Source: Texas to Pac-10 imminent; AM, individually, not offered by SEC
According to a trusted source with historic ties to the Texas Men’s Athletics Department, “If I had just 10 bucks in the bank, I would bet every last dollar that Texas joins the Pac-10.”
The Texas Board of Regents has scheduled a meeting for next Tuesday at 11 a.m. when the Pac-10 decision is expected to be finalized.
Asked if that decision will be formalized at Tuesday’s Board of Regents meeting, our source said, “When all is said and done I believe Texas will be in the Pac-10.”
Texas AD DeLoss Dodds issued a statement on Friday afternoon after Nebraska announced that it planned to join the Big Ten a day after Colorado accepted an invitation from the Pac-10, effectively killing off the Big 12.
“Our goals and hopes all along have been to keep the Big 12 Conference intact,” the statement said. “The league has been great for its members. We also have been honorable, up front and forthright with regard to our work and responsiveness to all the possible and now definitive changes to conference landscapes. We are entrusted with the responsibility of administering our university athletics programs. That requires careful examination of any and all options. It is both premature and inappropriate to speculate on what our UT System Regents will discuss at next Tuesday¹s 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 Tech’s Board of Regents has also called a Tuesday meeting where it is expected to green light the Lubbock school’s move to the Pac-10.
Our source also spoke to a high-ranking SEC official who reports that no invitation to join the SEC has been extended to Texas A&M and none is expected to be offered. Our information indicates that any invitation to A&M was contingent upon either Texas or Oklahoma joining the league as well. But the Horns and the Sooners appear to both be onboard to align with an expanded Pac-10.
As we reported earlier this week, some members of the Aggie camp, including Regent Gene Stallings, are pushing for an Aggie move to the SEC, and according to the Austin American-Statesman, A&M President R. Bowen Loftin is on the side of continuing to explore the possibility of going to the SEC.
And as we wrote in Friday’s Inside Scoop, “…don’t underestimate the desire of certain Aggies, even those in positions of prominence, to allow the emotion of seemingly ‘sticking it’ to t.u., or at least attempting to get out of UT’s immense shadow, affect their decision-making.”
An ESPN source echoed the idea that A&M is not necessarily a rational player in the this game: “The source said the SEC consideration was fueled by “ego purposes” within Texas A&M, that the Aggies’ power brokers sought distance from the Texas decision and didn’t want to convey the appearance they were doing everything because of Texas.”
It appears, however, that the decision will be made for them unless the SEC can find another school to add to the mix to make adding A&M worthwhile. And with Texas and OU out of the equation, that looks unlikely.
