West Virginia approved by Big 12

Associated Press

The Big 12 has a replacement lined up for Missouri before it even leaves the conference.

The Big East, meanwhile, is in danger of losing another school before replacing the three that already have bailed on the league.

Acting quickly to make sure it maintains a 10-member lineup, the Big 12 approved bringing in West Virginia to replace Missouri when the Tigers complete their move to the Southeastern Conference.

The move is another step toward stabilizing a Big 12 that seemed on the verge of collapse about a month ago when Texas and Oklahoma were pondering a move to the Pac-12.

On the other side, West Virginia’s pending departure from the Big East, which has lost two members and one member-to-be in the last six weeks, leaves the embattled conference facing another crisis.

The Big East is trying to reconfigure as a 12-team football league and has been courting Boise State, Navy and Air Force as football-only members and Central Florida, SMU and Houston for all sports. Commissioner John Marinatto met with officials from some of those schools Sunday in Washington.

Because there is no timetable for Missouri to complete its expected departure from the Big 12 — and the league’s board of directors expressed “a strong desire” for Missouri to stay — there is no timetable for West Virginia to receive a formal invitation.

But West Virginia will accept an invitation from the Big 12 once it is offered.

During an interview Tuesday with KFRU-AM in Columbia, Mo., Missouri Chancellor Brady Deaton said it would be “days” or “a week or two” before the school announced its decision.

Interim Big 12 Commissioner Chuck Neinas has said he expects Missouri to compete in the Big 12 in 2012, though Deaton has said that if Missouri does make a move, he’d like the Tigers to be playing in their new conference next fall.

Missouri would become the SEC’s 14th member and join Texas A&M, which made its move from the Big 12 official earlier this month.