ESPN is reporting this morning that the Texas Athletic director has said that the university is still exploring all of its options related to conference realignment. They write,
Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds says the Longhorns are still "looking at all options" before deciding whether to stay in the crumbling Big 12 or move to another league.
Dodds spoke outside of his stadium suite before Saturday's Texas-TCU baseball game.
He said, "could be" when asked about reports that Pac-10 commissioner Larry Scott is traveling to Oklahoma and Texas this weekend to invite Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State to join his league.
Now, does this really change anything that we've been hearing so far? I'm not really sure. Chip Brown and the ESPN "sources" are still 100% committed to the Texas to Pac-10 concept, as early as Tuesday of next week.
As a Big Ten fan and (somewhat) unbiased observed, I'm still on the fence. On the one hand, I wouldn't be at all surprised if Texas does in fact end up in the Pac-10, with or without a bevy of other schools. It seems clear that the Big 12 is dead, and the SEC never was a fit for Texas. That leaves the Pac-10 and the Big Ten. It's possible that the Pac-10's offer was simply better, or that Texas just really doesn't want to be in the same conference as Nebraska. There does seem to be some bad blood between the athletic departments of those two universities given the comments emanating from Nebraska over the last few days.
All the same, I don't have an answer for the question of why, if the move to the Pac-10 is a done deal, it's taking so long for Texas to make the confirmation.
Is it because the board of regents has to meet? Well, I suppose... but even though their approval is needed, it's really just a formality. Do you think they'd really veto something that was determined to be the best move for the University financially and politically? Plus, they do have things called phones these days. Even if an in-person meeting is required to formalize the process, assent to the plan can be given by phone and, given the number of leaks surrounding all this already, THAT most certainly would have surfaced by now.
It is also possible that the delay is just an attempt to let Texas A&M reconsider their leanings towards the SEC before it can't be undone. That's certainly realistic.
Or maybe it's something else entirely. Maybe there's more going on here than we realize. Either way, we'll be updating all of it as soon as we get the news.