COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- Stay or go? Texas A&M plans to take a while before making a decision on its conference affiliation.

School president R. Bowen Loftin offered his first detailed comments Monday on the Aggies' rather public interest in joining the Southeastern Conference -- a move that almost surely would set off another round of conference realignment.

"We've made no decision about terminating our relationship with the Big 12," Loftin said. "This is all about what is best for Texas A&M, along with ... visibility for us and our athletes and financial resources. That's what it's all about. I think anybody in my shoes would have exactly the same kinds of concerns."

He said there is no timetable for any decision and any realignment by Texas A&M will take place after a "lengthy" process. He acknowledged that Texas A&M had approached the SEC, which has won the last five BCS championships in football but on Sunday reaffirmed its 12-school membership while leaving the door open to expansion.

"There is no bid," Loftin said. "There has never been a bid to invite us into the SEC at any time in the past and if it were to occur in the future, we would certainly want to evaluate that."

The latest batch of conference talk has drawn the attention of the NCAA. Vice president of communications Bob Williams said in a statement Monday night that president Mark Emmert "has had conversations with a number of presidents and commissioners related to recent conference realignment issues and these discussions mirror many of the topics raised last week during the DI (Division I) presidential meetings."

Loftin met with reporters shortly after receiving authority from the board of regents to take any action he deems necessary in terms of realignment. He said Texas A&M is looking only at the SEC right now, but didn't rule out other possibilities.

"It's not so much what's wrong with the Big 12, it's what's right for Texas A&M and where we want to go in time," he said.

With any potential move by Texas A&M delayed for the foreseeable future, a state congressional hearing in the Texas House related to a possible departure was postponed Monday. The hearing was originally set for Tuesday.

Texas Rep. Dan Branch, the chairman of the Higher Education committee that was to have hosted the hearing, had said it was in the best interest of the students of the state of Texas, including at Texas, Texas Tech and Baylor, to address the matter in a public forum.