LOS ANGELES — It was perhaps the most uncertain stretch in the history of college athletics. Chaos reigned amid rumors of realignment. A blue-blood program was threatening to abandon its conference over TV money. Another conference commissioner was openly courting that blue blood with the intent of building a super conference. At any moment it seemed one domino could fall, irreparably altering the landscape.
The unrest left Mike Bohn in a precarious position. As Colorado's athletic director in June 2010, at the height of conference realignment drama, Bohn was wary of where the Big 12 was headed. Texas, determined to launch its own network, was flirting with the possibility of leaving for the Pac-12. The Pac-12 was flirting back. Rumors flew about Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M and Texas Tech bolting alongside the Longhorns, a move that would assuredly mark the end of the conference.
"Had the Big 12 fallen apart, Colorado would've been screwed," says Chuck Neinas, Bohn's mentor and a former interim commissioner with the Big 12. "They would've been in the Mountain West."
