They certainly preferred Texas. But they were ready to take aggy in 1990. if you want a reference, there is President Cunningham's book, "The Texas Way," chapter 16. Specifically pages 230-231, "Dodds and I briefed the UT System regents at a board meeting in August 1990 in Odessa, and they gave me an informal nod to proceed with the Pac 10. At that point the board had not discussed the matter in public or taken any votes, but I felt I had their tacit approval to conclude a deal. Mobley was satisfied with our moving west while A&M went east, and both conferences had accepted an arrangement for UT and A&M to continue playing each other on Thanksgiving Day....
The Pac 10 required that its members vote unanimously to accept a new member. I had been assured that this was not a problem and that all the presidents were excited about having UT Austin join the conference. However, at the last minute, Donald Kennedy, president of Stanford, decided he did not want UT to join, and as a result the Pac 10 commissioner, Thomas C. Hansen, called Dodds and withdrew the offer. Hansen was embarrassed that Kennedy had pulled the rug out from under him....
I called each of the regents and explained what had happened. Then I called Mobley, who promptly shut down his discussions with the SEC."