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GRAPEVINE, Texas — Unity was the message from the Big 12 on Tuesday, as athletic directors gathered for an annual fall meeting.
But Iowa State athletic director Jamie Pollard knows that a conference that's lost three members in the last 15 months and has questions about Missouri needs to do more than preach togetherness.
"It's one of those times when actions have to speak louder than words," said Pollard. "Ultimately, we'll have to prove it. There will always be doubters."
However, Pollard isn't one of them.
"All I can say is people I locked arms with in that room feel pretty committed to me," he said.
Nobody was around to second the motion. Other athletic officials scooted away without comment.
"It's a crazy time," Missouri athletic director Mike Alden said.
On that, everybody agreed. The Big 12 athletic bosses met after a national gathering of Division I-A athletic directors and that stability across the landscape is as elusive as information.
"We just need to know where it's all going, so everybody can make plans," said East Carolina athletic director Terry Holland. "We're all wondering who the SEC's 14th team is going to be."
That's college sports' biggest mystery at the moment, or is it?
On Tuesday, as the Southeastern Conference welcomed Texas A&M as the league's 13th member, commissioner Mike Slive said the conference isn't actively seeking a 14th.
"We have not initiated any conversations with any institution," Slive said.
But he did not rule out future expansion.
"I know there will be enormous speculation," Slive said. "There will be speculation about how we're going to schedule. There'll be speculation about whether we're going to go to 14 and if we go to 14, who's that going to be, how's that going to happen, when's that going to happen.
"They're all appropriate questions. We will deal with those on a timetable that works for us."
The Big 12 needs to know were things stand before it can act on expansion.
"If you're an (expansion candidate) you'd want to know what you're entering into," Pollard said. "The most important piece right is the solidarity among the nine, and finding a way to make sure we provide that solidarity, so we can be stabilized before we entertain whether it should be nine, 10, 12 or 16."
If the Big 12 wants to reach 10 members, will it be looking for one or two schools?
Or does the league expand to 12? Different targets have been expressed by Texas, which prefers 10, and Oklahoma, which believes returning to a dozen and the conference championship game is the way to go.
And who would be the targets? Brigham Young has been often mentioned, and so have Big East programs like Louisville and West Virginia. TCU, set to join the Big East next year, could also be a target.
A Big East official said West Virginia has been in contact with other conferences, including the Big 12, ACC and SEC.
"I know this," a conference commissioner said. "If West Virginia and Louisville leave, Big East football is over."
One school that has been contacted by the Big 12, Air Force, may no longer be a candidate.
"We have to be a little cautions about who hard kids are playing week in and week out," Air Force athletic director Hans Mueh said. "I was flattered by (the interest) but I don't know if it has any teeth to it to be honest with you."
With the uncertainty gripping college football well into the season, athletic officials are concerned about scheduling for next season. If the Big 12 doesn't land any team and operates next year with nine, everybody losses a conference game and all schools are scrambling to fill schedules with non-conference opponents.
Pollard said The Longhorn Network was discussed generally along with other schools' third-tier networks, although the Texas/ESPN creation has been a point of contention among league members, not so much for its value — $300 million to Texas over the next 20 years — but for its content such as high school highlights.
"It's a hallmark of our league, an advantage for our league," Pollard said. "The third-tier rights will remain the property of the schools."
