NORMAN, Okla. — The presidents of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State met Saturday with top Pacific 10 Conference officials as the two Big 12 schools weighed their options.
After meeting with Pac-10 Commissioner Larry Scott and Deputy Commissioner Kevin Weiberg, a spokesman for Oklahoma President David Boren said the university's regents would hold a special meeting Wednesday afternoon in Norman “to weigh possible conference options available to the university.”
Boren's spokesman, Jay Doyle, said in an e-mail that Scott and Weiberg “had a very cordial and informative meeting” with Boren and Athletic Director Joe Castiglione on Saturday but didn't elaborate.
Weiberg is a former commissioner of the Big 12, which lost Colorado to the Pac-10 on Thursday and Nebraska to the Big Ten on Friday. An official at a Big 12 school with knowledge of the talks, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the discussions, confirmed Scott was traveling to Texas and Oklahoma this weekend to make a case for Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State to join the Pac-10.
An Oklahoma State official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the discussions, confirmed that Scott also met with OSU President Burns Hargis and Athletic Director Mike Holder on Saturday.
In an e-mail, Holder declined comment about the discussions. It is not known if Scott issued an invitation to either Oklahoma State or Oklahoma to join the Pac-10.
As of late Saturday, Oklahoma State had not scheduled a special regents meeting. However, the regents do have a regular meeting scheduled for Friday morning in Oklahoma City.
E-mail exchanges released to the Associated Press on Friday after an open records request indicate Oklahoma State wants to remain aligned with Texas during the conference upheaval. In an e-mail to University of Texas System regent Robert L. Stillwell last week, Holder wrote: “We just want to be with Texas when the dust settles!”
Stillwell is linked to Oklahoma State through longtime associate T. Boone Pickens, the billionaire alumnus who has donated millions of dollars to both schools.
Baylor faces possible roadblock to MWC
FORT WORTH, Texas — Mountain West Conference sources confirmed that the league is sending out feelers to Big 12 members that may be left out in any continued conference shake-up, most notably Kansas and Missouri.
Kansas State would be another option. Baylor, however, would not be.
On the same day the MWC officially added Boise State, sources said TCU will lobby the MWC against Baylor's inclusion should the Big 12 school be left out of the impending conference realignment.
The league is leaving the door open to pluck other schools to boost its qualifications to earn an automatic BCS bid. There are two more years remaining on a four-year evaluation period to get the automatic BCS bid.
With the addition of Boise State, the MWC hopes it can get a temporary BCS automatic qualifier status in 2012 and 2013.
Adding a couple more Big 12 schools would only help. And it looks as if more will be available. Colorado will join the Pac-10 and Nebraska the Big Ten, leaving the remaining schools of the Big 12 in limbo.
All signs point to Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Texas Tech and Oklahoma State departing the Big 12. That would leave a few available schools, most notably Kansas, Kansas State and Missouri to potentially join the MWC.
Despite success in nearly every sport but football, Baylor may not be so welcome in another MWC expansion. Some TCU officials and powerful alums remain irked over the way Baylor was included in the Big 12 after the breakup of the Southwest Conference. The Frogs were left out.
The MWC will consist of 10 members when the Broncos begin play in the conference in the 2011-12 academic year.
“The Mountain West wants to be a national player and continue to grow in that realm.” MWC Commissioner Craig Thompson said. “We are extremely interested in BCS automatic qualification. We are simply trying to get to the level where each and every year a Mountain West team is playing in a BCS bowl game.”
With the Broncos, the MWC features three teams that have earned at-large BCS berths: Boise State (2) and one each for Utah and TCU. Boise State is 26-1 in the past two seasons as a member of the Western Athletic Conference and defeated TCU 17-10 in the Fiesta Bowl in January.
Texas A.D. wants to keep Big 12 together
AUSTIN, Texas — Texas is still “looking at all options” before deciding whether to stay in the crumbling Big 12 or move to another league, Athletic Director DeLoss Dodds said Saturday.
Dodds spoke before Saturday's Texas-TCU baseball game, but declined further comment on what those options are.
Dodds has said he wants to keep the Big 12 together. The Longhorns are considered the key to the league's survival, particularly after it lost Nebraska (Big Ten) and Colorado (Pac-10) in a matter of two days this week.
The Texas regents have scheduled a meeting Tuesday for “discussion and appropriate action regarding athletic conference membership.”
Texas President William Powers Jr. and football coach Mack Brown watched the baseball game from Dodds' suite. Powers, when stopped in the stairwell of Disch-Falk Stadium, declined comment.
Texas would need the regents' approval to change leagues. Texas Tech has also scheduled a Tuesday regents meetings.
Texas A&M, which is reported to be considering a move to the Southeastern Conference, has not scheduled a regents meeting. Texas A&M President Bowen Loftin would not comment this week on speculation that A&M is considering moves to the SEC or the Pac-10, or say if the school was leaning toward one league over another.
Loftin said he would like A&M and Texas to continue their annual football rivalry, even if the teams end up in different leagues.
Several scenarios for KU, K-State, Missouri
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — With the Big 12 on the verge of dissolution, reports have Kansas, Missouri and Kansas State on wish lists and radar screens of various conferences.
Nobody from the schools is commenting publicly, but The Kansas City Star learned athletic officials from five schools — KU, Mizzou, K-State, Iowa State and Baylor — were connected by conference call on Saturday to get a lay of the land.
The strong sentiment was to continue as the Big 12, although those prospects are looking dimmer by the day.
The Pac-10 is pursuing Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State.
The Southeastern Conference won't be outmaneuvered. Texas A&M has expressed concern over the lengthy travel involved in the Pac-10. And what would stop the SEC from adding just one Big 12 program? Texas has privately said it has no interest in the SEC, but Oklahoma might.
Options for Missouri, Kansas and Kansas State seem, oddly enough for the land-locked schools, to stretch from coast to coast.
First, there's the Pac-10, which is moving quickly. If A&M doesn't go west, the Pac-10 could look at Kansas as a member. But a source close to the situation said Utah would likely be targeted by the Pac-10 before the Jayhawks.
The SEC and Big Ten figure to begin maneuvering after the Pac-10 makes it play.
If the Pac-10 jumps to 16, the thinking is the SEC and Big Ten could respond in kind, and Missouri, long speculated as a Big Ten candidate, could land there.
— World-Herald Press Services
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