Four Texas Longhorns storylines to track at SEC Spring Meetings

Inside Texas will be in Destin, Fla. this week for the annual Southeastern Conference spring meetings. It won’t just be Texas football head coach Steve Sarkisian at the Hilton Sandestin Beach Golf Resort and Spa. UT president Jay Hartzell, athletic director Chris Del Conte, men’s basketball head coach Rodney Terry, and women’s basketball head coach Vic Schaefer are scheduled to be in Florida for discussions ahead of the Longhorns’ 2024-25 athletic year, their first in the SEC.

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Football, specifically the arrival of Texas and rival Oklahoma in the league, will be a significant storyline once festivities get started on Monday with league commissioner Greg Sankey. So too will how the SEC approaches the recent major NCAA developments in the courtroom when further discussions take place Tuesday through Thursday. But with so many significant figures from the athletic department in the Sunshine State, this will be a great place to learn plenty about Texas sports in the coming year including…

What’s up with the football program?

Sarkisian has only been available to the media twice since the end of spring football. One occasion was when he spoke to the Touchdown Club of Houston a few weeks back. The other was when he was interviewed by 247Sports’ Josh Pate.

Aside from those instances, Sarkisian hasn’t had much to say publicly. He’s made rounds throughout the Lone Star State for university, athletic department, and NIL collective fundraising, and has been hard at work recruiting top targets ahead of June official visits.

The latest from Sarkisian, with a focus on health and other calendar notes, is always worth hearing.

Overall excitement for SEC play and other future details

At a major event on the SEC calendar, discussion from the Tower (Hartzell) to Bellmont (Del Conte) to Moncrief (Sarkisian) to the yet-to-be-named basketball practice facility (Terry, Schaefer) will center on overall excitement about joining the league on July 1.

Sankey will be in Austin on June 30 as part of the celebration on the Forty Acres of the end of the Big 12 era and the beginning of Texas’ tenure in the SEC. But there’s still about a month to go.

Anticipation tends to add to excitement, so gauging the level of excitement from everyone involved in ushering Texas into a new conference and learning more specifics about celebrations, scheduling, finances, and much more — the finer details — is a story to follow.

Plus, the ever-present topic of future scheduling, specifically if the league will move to a nine-game schedule after 2025, is likely to come up. So too will the SEC’s place in the 12-team College Football Playoff that begins this year. Football is going to be the focus, but some bureaucratic details are going to be revealed or at the very least asked about this week.

Rodney Terry and the Portal

Terry had a very successful offseason in the transfer portal, bringing in Malik Presley, Jordan Pope, Julian Larry, Tramon Mark, and Jayson Kent from the portal plus adding Tre Johnson and Nic Codie from the high school ranks.

Even with adding that group to Chendall Weaver, Kadin Shedrick, and other returners, the Longhorns still are working in the portal to fill the last few spots on the roster. Post is still an area that could use some shoring up with JT Toppin as the top target but with burnt orange-related news in short supply for the New Mexico big man as he goes through the NBA draft process.

While Terry won’t be able to talk about Toppin specifically, what’s next for Texas in the portal is an item to note this week.

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Vic Schaefer returns to the SEC

Schaefer, the former Mississippi State head coach, is all too familiar with the SEC. What will be things to track as he returns to his old league?

Help from the Inside Texas community was needed for this one. First, from biodogtexas

How is Rori Harmon’s recovery going? What percentage is she going to realistically be playing at this season? 100%? 75%?

How does Rori’s return affect Madison Booker’s role and their offense?

Shaylee Gonzales was their most prolific 3-pt shooter (she accounted for 40% of their 3s last year) and 1 of only 2 players to average more than half a 3-pt make per game. Was replacing her outside shooting a concern this offseason and how does he feel they addressed replacing that production with their Portal takes and incoming freshman?

With how women’s basketball has changed, what role does he think 3-pt shooting plays in a team’s success?

And from etexhorn…

Since we have gotten more athletic with the incoming players will we play more uptempo or is that dependent on the opponent?