Will they stay or will they go? That's the question facing Texas A&M amid the swirl of rumors that they might move to the Southeastern Conference and away from the Big 12. The school has scheduled a press conference for Monday afternoon, so some answers will be coming in the next 24 hours. However, early word from the SEC's side of things is that the clear path to the mega-conference might not be in the works.
Of course, it could all just be posturing at this point to do things in the right order. A team has to declare its removal from a conference before it can accept the invitation to another, so this could simply be a matter of paperwork -- semantics, if you will. But the SEC sent out an official statement today with the following:
The SEC Presidents and Chancellors met today and reaffirmed our satisfaction with the present 12 institutional alignment. We recognize, however, that future conditions may make it advantageous to expand the number of institutions in the league. We discussed criteria and process associated with expansion. No action was taken with respect to any institution including Texas A&M.
A secret meeting is supposedly taking place today according to the New York Times that will solidify A&M's actual invitation to come or not, so word should leak shortly, given the amount of non-secrecy that's already surrounded this episode. It's certainly been a dramatic few days and the rumors should only intensify around A&M and the stability of the Big 12 conference.