Iowa State bids Texas A&M a sad farewell

The schools that will be most hurt by Texas A&M jumping from the Big 12 to the Southeastern Conference are Kansas State, Baylor, Texas Tech and Iowa State. You have to think Oklahoma and Oklahoma State will land on their feet because of football, and Kansas men's basketball would seem to make that school attractive for another conference. Missouri? Who knows?

Of course, the Big 12 could simply invite someone else to take the Aggies' place and remain at 10 schools. BYU is a rumored target. I've heard Louisville, too.

But will Oklahoma hang around to hope for the best if, say, the Pac-12 comes calling again? And if OU goes, so goes Okie State. And perhaps two others to give the Pac-12 a nice total of 16, making it the first official superconference. There will be four of them, you know. And you want to be in one.

Anyhow, here's what Iowa State Athletic Jamie Pollard said today:

 “It is unfortunate that Texas A&M is moving forward with plans to depart the Big 12. They have been highly competitive in the conference and represented our league well on the national stage. Although our preference is for them to stay in the Big 12, we wish them well in the future and respect their decision. The Commissioner, Presidents and Directors of Athletics are poised to move quickly and aggressively in studying alternatives for the conference.”

Here's what he should have said: "It's everybody for themselves in this brave, new world of conference realignment. Texas A&M did what it had to do. Now we need the Big 12 to find a good replacement, and pronto. Because if this league disintegrates, we've got serious problems on our hands."