Joe Castiglione states Oklahoma has considered changing conferences for the last 10 years

Oklahoma has been an official member of the SEC for less than 24 hours, a process athletic director Joe Castiglione has been working on for a long time. Not just moving into what many in Norman consider the premier conference in college athletics. But Castiglione has apparently been attempting to get out of the Big 12 for quite some time.

“Joe Castiglione says this thought process of changing conferences happened about 10 years ago,” George Stoia of On3’s Sooner Scoop said via X.

Around a decade ago, the original Big 12 fell apart. Nebraska and Colorado were the first departures in 2011, long-time conference members of the Sooners going back to the Big 8. However, the SEC taking Missouri and Texas A&M lines up with the timeline Castiglione mentioned on Monday.

Oklahoma was close to joining the former Pac-10 back in the day too. The Sooners — along with Oklahoma State, Red River rival Texas, Texas Tech, and Texas A&M — were reportedly set to head out West and create what would have been a 16-team conference. A crazy thought 10 years ago but the status quo in big-time college athletics these days.

Now, three of those five are members of the SEC heading into the 2024 season. Castiglione has wanted to get out of the Big 12 for years now and finally got his wish on Monday.

Greg Sankey reveals when Oklahoma, Texas reached out to SEC

Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark has continually stated the conference is “open for business” and is looking at all options to expand. Four new teams will officially join this summer while seeing Texas and Oklahoma leave.

The opposite occurred for the Red River schools to become members of the SEC, though. Castiglione and Texas AD Chris Del Conte were the ones to reach out to the SEC about potentially expanding. Greg Sankey says first contact occurred in the spring of 2021 before news broke later in the summer.

“Greg Sankey says OU and Texas originally reached out to him in the spring of 2021,” Stoia said via X. “He brought before the SEC presidents on June 2, 2021.”

Three years later, the move has become a reality. Norman and Austin have both hosted welcome parties, with SEC personalities covering the event in big fashion. Texas and Oklahoma are officially members of the SEC and after a ton of talking, it’s nearly time to compete on the field.