As I said last night, the ball is now squarely back in the SEC’s court. Conversations with Texas A&M cranked up again early this morning. Things have quieted down considerably over the past twelve hours on the heels of a chaotic Wednesday, with the Aggies and Southeastern Conference working to get things figured out. While both sides scramble to come up with ideas, this corner cannot help but ask, “What’s left to discuss?” It’s time for the SEC to step up and get a deal done. For over a month now, the Aggies have taken every step that Mike Slive and the SEC have asked them to take. R. Bowen Loftin and the TAMU regents have patiently engaged in a six-week game of “Simon Says.” Back and forth, left and right, hand on head … enough already! The Ags have done everything they’ve been asked to do, knowing that as things drug out, the likelihood of either Dan Beebe or one of the Big 12’s Texas schools throwing up a significant road block increased exponentially.
Now — thanks to negotiations that drug out longer than they should have and a desperate group of parasites led by the most de able of them all — Texas A&M has been given the ‘stop’ sign as they round third and head for home. The Aggies are currently being held hostage by the looming threat of litigation from Baylor president Ken Starr (the Bears now being joined by fellow Big 12 bottom-feeders Iowa State and Kansas State) and Dan Beebe is complicit — neither smart nor strong enough to convince Baylor to stand down by presenting the league with a definitive plan for its post-A&M future. Despite all of the arrogance, hypocrisy and sheer stupidity on the Big 12 end, this entire conundrum could be resolved if the Slive and SEC presidents would handle things off the field like their teams do on the field. If an opponent is blocking your path to the goal line (or greatness), you run right through his ass and into the end zone. In this case, the opponent is none other than Baylor. Slive and the SEC should do to Starr what LSU, Alabama and just about anyone else in that league would do to the Bears on the gridiron: Run through him like water.
That happens as soon as the SEC announces that their invitation to Texas A&M is no longer held back by an incredibly restrictive condition. Make the Aggie offer unconditional and Ken Starr, Baylor and probably even Dan Beebe and the Big 12 go away. For good. More importantly, the SEC would then officially ensure their future as the premier conference in all of collegiate athletics. Anyone who has followed the A&M/SEC dance over the past few weeks realizes that the league is, to a fault, incredibly wary of the threat of the litigation. Like anyone possessing even the most base level of legal knowledge, the league presidents understand that neither Baylor nor anyone else in the Big 12 has the ability to level any sort of legitimate tampering claim. It’s not that the SEC is afraid of losing a lawsuit ... they’re simply worried about actually being sued. Starr and Baylor are literally preying on those fears and, as a result, holding things up in grand fashion. For a deeper look into the SEC mindset, consider recent quotes by both Beebe and LSU Chancellor Michael Martin. When asked about conference realignment in today’s Baton Rouge advocate, Martin’s answer was telling: “We don’t want to look like jerks,” the Chancellor explained. “We don’t want to look like the conference that’s trying to maul the other conferences, including the Big 12. It (expansion) won’t be initiated by the SEC. We want to maintain our integrity in that regard.” Meanwhile, a statement released by Beebe yesterday began with one of the few interesting comments to ever leave his mouth: “This is the first time to my knowledge that a conference has been requested to waive any legal claims toward another conference for any damages suffered with a membership change.” Perception, above perhaps all else, has always been a serious issue as far as the SEC is concerned. If that’s the case, then the league may want to take a step back and really consider what’s at stake in terms of national image. As of today, the SEC can choose one of two paths. Slive and the league can do what they want to do and add Texas A&M as the thirteenth member of their conference. With that, of course, comes assuming the risk that Baylor, ISU or KSU could sue. Basically, the SEC would be calling what is clearly a Baylor bluff. The Bears have no case whatsoever against the SEC or Slive himself (as threatened). “Frivolous at best, laughable at worst,” is how BU’s case has been described to me by a prominent attorney. The real risk? Baylor sues and drags out a weak, baseless lawsuit for an extended period of time. Obviously, this is the worst-case scenario and what’s currently holding the SEC (and, as a result, TAMU) back. What the SEC presidents need to consider now, however, is the risk of sitting back and doing nothing. Waiting a few days or even a couple of weeks for the Big 12 to either explode or stabilize, thus laying out a clear path for A&M to join the conference, appears to be the most likely course of action. While that possibility definitely exists, so does the chance that the league attempts to keep a disgruntled group of Aggies in the Big 12 while continuing to lob legal salvos towards the southeast. One would think that the Beebe and the Big 12 would want nothing to do with a team so desperately seeking a way out but how, after all that has transpired over the course of the past three months, can anyone in their right mind expect Beebe and Co. to make the best long-term decision?
Based on everything I’ve gathered, I am firmly convinced that the SEC higher-ups believe that Oklahoma and Texas will resolve their differences, thus saving the Big 12. Add BYU, get back to ten teams and ‘it’s all good.’ What I don’t think Slive and his league presidents are counting on is OU, Oklahoma State, Tech and yes, even the Texas Longhorns all packing up and heading west. Let’s face facts: Oklahoma and OSU are all but out the door and Texas Tech is probably much further down the road than anyone seems to think. Despite all of the wild rumors floating around since uncertainty began to cloud the conference landscape late Tuesday night, the most likely (and credibly-sourced) scenario involves the Pac-12 morphing into a 16-team league in the very near future. By pressing pause even after deciding that adding A&M is the desired play, the SEC essentially risks much more — from both a monetary and perception standpoint — than a frivolous lawsuit being levied. For starters, by sending out Florida president and SEC chair Bernie Machen’s release on Wednesday, the nation’s most powerful conference essentially painted itself into a corner. In summary, what the league said was, ‘We want to add Texas A&M but the threat by a specific Big 12 team is holding us back.’ A power play and direct attempt to force a reeling Big 12 to intervene, thus completely eliminating the one thing separating the Aggies and SEC from a perfect, no-strings-attached union. What the league didn’t plan on was Starr and Baylor feeling backed into a corner, with complete and total desperation having already set in. The Bears didn’t blink, not at all considering the world around them: A&M is gone and the only chance the Big 12 has at survival involves cutting the Aggies completely loose as quickly as possible. As it stands now, Baylor and their decision-makers are so blinded by envy, fear and their own self-preservation instinct that logic has been thrown right out the window … so much so that the Bear brass doesn’t seem to realize (or care) that their actions have drawn national scorn and ridicule while also potentially making BU a program that most conferences wouldn’t want to touch with a ten-foot pole moving forward. With the eyes of the entire nation upon the “A&M Hostage Crisis,” will the mighty SEC actually sit back and allow the Baylor Bears to prevent their desired expansion plans from happening? If they do, how much more difficult will expanding the Southeastern Conference borders be in the future? From this point forward, every conference in the country will know the blueprint for keeping the SEC from poaching its teams. Threaten to sue and don’t back off of it. Evidently, the mere threat of litigation is like Kryptonite for these guys. Of even greater concern for the SEC should be visionary commissioner Larry Scott and the aggressive, ever-expanding Pac-12. The conference is already deep into negotiations with at least three and probably four Big 12 teams and are on the verge of becoming the nation’s first 16-team superconference. If Larry Scott adds OU, OSU and Tech (sources tell me that all three have been offered), the next move will be to find team No. 16, with Texas being the prime candidate. Finding a way to make that happen will be difficult but Scott has definitely been the man making things happen of late. If those dominoes fall, not only will the Pac get to 16 teams before the SEC moves from 12, but the league will also suddenly include over 70 million television sets and canvas half of America. The Pac-16 would be playing games in three different time zones and officially plant its flag in the coveted Texas market.
By adding A&M today, the SEC could go a long way towards thwarting such a move as the Baylors of the world shift their focus back to where it should be — on saving the Big 12. Any and all chances of Big 12 survival hinge on A&M quickly breaking away and DeLoss Dodds and Dan Beebe adding BYU and presenting a plan that includes equal revenue sharing and certain Longhorn Network restrictions for Oklahoma and the rest of the conference. Until the SEC makes its move and welcomes Texas A&M unconditionally, this won’t happen. In the meantime, Scott and the Pac-12 will push aggressively and without fear of legal attacks emanating from Waco or anywhere else to close deals. By playing the waiting game, the SEC not only watches as the Pac surge to the top of the conference pecking order, they also risk losing the entire Texas market. Sure, the odds of A&M joining forces with some combination of OU, OSU, Texas and Tech to make a four-team move are unlikely, but it’s a possibility that is in play as long as this thing drags out. At what point do the A&M decision-makers decide that no option is off the table and go with the first unconditional offer that comes their way? The Aggies covet the SEC with every fiber of their being and the Southeastern Conference clearly wants A&M, as evidenced by Tuesday’s unanimous vote but, at some point, frustration will mount … especially if TAMU continues to be hung out to dry (to an extent) by a league that prides itself on protecting its own. If that happens, the Texas television market (and the millions of dollars that go along with it) is gone for good. So is a program that fits the SEC’s culture like Cinderella’s glass slipper. This is the most unlikely of scenarios, but it is one that certainly exists the longer the Aggies are left twisting in the wind. While some in SEC-land fail to see the true, across-the-board value of what Texas A&M brings to the table, the impact of expanding the Southeastern Conference’s footprint to include the Lone Star State is undeniable. It’s basically the final frontier for a league that has practically everything else. Nothing Slive and the league could do expansion-wise carries the weight of adding one of Texas’ two flagship universities … and Texas A&M currently sits in limbo, waiting for the SEC to pull the trigger. On every level, the SEC has achieved its lofty status by being very patient and deliberate. I get that. They’ve also been strong, bold and led by forward-thinkers. At this summer’s SEC media day event, Mike Slive made the following statement: “I could get to 16 (teams) in 15 minutes.” It’s time to make another statement, Mr. Commissioner. Send the message that the SEC is still THE dominant force in intercollegiate athletics. Forget about 16 for now ... go ahead and get to 13 already.
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