By all accounts, there were several Big 12 schools very interested in what the Pac-10 had to offer and were very close to bolting for the West Coast.
One of the people with very close ties to one of those schools, however, was enamored with neither the idea of moving to the Pac-10 nor a couple of the schools in the Big 12 -- including one school that still remains a member.
Oklahoma State owner (Hat tip: EDSBS) T. Boone Pickens, who has given hundreds of millions of dollars to both the OSU athletics program and the school itself, had a few choice words on a variety of topics Monday as the Big 12 was crawling out of its self-dug grave.
"I don't want to go off and leave Iowa State, Kansas State or Baylor," Pickens said. "The Pac-10 is not that interesting. I'd rather trim the conference. I don't care if Nebraska leaves, I have no love for them. And I'd just as soon Missouri leave, and Colorado kind of fell in the same category."
And Pickens wasn't done, especially with Missouri and Nebraska.
"If Missouri stays, that's fine," Pickens said. "But I want them to shut up about trying to figure out someplace to go. They're either a loyal member or they're out with me. Nebraska has wanted to leave since the Big Six, and that's 1940. That's 70 years ago. What's Nebraska got to offer? They've got (only) 700,000 households."
The shots at Nebraska are understandable -- even necessary -- given the fact that they've already bolted for the Big Ten, and everybody likes to take shots at the Pac-10 just because, but is T. Boone aware that Mizzou is one of the ten schools that were deciding on remaining "loyal" to the Big 12?
Yeah, this is a solid, all-for-one one-for-all group -- with all ships pointed in the same direction -- and we will not be talking about Big 12 unrest and unhappiness at any point in the near future.
One of the people with very close ties to one of those schools, however, was enamored with neither the idea of moving to the Pac-10 nor a couple of the schools in the Big 12 -- including one school that still remains a member.
Oklahoma State owner (Hat tip: EDSBS) T. Boone Pickens, who has given hundreds of millions of dollars to both the OSU athletics program and the school itself, had a few choice words on a variety of topics Monday as the Big 12 was crawling out of its self-dug grave.
"I don't want to go off and leave Iowa State, Kansas State or Baylor," Pickens said. "The Pac-10 is not that interesting. I'd rather trim the conference. I don't care if Nebraska leaves, I have no love for them. And I'd just as soon Missouri leave, and Colorado kind of fell in the same category."
And Pickens wasn't done, especially with Missouri and Nebraska.
"If Missouri stays, that's fine," Pickens said. "But I want them to shut up about trying to figure out someplace to go. They're either a loyal member or they're out with me. Nebraska has wanted to leave since the Big Six, and that's 1940. That's 70 years ago. What's Nebraska got to offer? They've got (only) 700,000 households."
The shots at Nebraska are understandable -- even necessary -- given the fact that they've already bolted for the Big Ten, and everybody likes to take shots at the Pac-10 just because, but is T. Boone aware that Mizzou is one of the ten schools that were deciding on remaining "loyal" to the Big 12?
Yeah, this is a solid, all-for-one one-for-all group -- with all ships pointed in the same direction -- and we will not be talking about Big 12 unrest and unhappiness at any point in the near future.
