I'm glad it didn't happen, but it would have been interesting. I'm guessing Auburn or Alabama would have moved to the eastern division.
On Thu, Jun 24, 2010 at 1:28 PM, Shane Ford <[email protected]> wrote: > OU prez says Sooners, A&M got invite from SEC > > > The Associated Press > > Published: Thursday, June 24, 2010 at 12:42 p.m. > Last Modified: Thursday, June 24, 2010 at 12:42 p.m. > > > > > > ARDMORE, Okla. — The president of the University of Oklahoma said > Wednesday that his school and Texas A&M both received invitations to join > the Southeastern Conference during the last round of conference realignment. > > Although Oklahoma ended up remaining in the Big 12, university president > David Boren said the Sooners had offers from both the SEC and the Pac-10. > Boren spoke with reporters after a regents meeting for almost 40 minutes > about the conference realignment process. > > “I’ll put it this way — we were well positioned for whatever worked out,” > Boren said. > > SEC spokesman Craig Pinkerton said he was “not in a position to comment” on > what Boren said. Boren declined to say who in the SEC issued the invitation, > only that that person had the authority to do so. > > Boren said the Pac-10 offer was for five Big 12 schools — Oklahoma, > Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas A&M and Texas Tech — to join as a group. Pac-10 > Commissioner Larry Scott visited the schools earlier this month to extend > the invitations. > > “The invitation was really to the group,” Boren said. “It had to be, > because you couldn’t have our teams all flying to the Pacific coast every > week to play games. There had to be an eastern division of schools.” > > Boren said the SEC extended offers only to Oklahoma and Texas A&M, both of > which opted to stay in a slimmed-down Big 12 after Colorado left for the > Pac-10 and Nebraska left for the Big Ten. Because the SEC offer didn’t > include two of the Sooners’ key rivals, Oklahoma State and Texas, Boren said > he didn’t consider it a good option. > > “There was a time when A&M thought they were going to the SEC and they very > much wanted us to go with them,” Boren said. “Oklahoma, in the whole thing, > we were positioned in a way where virtually we could not have lost.” > > Last Friday, Oklahoma State president Burns Hargis confirmed that his > school “never had an offer” from the SEC, “so it was never anything to > consider.” Both he and Boren expressed a strong interest in sticking > together through any future conference realignment. > > “Had the Pac-10 thing fallen apart, had the Big 12 minus two not been put > back together, we would have probably ended up having much more serious > conversations with the SEC, and (asked) would they take OSU and Texas, for > example,” Boren said. “It never got to that.” > > Boren characterized the Pac-10 offer as one that obviously had been > researched and planned, while the SEC’s offer was “more of a reaction to the > situation. When they saw that the Big 12 might be no more, that all the > schools might go somewhere else, they then started thinking about ’Who would > we want?” ’ > > Scott said the Pac-10 offer went nowhere because Texas decided against it. > Boren said it “basically fell apart because of the difference of opinion in > Texas” regarding Texas A&M’s interest in the SEC. > > “One school doesn’t like the other one to tell them what to do,” Boren > said, referring to Texas and Texas A&M. > > Texas A&M president R. Bowen Loftin was out of his office Wednesday. In a > June 14 letter posted on the school’s website, he said that by remaining a > member of the Big 12, “We were able to more than double our financial return > to the levels being offered by other conferences.” > > Loftin added that another consideration in staying in the conference was > maintaining Texas A&M’s “strong foothold” in the state and preserving > longtime rivalries. > > Big 12 athletic directors met this week in Irving, Texas, to discuss the > conference’s future. Commissioner Dan Beebe said the Big 12 has “no interest > in expansion” and that it was “not a consideration” at the meeting. > > “There is a great deal of excitement about the future of the conference,” > Beebe said in a statement. “Our member institutions look forward to the > continuation of excellent competition and providing outstanding experiences > for our student-athletes. The 10-school model is one that is extremely > attractive and provides the opportunity for continued long-term success.” > > > > -- > GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY! > 1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions > 2006 National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions > 2008 National Football Champions | > Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), > Tim Tebow (2007) - Visit our website at www.gatornet.us -- GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY! 1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions 2006 National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions 2008 National Football Champions | Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), Tim Tebow (2007) - Visit our website at www.gatornet.us
