Guy Bailey has been on the phone a lot lately, talking athletics. Talking stability. Talking money. Talking heartland football. These are uneasy days for the president of Texas Tech and his eight counterparts across the shrinking Big 12 Conference. The 16-year-old league appeared to have averted another implosion last week when its remaining nine schools' athletic directors met in Dallas to pick up the pieces after Texas A&M announced it would become the third member to leave the league in the last 16 months. Various involved parties sent mixed signals about the league's stability, which is still threatened as the University of Missouri reportedly considers following A&M to the Southeastern Conference. One theme has emerged since the universities of Colorado and Nebraska defected last year: The Big 12, for now, is low in the college athletic food chain. It is prey to Pacific 12, Big 10 and SEC predators. What's driving all this? Bailey said he can't say for sure, but he has a theory — theories, really — about a confluence of factors gathering over the past few years. Implications about the league, particularly, and the sport, generally, are at play in all this, Bailey said, as evidenced by similar conference swaps to the north, where last month two Big East schools announced they'll move to the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Big 12's internal loyalty issues play a big role. There's also timing, as many of the nation's largest conferences have returned to television contracts. Another factor is the concept of potential large “superconferences” eventually dominating the sport. Geography is a play, too. Located in the nation's center, the Big 12 is a prime target for its more aggressive siblings. But college football historian John Sayle Watterson says money looms largest over the recurring realignment chaos. “As far as television money, I think television is definitely fueling the current thing that nobody wants to get behind the eight ball. Nobody wants to get left out and get left holding the bag,” said the retired professor from Virginia and author of “College Football: History, Spectacle, Controversy.”
