Former Big 12 Interim Commissioner Forgets Why Nebraska Bolted for the Big Ten

Chuck Neinas clearly has questions to ponder more deeply as he doesn’t seem to remember why Nebraska left the Big 12 Conference. Neinas is blaming Nebraska, Texas A&M, and Missouri for the reason why Texas and Oklahoma are soon leaving the league for the Southeast Conference. However, the former Big Eight Commissioner and Big 12 Interim Commissioner along with other league staff can only blame themselves.

From an interview with The Dallas Morning News and reported by 247Sports’s Dean Straka:

“The ones you gotta question (today) are Missouri and Nebraska,” Neinas told The News. “Do you know why Missouri is in the East and not the West? LSU and Alabama wouldn’t vote to take them unless they put them in the East. Who in the SEC cares about Missouri? And Nebraska’s program has gone south. Just think if Texas A&M and Nebraska and Missouri hadn’t left the Big 12. You can forget Colorado. Just think. Oklahoma and Texas probably wouldn’t be leaving now.”

If the Big 12 Conference didn’t allow Texas to run the league then maybe Nebraska would not have bolted from the sinking ship that is/was the Big 12 for a conference in the Big Ten that is synonymous with stability.

No doubt Nebraska has gone downhill since joining the Big Ten. There is no argument here. NU, however, was extremely competitive in the Big Ten until the Huskers fired Bo Pelini and hired Mike Riley.

Is there buyer’s remorse for joining the Big Ten? That may only lie in the fact that the closest conference away game is Iowa City which is four to five hours away depending upon where you live in Nebraska.

Nebraska didn’t bolt from the Big 12 because it wanted to. It bolted because the Big 12 Conference forced its hand. Luckily, the program was in a place that made it attractive to the Big Ten at the time.

Chuck Neinas appears to not understand that the actions of the Big 12 Conference led to the downfall that we are seeing at this point. After Texas and Oklahoma leave, it now looks like the league is no longer a Power-Five conference. There will then only be a Power-Four and the Big 12 can only look at itself to blame.