Ask Gary Patterson about the instability that once threatened the future of the Big 12 and the TCU coach will bring up his own experience with conference shuffling.
"You're talking to a guy that's been in a lot of conferences," Patterson said. "I don't know anything about 'the Big 12 instability'."
Patterson has been in four conferences since joining the Horned Frogs as defensive coordinator in 1998. And that's not counting the Big East, which TCU was preparing to join before the Big 12 came calling seven years ago after losing Texas A&M, Missouri, Colorado and Nebraska.
The Western Athletic was the first league after TCU wasn't invited to join the Big 12 when the Southwest Conference disbanded. After four years in Conference USA, the Horned Frogs moved to the Mountain West.
Patterson said he doesn't know "why anybody thought the Big 12 had instability" because "you should have been in all the conferences I've been in."
