I make no bones about my respect for Tom Osborne. That, in and of itself, is a post worthy for if/when he retires and if/when Paul Meyers, Trev Alberts, and NOT Dave Rimington takes over the helm. (FWIW, my money is on Meyers)
The man is a legendary coach, a visionary as A.D., blah blah blah, but what amazes me about him is this:
His patience.
When fans were clamoring for his resignation, he calmly went about his business and slowly changed (some would say too slowly) the way he did things. He patiently started tweaking his offense and he started recruiting the type of athletes (on both sides of the ball) that he knew would bring success. The result: countless more conference titles and, oh yeah, a few national titles as well.
When the Big XII was formed, Osborne was the lone wolf in his dissension of the league becoming Texas-centric. He didn't like the fact that Texas was changing the rules for qualifiers. He didn't like that the offices were moving to Dallas. And, when he became athletic director, he didn't like that the championship game wouldn't rotate to Arrowhead once in awhile.
Lone. Wolf.
Did he threaten to leave the conference? Not that we know of, although I can't imagine he threw tantrums at conference meetings in Kansas City. That would've been kind of funny, wouldn't it? I digress.
What he did was bide his time. For over 15 years, he bided his time and waited for an opportunity. Granted, he did that whole Congress/run for governor thing, but that ruins my point. When the time was right and the landscape was about to make a seismic shift, it seemed as though his conversations with Delany were those of a shrewd car buyer who really REALLY wants that new BMW, but doesn't want the salesperson (Delany) to know it. Even though the salesperson knows that he (T.O.) knows. OK, even I'm confusing myself here.
He patiently listened to the B1G, the B1G listened to T.O. and both are now in a much better place.
Now, Kansas, K-State, Iowa State, etc. are sweating bullets. They trusted Texas, took their pittance and thumb their noses at Nebraska. This morning, you can be DAMN sure that they're making phone calls. Well, maybe not Baylor. I just kind of imagine them eating glue in the corner.