associated Press that the rapid changes are forcing the school to consider other options.
“We’re still working through the issues,” Loftin said. “We’re also waiting to see what happens with other schools. We were very happy to stay in the Big 12, the way it was. It’s changing now, and we need to figure out what that means.
“The Big 12 is not what it was, and we have to think about its future, and ours.”
Longhorns athletic director DeLoss Dodds has said he wants to keep the Big 12 together. It was not clear if scheduling the regents meeting meant those efforts have failed.
“Our goals and hopes all along have been to keep the Big 12 Conference intact,” Dodds said in a statement. “It is both premature and inappropriate to speculate on what our UT System Regents will discuss at next Tuesday’s meeting. But, as the dynamics of the Big 12 continue to change around us, we will utilize additional time to continue our work and evaluate our options.”
Texas would need the regents’ approval to change conferences. The meeting is required to be publicly posted 72 hours in advance, which would give Dodds the weekend to keep working if he thinks the Big 12 is salvageable.
Texas A&M, which is reported to be considering a move to the Southeastern Conference, has not scheduled a regents meeting. Loftin would not comment on speculation that A&M is considering moves to the SEC or the Pac-10, or say if the school was leaning toward one conference over another.