There are varying stories of BYU nearly joining the Pac-10 or Big 12. Hale, who served as A.D. at BYU from 1999-2004, says a move could well have happened. Tuckett, who was the A.D. from 1976-1993, isn't so adamant.

Though he wasn't A.D. at the time of the Pac-10 push, Hale knows this much: BYU did make a pitch to bigger conferences. He prepared the reports himself. Before he was A.D., he worked in marketing and media relations for the university.

He says BYU made a "quiet run" at the Pac-10 in the early 1990s.

Some believe the Pac-10 A.D.'s were in favor of BYU joining the conference, but the all-important presidents council wasn't. Asked how much support BYU had from the Pac-10, 20 years ago, Tuckett says, "There was a lot. All of the directors liked us, they knew us so well, they were all for it. But it's not an A.D.'s conference."

One story is that all the presidents of the Pac-10 voted to admit BYU, except Stanford's. Others say Oregon State and Washington State balked, fearful that BYU might replace one of them.

But Tuckett says there was never an expansion vote among Pac-10 presidents, as far as he knows.