Missouri still in Big 12 — for now

Associated Press

COLUMBIA, MO.

Relegated to a sideline seat for the first wave of college sports’ conference shake up, officials at Missouri said Friday they remain committed to the Big 12.

For now, anyway.

“We have obligations to our Big 12 Conference, first and foremost,” said Missouri system president Gary Forsee. But he added that conference realignment is “a nine-inning game” — and it’s still the first inning.

Forsee spoke to a roomful of reporters while Missouri curators met behind closed doors for the third time in two days.

Among the topics in the closed session: gauging the impact of fellow Big 12 North division member Colorado’s defection to the Pac-10 and deciding whether Missouri remains a viable candidate for inclusion in an expanded Big Ten once Nebraska joins in 2011.

The departure of those two schools could be just the start of the Big 12’s unraveling as the Pac-10 considers inviting as many as five of the six Big 12 South members and the Big Ten mulling its own expansion. That would leave Missouri, Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas and Kansas State on the sidelines, waiting for offers from other, less prestigious conferences.

Despite the uncertainty surrounding the Big 12, Forsee and other Missouri leaders again offered strong statements of support for the Big 12.

“We are trying to be patient,” said board chairwoman Judy Haggard. “We are committed to the Big 12 at this time.”

Missouri may not have a choice. Big 12 Commissioner Dan Beebe said that his Big Ten counterpart, Jim Delany, said Friday that Nebraska is the only Big 12 school of interest to the nation’s oldest Division I conference.

Athletics director Mike Alden, who met with curators for more than three hours Friday, suggested that Missouri is not interested in the Big Ten, or any league other than its own.

“We aren’t looking at any other conference,” he said.

Alden has previously emphasized the school’s commitment to its conference while also expressing his desire for more equitable revenue-sharing.