Chris Del Conte reflects on decision to join SEC

Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte took a look back at the school’s decision to join the SEC, along with Oklahoma.

The two schools will exit the Big 12 after the 2023-24 academic year and join, arguably, the premier football conference in the country. It was met with a lot of reaction, such as excitement, concern and overall shock due to the expansion.

But Del Conte said there was only one destination for Texas in terms of realignment, the SEC.

“It was an unbelievable conversation with our Chairman of the Board and President (Jay) Hartzell,” Del Conte said on The Paul Finebaum Show. “We have these conversations about what? We looked at where Texas is originally. What matters to our fans? What matters to college athletics in general? Those conversations centered around — leadership in the SEC is second to none. Every one of those programs are competing at the highest level. That’s where we should be. 

“That’s where the University of Texas belongs and we should be in that league. When the conversation was presented to Commissioner Sankey from our leadership team and he offered this opportunity, there was no debate about the Big Ten, Pac-12, anywhere else. It was, if this is a possibility, this is where we should go.”

Explaining what role Texas, Oklahoma play during SEC meetings

On3‘s Ivan Maisel appeared on McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning Wednesday to explain what role Oklahoma and Texas will play in those discussions. Although the teams don’t have an official vote yet, their opinions will be considered.

“Well, they don’t have a vote, but ‘voice’ is the perfect word,” Maisel said. “They are allowed to discuss. They will participate. Greg Sankey explained it to me as straw polls. They can vote until it counts. But they will be heard and I think it will be fascinating to see how they interact with everybody.”

Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione and Del Conte are both on hand at the SEC Spring Meetings. The opportunity will allow them to get a feel for what things are like before their vote becomes official next season.

“I talked to Joe Castiglione, who’s been the AD at Oklahoma forever, last week, and he was genuinely excited to see how Destin worked and to get with everybody,” Maisel said. “These are two well-respected ADs and two well-respected university presidents. They can chime into everything until they actually sit down to vote.”

Chandler Vessels contributed to this report