SEC Talking With Texas A&M Months Ago

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According to Sports Illustrated, “emissaries from the SEC initiated discussions with Texas A&M athletic director Bill Byrne months ago, and while the SEC is just one of several potential options for the Aggies, it remains an option heading into Thursday’s meeting between Texas A&M and Texas officials.”

The SEC refused to return calls, emails and texts sent by SI.com yesterday.

As we pointed out in our “Expounding On Expansion” series, Texas A&M would be an excellent get for the SEC.  The school — as Andy Staples also points out in the above SI piece — has nearly as much going for it as Texas, a school that everyone is chasing.

The two main questions are these:

1.  Would Texas A&M be allowed to leave the other Texas schools and do its own thing if it chooses?  If A&M chose to go east rather than west, it’s conceivable that the Pac-10 would then invite Baylor to join its ranks.  That might satisfy some Texas politicians.  A&M might have a little extra wiggle room to go out on its own because the current governor of Texas is an Aggie grad.

2.  Would Texas A&M prefer a move to the SEC — which it has talked with before — over a move to the new Pac-16?  A&M athletic director Bill Byrne has spoken publicly about the travel issues involved in such a mega-league, but one still has to wonder if the Aggies would be willing to part with Texas when push comes to shove.

If so the SEC should bend over backwards to land A&M.

Such a move would push the league into Texas (great for recruiting), grow ratings in Top 10 markets Dallas and Houston (great for CBS and ESPN), and up the league’s academic reputation (great for SEC presidents).  A&M already has natural rivalries and history with Arkansas and LSU as well.

A&M fits with the SEC from cultural, academic, and athletic standpoints.  Unlike many of the potential expansion partners for the SEC, the Aggies also bring a lot of new value to the table.

If the SEC has to expand, A&M would appear to be the best case scenario at this point.


UPDATE — Tony Barnhart of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution makes a couple of interesting observations today:

1.  “People keep telling me that the SEC should do nothing.  But if the Pac-10 and the Big Ten both go to 16 teams, can the SEC stay with a pat hand?”

We wrote the same thing yesterday.  There’s a risk involved in expansion.  There’s also a risk in doing nothing.

2.  “There is absolutely nothing coming out of the SEC on this.  This is as locked down as I’ve ever seen them.  That should make some people nervous because Slive is one of those “speak softly and carry a big stick” kind of guys.”