Aggie president R. Bowen Loftin said that Texas A&M is looking for stability and visibility in its athletic conference. However, he did not elude to if Aggies were openly trying to leave the Big 12.
“It’s not so much what’s wrong with the Big 12, it’s what’s right with Texas A&M and where we want to go in time,” he said. “We have, for quite some time, evaluated the effect of our visibility on our brand value and on our athletes as well. Clearly these are difficult times for all universities … and we certainly owe it to the taxpayers of Texas to make sure that whatever we do here at Texas A&M helps to benefit the university financially.”
Loftin made these comments after he got done with a meeting with the Board of Regents. The board officially granted Loftin the power to, ”take all actions related to Texas A&M University’s athletic conference alignment.” This was unanimously approved by the board of 9 members.
This was the first time Loftin had spoken with the media since rumors recently started relating to Texas A&M moving to the SEC. Loftin said he had talked to the SEC commissioner, Mike Slive, in January. It wasn’t until July 21 that talks of Texas A&M moving to the SEC. This was caused by the University of Texas making their own TV network.
Many people thought that Texas A&M would officially leave the Big 12 on Monday, but it appears the SEC has decided not to expand. The SEC presidents met on Sunday and decided not to extend an invitation to anyone.
The next step is unclear for Texas A&M. Loftin was planning on visiting Texas on Tuesday to attend a meeting that is discussing realignment. If Texas A&M some how did leave the Big 12 they would have to follow the same process Nebraska went through when they left for the Big 10.