DCLonghorn

Yeah, they tried to put some marketing behind an official class ring around then. No idea about now, but back then it certainly didn't take. Felt very aggy/high school. For those unaware, check the gigantic ring statue aggy has on campus. It's some kind of weird.

I really think this is possible. ADs are not usually involved in conference membership discussions. It's above their pay grade. President's, chancellors, and CEOs make these calls. ADs are not in the room during discussion or votes. They are not at conference HQ or law firm offices for the sausage making. And the school heads know the athletic departments leak like a damn sieve at every turn. It's possible in individual circumstances a prez trusts his AD, they will confide or ask counsel. Like you said for aggy, I imagine the schools/presidents in both camps were instructed to keep it quiet. Doesn't help anyone to tell a bunch of people prematurely. And if I was aggy brass, I definitely would keep it quiet until I had a plan knowing full well their fan base and boosters will go full aggy. School presidents compartmentalize information every day...part of the job.

I once overheard a blue-blood SEC president gently rib Slive about this exact point. Slive even more gently shot that right down. It was a sight to behold. This little anecdote should serve as fair warning that our apparent new home is very different that our current and past homes. SEC HQ is smart, forward thinking, well run, formidable, and not a sock puppet for any single/pair of schools. Flame bamachick all you want but "one of 14 (or more)" is a real thing and a part of the SEC culture, that is repeatedly spoken out loud in Birmingham and around the conference, and it's how the conference is structured, including financially. Everyone gets an even share, an even voice, and can leave whenever they want (paraphrase from a Slive quote back in the day). Sanke is the hand picked successor and was his deputy for years, so consistent leadership for decades. There is a reason that a regional conference that was one of many has become the best in the land aligned with the biggest broadcaster in the space. Put another way, imagine what it takes to keep the current schools in the SEC in line, off each other's throats, out of the NCAA sights (better than in the past), and keep that money tree growing...it ain't with a soft commissioner doing the bidding of one or two. Hopefully UT leadership will be smarter and more gracious than message board fans. They usually are. Which is why this move makes some sense. As far as (probably jokes) about SEC HQ in Dallas. ATL made a real run at getting the SEC to move and made a whole hell of a lot of sense. HQ still in Birmingham. We will not be moving the center of gravity for SEC as much as many of us think we might, or at all. P.S. The post comes as close as I will ever get to the SEC chant. Despite the above, I find that kind of weird. P.P.S. I have very small dated insight that makes the above read like I'm all for this move...even after days of this sinking in, it's still not my first or second choice. But if we do go to the SEC, it's a damn well run conference.

Well to be fair, Texas joined the confederacy earlier than Virginia, despite VA being the capital. So Virginia led like aggy, but demanded HQ like UT.

Didn't we push for the Big 12 offices to be in Dallas instead of Kansas City? Wasn't that one of the first of many Cornhusker gripes? The Big 8 took the four best schools from the SWC (which we still call a merger) and I recall we did push for HQ location, commissioner, CCG locations, and of course no partial qualifiers.

Very aggy to take pride in leading, but demand no one follow. Maybe check definition of leadership. Very aggy to say you led something when you were the second to last to join something formed in 1930. Not even the first from your conference to join the SEC. Very aggy to define themselves with us, even after a ten year head start on building some self confidence. Any precedent for such an active and public campaign to deny someone entry into a conference?

One of whom has passed away, RIP.

Someone posted USNews rankings-ish pages above...#2 now is Florida. If we join, #2 will be...Florida. And we are only 28 schools behind Vandy. But other than that...good points.

Pin this one!

I think Wichita State football gets left behind. They haven't been any good since Coach Lasso left.

Holy shit! I caught up to the thread today. That took all damn day. So it's happening?

Two more Big 12 football championships than any and all of those other teams? Decent hoops? Purple Wizard Magic still lingering in the air?

Gator chomp? I guess that's an arm sign.

Longer than that. They maneuvered to create the first conference championship game.

If you spend a little time in Gainesville, you'll find they have as healthy a self image as we do.

If we end up in the SEC, they also have chancellors that meet with the presidents. So we can get on our Shelby Foote, or our Palapatine.

Wasn't questioning the validity or veracity of the post. It's clearly the long held opinion based on past fan history. Just passing on one data point (from a day game) that it may be old data. Easy enough to use old data to manufacture a desired outcome.

AI: every one of your comments on this in the last few days have been reasonable, logical, and on point. You ain't wrong. You've been on this board for years...that counts for a lot. The impact on ISU, the Big 12, all of CFB, and many communities will be huge. It doesn't matter if we didn't leave before... We don't deserve any credit for not leaving in the past. It's also bullshit to say we should burn this place down and fuck everyone because they didn't thank us for not leaving. That's insane...and exactly why we collectively have the reputation we do. If these rumors are true, we are the ones leaving, and apparently, leading the charge. The main reason I feel like this is real, is because I feel real shitty about the rest of the league, and I've never really cared before. AI is right... OSU and MU would smartly stay where they are and dominate. Doing the same was our collective best course of action hours ago. But we are all apparently chanting SEC to ourselves while swearing we never will do so in person. I know the landscape is changing and we have always lived on the fault line, I know we have to do what's best for us, and other that the fear of the worst case decades of not winning like Arky and SC, I think the SEC would be a smart move. But damn that will really impact the 8. And those 8 have been good partners, and most have got a bit of scoreboard on us recently. But but but... We're Texas... Fuck 'em all.

[inner voice]: I bet that's exactly what Arky said when they moved to the SEC. We sure are doing a lot of trash talking for how great we're going to be when we have not even won our current conference in its current form. In fact half of the current Big 12 has won the conference more recently than we have. We're going to need a lot more than We Are Texas if we're going to compete every year in the mini-NFL/SEC. I've had the pleasure of being on the sideline for and SEC Champ game that didn't include Alabama...those a full grown fucking men over there. A noticable difference. I think we have as many pieces of the puzzle as any one else or at least a willingness to invest, and I'm up for the challenge (although not my first or second choice), but this will be a hell of a step up for a team that is still watching games from 15 years ago on repeat.

My guess is they simply started in the east and put four together and moved west. They will clearly be biased to their existing members being somewhat aligned over putting a hypothetical member with two old rivals instead of one.

Ha ha ha. Still no atm turkey day game. Nice work SECN.

I know there is a long history of bad fan behavior, but they've worked hard to clean it up. I took the kids to Margontown for a (day) game. Not one ill word spoken. In fact, it was clear they were trying as many fans walked up to chat us up and ask if we needed help finding our seats.

Today has been fun. Although all the shitting on our current conference members, our former members, and our potential future members, all at the same time, I just can't seem to figure out why folks have a problem with us.

Related/unrelated to prove the point... I asked a buddy that heads up admissions for a flagship state school out east why so many public schools are taking a higher percentage of out of state students every year and why don't the legislatures push back on that. She gave the exact same answer. Statehouses are unable to provide the needed funding so they admit more and more out of state kids to get triple the money per kid to offset, and capitols can't say shit be because they can't pony up.

Ended by saying pretty much a done deal, possibly within weeks (like he said in his story). Confirm that they went through the normal editorial approval process to make sure the sources were legit.