KANSAS CITY, MO. — Dan Beebe was working Wednesday on an agreement to leave his position as Big 12 Conference commissioner, according to two sources with knowledge of Beebe's decision.
The announcement of Beebe's departure is expected to come Thursday.
“He's working on his exit package right now,” one of the sources, who spoke directly to Beebe, told The Kansas City Star on Wednesday night.
“A couple of weeks ago he told me privately that if the conference stayed together and he had to go it would be like lifting up a huge weight off his heart.”
That source added that Beebe, who is an attorney, “has his best lawyer hat on now.”
Beebe's job came in question earlier this week when a report out of Oklahoma said a condition for the Sooners' continued membership in the Big 12 was to have a new commissioner. His exit comes as the conference decides how to move forward with nine teams next season after losing a member for the third time in 15 months.
One of the things that contributed to Beebe's decision to leave, according to the source, was how he was perceived by some as being too willing to do the bidding of the University of Texas.
“Up in your neck of the woods,” said the source, “he is considered a puppet for Texas.”
The problem, said the source, who is based in Texas, is that “nobody down here thinks that there is anybody in the Big 12 but Texas and Oklahoma.
“Six hundred miles of difference is an amazing distance. And they both are wrong.”
The source said that MU chancellor Brady Deaton, who is chairman of the Big 12's Board of Directors, was resisting Beebe's decision to step down.
But the source said Beebe decided this move would be in the best interest of the Big 12, “that they need a fresh start in the conference and not to go back to Groundhog Day where they were having this same conversation next year.”
It was not known who will become interim commissioner.
Beebe joined the Big 12 in 2003 as an associate commissioner and became commissioner in 2007. He had been commissioner of the Ohio Valley Conference for the previous 14 years and formerly worked in the NCAA's enforcement division.
Last November, Beebe received a three-year contract extension and was lauded for his role in keeping the Big 12 alive after Nebraska left for the Big Ten and Colorado for the Pac-12.
Now, the Big 12 is poised to lose another member, Texas A&M to the Southeastern Conference, after this school year.
The Big 12 Board of Directors is expected to meet on a conference call Thursday and resume expansion talks, which paused nearly three weeks ago when Oklahoma president David Boren said there was a possibility the Sooners could leave the conference.
At that time, the Big 12 was close to extending an invitation to Brigham Young. In addition to BYU, Big East schools Louisville and West Virginia could also be in the Big 12's sights.
“We're still focused on keeping the Big 12 together and stable,” Kansas chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little said after a Board of Regents meeting in Topeka on Wednesday. “That is our continued aspiration. That is the ideal outcome for us.”
The prospect of that outcome grew stronger late Tuesday when the Pac-12 announced it was no longer considering expanding. Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas and Texas Tech were considered candidates to head west, which would have crippled the Big 12.
But although the Big 12 survived this scare, the conference may not stand on firm ground yet.
Missouri football coach Gary Pinkel continued to voice concerns about the conference. In an interview on St. Louis radio station KFNS on Wednesday, Pinkel said the league needed serious repair work.
He didn't specify, but in earlier interviews he's been critical of the Longhorn Network, Texas' venture with ESPN that has upset other Big 12 schools because it contains high school football content, which is perceived as a recruiting advantage.
“We have problems in our league and we all know what most of them are,” Pinkel said. “But we don't solve them.”
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