Oklahoma, Texas officially join SEC: The goals are the same but the league name has changed

Before heading to the SEC spring meetings in late May, Texas football coach Steve Sarkisian stopped by his office. From his window, he saw the SEC logos that were being applied to the field at Royal-Memorial Stadium.

Recalling that scene a few days later in Destin, Florida, Sarkisian told reporters at the spring meetings that “It’s all happening, it’s becoming a reality and it’s exciting.”

Now, that reality is about more than decorations. Texas and Oklahoma woke up Monday morning as official members of the Southeastern Conference, which now has 16 schools. For the Longhorns and Sooners, the Big 12 is now a distant memory.

Oklahoma linebacker Danny Stutsman (28) tackles Texas running back Jonathon Brooks during their 2023 game at the Cotton Bowl.

Texas goes from the Big 12 to the SEC in three years

So, how did we get here?

Reports broke on July 21, 2021 that Texas and Oklahoma had reached out to the SEC about joining. Nine days later, the two schools had formally accepted invitations. The Longhorns and Sooners initially were set to join the league in 2025, but a deal was struck with the Big 12 in February 2023 that moved those plans up a year.

In August 2021, Texas president Jay Hartzell told state legislators that he began talking to the SEC during that spring. But perhaps conference realignment’s biggest domino began to fall much earlier.

When Hartzell arrived at Texas in 2020, athletic director Chris Del Conte said the new president asked about any ambitious and audacious goals that he had for the Longhorns. “Jay is one of those types of guys, he allows you to dream crazy dreams, but he believes in that. It’s like manifest destiny with this guy,” Del Conte told the American-Statesman last week.

At the time, Del Conte was trying to get a pulse on the future of college athletics. He was concerned about the Big 12’s next TV…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/oklahoma-texas-officially-join-sec-144249812.html

Author : USA TODAY Sports

Publish date : 2024-07-01 14:42:49

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