Not all fans happy with new Big 12

Associated Press

AUSTIN, Texas

After all the congratulations and relief about rescuing the Big 12 and those sweeping promises of big payouts, fans at Texas and Texas A&M still can’t help but feel disappointed.

Tantalized by the prospect of heading off to exotic new playgrounds in the Pac-10 and the football-crazy Southeastern Conference, Longhorns and Aggies fans are looking at more road trips through the wind-swept heartland of America.

At Texas, the decision to keep the status quo means the Longhorns are still the big dog in the Big 12, but they already were. Staying put in a Big 12 that will soon be without Nebraska and Colorado feels a bit hollow.

Aggies fans, meanwhile, have lit up Texas A&M online message boards and radio shows, angry that they purportedly missed a chance to join the most powerful football conference in the land in the SEC and get out from under Texas’ considerable shadow.

“They felt like something was just ripped away from them,” said Billy Liucci, owner and editor of the popular A&M fan site Texags.com, who happens to like A&M’s position in the leaner Big 12. “It’s the most emotionally charged reaction to anything around here since I don’t know when.”

A profane e-mail to Texas A&M athletic director Bill Byrne prompted him to respond with an angry voice mail.

“Someone who has the no guts to write something like that needs to have his [expletive] kicked,” the 65-year-old Byrne said in the call, which was posted on Youtube.com. Byrne later issued a 1,700-word statement defending the Aggies’ decision to stay in the Big 12 and apologized for the outburst.

Aggies officials have tried to soothe upset fans by talking about the money, suggesting new TV deals will perhaps double the $9.2 million paid out to the school by the Big 12 in 2009-10.

But it’s about more than money for many Aggies fans.

Texas, the richest and most powerful school in the Big 12, has long cast a long shadow over College Station. Many Texas A&M fans saw the SEC as a way to strike out on their own, even at the risk of ending 100-plus years of rivalry.

Austin radio talk show host Ed Clements said he hears from Longhorns fans who like staying in a league that promises an even fatter wallet and in theory puts them closer each year to a BCS bowl and the national championship.

But he also hears from fans disappointed they won’t get side trips to California beaches and Disneyland out of the deal.

Just about everyone wants Texas to schedule better non-conference opponents.