Conference realignment saw the Oklahoma Sooners and Texas Longhorns leave the Big 12 to join the SEC, with the jump officially happening July 1.
While another round of alignment always felt inevitable, it’s remarkable how quickly the plans came together. The pair even left the Big 12 early to compete in the SEC as soon as possible.
With SEC Media Days getting underway Monday afternoon, conference commissioner Greg Sankey discussed adding Texas and Oklahoma and how, despite uncertainty ahead with the ACC, the SEC likely won’t be expanding again soon.
“I’m not a recruiter. My job is to make sure we meet the standard of excellence that we have for ourselves on a daily basis,” Sankey said, via ESPN. “That attracts interest. It’s done that with the two universities that we have added this year. They’re not the only phone calls I’ve ever had, but I’m not involved in recruitment,” he added.
Sankey went on to note that of the power conferences, the SEC is the one still truest to its name: The Southeastern Conference. “We know who we are. We’re the one conference at this level where the name still means something, the southeastern part of the United States, where when we expanded, we actually restored historic rivalries while adding only 100 miles to the longest campus-to-campus trip our student-athletes will experience,” the commissioner said.
While there’s certainly an argument to be had about whether Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas count as the southeast, it’s easy to see where Sankey’s coming from now that the ACC has two teams from California. Plus, the Big Ten and Big 12 have far more teams than their names imply.
[ESPN]
