Texas Longhorns: Paul Finebaum reveals main reason for SEC move

The Texas Longhorns will officially be members of the SEC soon enough. Since the groundbreaking move was announced, sports media personalities and alumni have speculated that increased money through TV deals was the driving motivation behind leaving the Big-12.

ESPN’s Paul Finebaum has a much different theory.

“We just saw one of the biggest brands in the history of college football, the University of Texas, say ‘you know what, we are leaving the Big 12 for the SEC,'” Finebaum said on ESPN’s Get Up on Wednesday morning. “Why? They didn’t say this, but I’m going to: Because they couldn’t recruit in the Big 12.”

Finebaum mentions Texas A&M as the perfect example to follow.

“It worked for Texas A&M 10 years ago, and the people in Austin think it’s going to work for them,” he said. “You are saying to yourself, if we can’t recruit in the Big 12, how are we going to recruit in the bigger, badder, SEC? I can’t explain it, but that’s the rationale, and I think they are right. Because all of a sudden, it’s newer, it’s fresher, it’s a bigger brand and it’s a newer TV deal.”

Oklahoma is obviously joining Texas in the move to the SEC, but the Sooners haven’t faced the same recruiting struggles that Texas has.

Former Texas Longhorns linebacker agrees

Current ESPN analyst and former Texas linebacker Sam Acho agreed with FInebaum.

“Paul is totally right,” Acho said. “The reason Texas left for the SEC is recruiting. Just think about it, they have been seeing Texas A&M shine in the SEC, and when I say shine, I mean all of the recruits from the state of Texas going to A&M so they can play amongst the best. So when it comes to being a high school recruit in Texas, you want to play amongst the best. The knock on Texas was, you’re not going to get great coaching, you’re not going to get developed, you’re playing in the Big-12 for goodness sake. That’s why people go to schools like A&M, Alabama, etc.

“Now with Texas moving to the SEC, recruits from the state will say, shoot, I can go play at UT. I don’t have to go far from home. People say it’s because of money. Texas has enough money. It’s more about recruiting. Texas has been getting embarrassed by A&M when it comes to recruiting and player development. That is where Texas Longhorn football recruiting has struggled, and that’s the reason why Texas is going to the SEC.”

Only time will tell if Finebaum and Acho are right in their predictions.