Texas A&M president R. Bowen Loftin, left, shares a laugh with Chancellor Designate John Sharp, right, before an NCAA college football game against SMU, Sunday, Sept. 4, 2011, in College Station, Texas. A&M beat SMU 46-14. (AP Photo/Dave Einsel)
Texas A&M president R. Bowen Loftin, left, shares a laugh with Chancellor Designate John Sharp, right, before an NCAA college football game against SMU, Sunday, Sept. 4, 2011, in College Station, Texas. A&M beat SMU 46-14. (AP Photo/Dave Einsel)
FILE - In this April 30, 2008, file photo, Southeastern Conference commissioner Mike Slive, left, and Big XII Commissioner Dan Beebe listen as fellow members of the BCS discuss the proposed changes to the college football championship series in Hollywood, Fla. The Associated Press has obtained an email indicating that it was Baylor that raised the specter of legal action to stop Texas A&M from leaving the Big 12 for the SEC. The email was sent late Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2011, by Big 12 Commissioner Dan Beebe to Mike Slive, his counterpart at the SEC. (AP Photo/J. Pat Carter, File)
FILE - In this Nov. 25, 2010, file photo, Texas A&M coach Mike Sherman, center, sings school songs as he celebrates with his players after defeating Texas in an NCAA college football game, in Austin, Texas. The Southeastern Conference cleared the way for Texas A&M to join its ranks in an announcement Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2011, but with one snag. A Big 12 school has threatened to sue if the Aggies leave the fold. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
FILE - In this Sept. 4, 2011, file photo,Texas A&M yell leader rallies in front of the team during the school song before an NCAA college football game against SMU, in College Station, Texas. The Southeastern Conference cleared the way for Texas A&M to join its ranks in an announcement Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2011, but with one snag. A Big 12 school has threatened to sue if the Aggies leave the fold.(AP Photo/Dave Einsel, File)
COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) ? Texas A&M sees no future in the Big 12. For now, the Aggies aren't going anywhere.
"We are being held hostage right now," Texas A&M President R. Bowen Loftin told The Associated Press. "Essentially, we're being told that you must stay here against your will and we think that really flies in the face of what makes us Americans for example and makes us free people."
The angry statement came Wednesday in a whirlwind day. The Southeastern Conference kicked things off by saying it would be willing to make the Aggies the league's 13th member, but only if legal issues could be cleared up.
What followed was a lot of finger-pointing.
Texas A&M accused Big 12 Commissioner Dan Beebe of going back on his word and suggested that one of its fellow league schools was deliberately slowing its departure to the SEC.
Loftin pointed to two different statements from Beebe within the past week.
The first was a letter sent Sept. 2 to SEC Commissioner Mike Slive that said the Big 12 "and its members" had agreed to waive the right for legal action against the SEC over the Aggies' move. Loftin then shared with the AP a copy of a Sept. 6 email sent by Beebe to Slive that said the legal waivers from each school were actually far from being secure.
"You have notified me that the SEC is willing to accept the application of Texas A&M to become a member of the SEC, provided that the Big 12 member institutions individually waive any legal actions against the SEC for its decision," Beebe wrote.
"I recognize that this issue has been raised due to Baylor University's indication that its governing board has not waived the university's rights," Beebe added. "As you know, the attached letter waived the right of the Big 12 Conference Inc. to take legal action against the SEC. Missouri Chancellor Brady Deaton, chair of the Big 12 Board of Directors, has told me that he informed Texas A&M President Bowen Loftin that such action by the Big 12 Conference Board of Directors was not binding on the individual institutions' governing boards.
"If you seek waivers by the individual institutions, you must receive them from those institutions directly. I regret any confusion on this issue."
The email was sent late Tuesday even as SEC presidents and chancellors agreed to accept Texas A&M if the league has guarantees it won't be sued over the latest move in conference realignment. That announcement came early Wednesday and an SEC spokesman had no additional comment.
Loftin, however, was clearly angry about Beebe's statement.
"I felt that was really a violation of trust right there," Loftin said. "We took this letter very seriously. We asked for such a statement. They gave it to us freely. It says here unanimous vote was taken and yet when we look at Beebe's letter last night it says: 'No we didn't really mean that,' and I find that to be rather difficult to digest."
Loftin said he believes Beebe's turnaround is a "destabilizing factor" in the Big 12 and it put the future of the 15-year-old conference in more jeopardy than A&M's leaving.
"By keeping us in in this limbo, they really are inhibited from bringing in other members to take our place," Loftin said. "So they're creating more instability by taking this particular direction. We were trying to clean this up for ourselves very quickly ... so they could get about their business of replacing us in a prompt way and go forward and hopefully become a better conference. How can that happen right now when they're insisting that we simply stay in this holding pattern indefinitely while they try to figure out what's wrong?"
The Big 12, meanwhile, accused Texas A&M of making an extraordinary request that will put some members at risk of losing millions of dollars in revenue, presumably from the 13-year, $1 billion television deal reached with Fox Sports in April.
"This is the first time to my knowledge that a conference has been requested to waive any legal claims toward another conference for any damages suffered with a membership change," Beebe said. "The Big 12 Conference was asked by Texas A&M University and the Southeastern Conference to waive any such claim to help facilitate Texas A&M's departure from the conference without any consideration to the Big 12. ... If the departure of Texas A&M results in significant changes in the Big 12 membership, several institutions may be severely affected after counting on revenue streams from contracts that were approved unanimously by our members, including Texas A&M.
"In some cases, members reasonably relied on such approval to embark on obligations that will cost millions of dollars."
Loftin said he believes Texas A&M is "replaceable" when it comes to the TV contract.
"We can argue how good we are compared to others, but I think we're replaceable," he said. "It was clearly stated to me by leadership of Fox that they felt like a school could be found and put in our place to satisfy their interests and therefore their contractual agreement would not be changed in any way. So we feel that was a good way to say that we would not be destabilizing the conference by leaving."
The Big 12's future has been the subject of intense speculation for more than a year. Nebraska (Big Ten) and Colorado (Pac-12) left in July, while Oklahoma and Oklahoma State are rumored to be the subjects of courting by the Pac-12 with an eye toward building a superconference.
Not as clear was where schools like Iowa State, Missouri Kansas, Kansas State, Texas Tech and Baylor might wind up if the Big 12 falls apart.
"We are basically sitting in a traffic jam and going nowhere fast," Texas Tech President Guy Bailey said of discussions with Big 12 school officials on Wednesday.
"Recent events have put conference discussions in a holding pattern," Bailey said. "However, we will continue to closely monitor the situation and actively pursue a course in the best interest of Texas Tech University."
At Missouri, Chancellor Brady Deaton -- chairman of the Big 12 board -- said the league "remains a strong conference, highly respected academically and athletically."
Loftin was in meetings most of Wednesday, trying to figure out what A&M will do next. He said he spoke with SEC officials and that they are trying to take in the recent developments. Loftin said he was disappointed that A&M wasn't introduced as the SEC's newest member, but he empathizes the predicament the SEC is in.
"We believe we have no real future in the Big 12," Loftin said. "That's clear to us and how that plays out right now I can't really tell you. That's still actively being worked through. We really appreciated the support shown yesterday by the SEC leadership, a unanimous vote to let us in. But they're rightly concerned about themselves getting involved in extensive litigation that might distract them from their purpose as a conference and I can understand that."
A person with knowledge of the Big 12 discussions, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks are considered private, said that after the Sept. 2 letter, Baylor was the first to "raise its hand" in numerous conversations with Big 12 and SEC officials, along with other conference members, about retaining its legal rights.
That person said Wednesday that there has been no threat of a lawsuit or other legal action. Texas Tech spokesman Chris Cook also said it was "not our intent" to sue anyone, while Iowa State spokesman John McCarroll said the university had not waived its right to pursue potential litigation regarding A&M.
Loftin said one Big 12 school -- he would not identify it by name -- had been trying to stop A&M's move from the beginning.
"Clearly for quite some time, one school has been specifically the one trying to both bring pressure on us politically for a while and now raising the threat of legal action," he said. "In fact even calling members of the board of the SEC directly and the commissioner of the SEC directly and speaking to them and leaving voicemails for them."
Loftin also said that "nothing really changed" after a conference call among seven of the 10 Big 12 presidents on Wednesday. Much of the call was filled with Baylor explaining its position and the group said discussed if it should start looking at why schools want to leave the Big 12, Loftin said.
Loftin said backtracking by Beebe and Big 12 will make it harder for the conference to have a successful future.
"Think about it," he said. "If I'm a possible member of the conference, how would I feel about that right now? Here's a school that has very carefully and deliberately gone through a process, communicated effectively every stage of the game what it was about and then declared finally: 'We really want to be out of the conference.'
"Then you're saying: 'No, you can't do that.' Even though the bylaws clearly provide a way for that to happen. So why are we doing it this way and how are you going to be able to attract another school with this kind of attitude toward it. How do you achieve stability?"
For Cleveland Browns quarterback Colt McCoy, Texas A&M's departure could mean the end of one of college football's greatest games.
"I just hope they don't lose the Texas-Texas A&M rivalry," said McCoy, the former Longhorns star. "My junior and senior years that was it ? Thanksgiving night, under the lights, that's football, man. The Lone Star Showdown or whatever. Those are the biggest schools in Texas. You just can't lose that."
Former A&M star defensive end/linebacker Von Miller, the second overall pick in this year's draft now playing for the Denver Broncos, was excited about the impending move.
"It's a great look, not just for football, but just for college sports in general," Miller said. "We have a lot to offer the SEC. Not just with athletic programs, but as a school in general. We have a great tradition, a great fan base, and it's a good look with the SEC."
___
AP Sports Writers Stephen Hawkins, Luke Meredith, Betsy Blaney, Jim Vertuno, Tom Withers, Arnie Stapleton and Associated Press Writer Alan Scher Zagier contributed to this report.
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