I'm sympathetic to A&M and I'm glad their year turned out better. I confess that frankly I wasn't comfortable much of the time I spent at TAMU, and was happy to escape to Colorado. What kept me there was finishing my PhD, which took longer than it should have. TAMU is politically to the right of Ghengis Khan (which was a challenge to me) and I did not find that innovation was welcomed there to the degree that I expected.
Frankly, I think it was a lousy thing for A&M to leave their rival Texas in the Big 12, and I'm really surprised they did it. IMO they don't belong in the SEC and I don't think they will be consistently competitive there.
I guess this breaks the rule of not saying anything unless you can say something nice, but it's not a one-sided picture. I found Texas to be a fascinating state, and TAMU to have great strengths and an admirable sense of what they are and where they are going. I just wasn't culturally in place at A&M. It's a wonder I survived 13 years there.