Alden surprised by Oklahoma president's expansion remarks
One day after Oklahoma expressed interest in switching conferences, MU athletics director Mike Alden said he's feeling the heat.
"A comment comes out like that, it is a concern," Alden told ESPN on Saturday.
The comment in question came yesterday, when Oklahoma president David Boren announced the school would take three weeks or fewer to make a decision on whether to leave the Big 12 Conference.
"I don't think OU is going to be a wallflower when all is said and done," Boren said.
While Alden expressed concern for the future of the Big 12, he appeared content with Missouri's standing in the area of conference expansion.
"I think Mizzou's on solid ground," Alden said. "I think we don't have to necessarily land on our feet; we are on our feet. I think our leadership has done a good job."
While committed to the Big 12, Missouri is still doing what it can to be a valuable member to any conference, according to Alden.
"We're keeping improving Mizzou's brand every day, that's what we do," Alden said before his team's season opener against Miami (OH) today. "We've done that aggressively."
Boren also said he flew to the campuses of Missouri and Texas A&M in an attempt to prevent Texas A&M from leaving the conference, a move TAMU announced Wednesday that it would make in July 2012.
Just over a year ago, Oklahoma declined opportunities to join either the PAC-10 or SEC Conferences, opting instead to stick with the Big 12 despite the departures of Nebraska to the Big Ten and Colorado to the PAC-10.
Oklahoma's change in its stance left Alden a little disconcerted about the Big 12's future.
"It's somewhat surprising that comment came out because I know everybody's been working together," Alden said. "You put something like that out there and it just reinforces that image of being unstable. How do you recover from that? I don't know."
Alden declined to comment on whether Missouri was actively seeking expansion with other conferences.
"Our focus has been on working hard to keep the Big 12 together and (MU Chancellor) Brady (Deaton has) done a good job," Alden said. "Speculating on anything beyond that, I just think that would be really kind of irresponsible on our part."