COLUMBIA, MO (KPLR)—
What may have been the first domino in the collapse of the Big 12 conference fell Thursday, and University of Missouri officials are scrambling to make sure Mizzou isn't left behind when the dust settles.The school's Board of Curators held the first of a two days of scheduled meetings Thursday, and spent much of the afternoon behind closed doors. Originally they said there would be no discussion of conference affiliation matters, but that changed quickly.
Late Thursday morning, the University of Colorado announced it was leaving the Big 12 to join the Pacific 10 Conference. Suddenly MU's insistence not to comment on speculation was faced with solid fact: Colorado was gone.
"Obviously we're concerned about it," Missouri Chancellor Brady Deaton told reporters outside the closed session. "We're concerned about the way we stand and the way we'll be positioned in the future. The people of Missouri deserve that. Our students deserve that."
The school's president, Gary Forsee, also weighed in on the Colorado move.
"Certainly our curators are very interested in those developments, interested in those facts as they appear," he said. "Certainly we won't participate in feeding speculation on what else might happen in conference realignment or the Big 12 for that matter."
But the so-called speculation includes published reports that Nebraska will go Friday, accepting a reported invitation from the Big 10 Conference. After that, more sourced reports from a number of media outlets say five more Big 12 members, led by Texas and Oklahoma, will head west for the Pac 10 as well.
Missouri officials wouldn't discuss any of those reporter, calling them conjecture and speculation. President Forsee also continues to insist Missouri wants to salvage the Big 12.
"Certainly our interest is to watch these developments unfold and be very active in making sure the Big 12 as we sit here today is very strong as we look forward."
No one is commenting on Mizzou's reported flirtation with the Big 10. One curator, Warren Erdman, tells the Associated Press, that Missouri has not received an invitation to join the Big 10, seemingly leaving Missouri in a precarious position should the Big 12 fold.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist and ESPN 101 radio host Brian Burwell is among those who are skeptical about Missouri's institutional silence on the subject when other schools are talking about their situations.
"Missouri has been oddly silent," Burwell told FOX 2. "Either they're doing a great job of bluffing, or it's like the Seinfeld episode: 'I've got nothin'."
The Board of Curators are scheduled to re-convene on Friday. Despite all the activity, no Mizzou official is willing to speculate at a timeline for news about the university, and President Forsee believes it could be some time before the dust settles.
"I think until we see what may play out over the next few months or next year for that matter, we just won't know."
