For now, anyway.
The Southeastern Conference is not extending an invitation to Texas A&M to become its 13th member, but isn’t ruling out adding the Aggies in the future.
University of Florida president Dr. Bernie Machen said the conference’s presidents and chancellors met on Sunday and “reaffirmed our satisfaction with the present 12 institutional alignment.”
“We recognize, however, that future conditions may make it advantageous to expand the number of institutions in the league,” Machen said. “We discussed criteria and process associated with expansion. No action was taken with respect to any institution including Texas A&M.”
A high-ranking source within Texas A&M confirmed to ESPN’s Doug Gottlieb on Saturday the Aggies were intent on joining the Southeastern Conference. And they reportedly hoped to begin play in the league starting as soon as 2012.
[…]
An SEC official had told The New York Times ahead of Sunday’s meeting that there was still a 30 percent to 40 percent chance the Aggies would not get enough votes for an invitation. And the issue of needing to add a 14th team along with A&M remained, the newspaper reported.
“We realize if we do this, we have to have the 14th,” the SEC official said. “No name has been thrown out. This thing is much slower out of the chute than the media and blogs have made it.”
I’m sure finding a 14th won’t be too hard, though I suppose any candidates for that would need to make their desires known ahead of any invitation. Beyond that, it’s hard to say if the SEC is just saying “anything can happen” or if this is all the necessary groundwork for a future invitation. Maybe this was part of Rick Perry’s plan all along. Who knows? There’s still a meeting of the A&M Board of Regents, and the Higher Ed committee in the Lege, which may tell us more. The Trib has reaction from A&M President R. Bowen Loftin, and State Rep. Garnet Coleman brings the inevitable UH perspective.
UPDATE: Rep. Branch has canceled his hearing, though it can be rescheduled later if (when) needed. Meanwhile, the A&M Board of Regents has authorized President Bowen to explore all options, i.e., changing conferences. Finally, Rep. Coleman sends a letter to Rep. Branch advocating for UH to join the Big XII.
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