[KcMizzou]

Take from this what you will...

Osborne hopes to put issue to bed "before too long"

Posted by: Brian Christopherson on June 8, 2010 at 7:18PM CST
Nebraska athletic Tom Osborne is speaking tonight on his monthly show on the Husker Sports Network.

He was asked a few questions by Lane Grindle about conference realignment to lead off the show.

"Well, I suppose there's quite a bit I could speculate on," Osborne said. "But as you and I talked about before the show came on, there's a lot of information that we really don't have right now. And hopefully we'll get things put together in the next few days. So anything I would say regarding Nebraska's position or other schools in the Big 12 would be pure speculation at this point. And I don't think that's very helpful. So as much as I know fans don't like it, I think we need to put certain things off limits ... but I think before too long, and I don't know exactly what that time frame is, we'll be able to put this thing to bed because I'm getting tired of it, you're probably getting tired of it, the fans are getting tired of it."

Is there a misconception of Nebraska's relationship with Texas?

"I think maybe so," Osborne said. "We certainly don't have anything against anybody in the Big 12. This decision is not going to be based on animosity, on petty jealousy. I mean you're talking about something that could maintain for the next 75 or 100 years. I mean this is a big deal in terms of the University of Nebraska. This is a big deal in view of many other institutions. So you don't ever make a decision based on personal likes, dislikes. And frankly, I get along very well with (Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds). I'm a great admirer of Mack Brown. And Texas has obviously done very well athletically and you have to admire them for that. So this is not a case where we're somehow reacting to any one school, particularly to Texas."

What are Osborne's thoughts on the way this has been covered by the modern "media?"

"Well, I think the earliest event was the announcement or the speculation out of Kansas City, which was pure speculation, but it was taken as being factual by lots of people," said Osborne, seemingly in reference to a May story by a Kansas City radio station that Nebraska, Missouri, Notre Dame and Rutgers had received offers from the Big Ten. "And it began to take on a life of its own. So what has happened more recently in the media, if something is reported, then many times people will cite that as a reference and say, 'Well, it was reported.' And pretty soon maybe you have something built on a house of cards. There may not be a lot of fact underneath it all and it begins to take on a life of its own. But having said that, I think the media's been good and in most cases, they've tried to check their facts. And even though sometimes they guess, sometimes they guess pretty correctly. Anyway, we just aren't going to add to the confusion until we know for sure."

How much do academics play into any potential decision?

"Certainly academics is a major consideration because when you begin to build a conference ... there is a lot more to it then who plays whom on what particular day, so yeah, that will be part of it," Osborne said. "But again, I don't want to go beyond that."

http://my.journalstar.com/post/Huske...eculation.html