Big 12 Expansion On Hold As Commissioner Praises Stability Of Conference

In a Thursday visit to Lawrence, Kan., new Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby said he hopes conference realignment has slowed, according to Matt Tait of KUSports.com:

"I don't usually think much of hope as a strategy, but, on this occasion, I hope that it's calmed down," Bowlsby said. "We, we being intercollegiate athletics in general, would be well served by a period of calm. I think some very bad decisions have been made in conjunction with the conference moves and I think history will bear that out."

The Big 12 has arguably been affected more by conference realignment than any other BCS-level league. It began two summers ago, when Colorado and much of the Big 12 South looked poised to join the Pac-10. While the southern schools eventually rejected the offer, Colorado left for the pacific coast, and Nebraska accepted an offer from the Big 10 soon after. Last year, Texas A&M and Missouri opted to leave the conference for the SEC, leaving the Big 12 with just eight schools. The conference responded by adding TCU and West Virginia, starting next week, moving its count back to 10.

Bowlsby didn't see a move back to 12 in the near future:

"(Realignment) gets talked about at every conference meeting in every conference and we'll have to talk about it, too," he said. "But I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with 10 and I think it needs to be a very high bar if we're gonna take anybody else in."

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