re: sCar/Ark fans, tell me about your move to the SEC in the early 90's

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Broyles was tired of Texas

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A man ahead of his time, then.

That era was the first domino to fall on realignment. The SEC withdrawing from the CFA and getting a better tv deal, Arkansas understandably wanting to be part of that, etc.

This is not a knock on A&M and Mizzou but the SEC should've stopped at Ark and SC. It was the perfect amount of teams and fit. Money would never allow it however.

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I just don’t get blaming Texas.

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I for one am happy to have Texas in the SEC. Yeah, I know, I think our overall football record against them is something like 57-23? Roughly 3-1..

That doesn't make UT a villain, but it does make them a team I really like to beat, lol. Like my sophomore year on the hill when Texas came in ranked #1 and lost 42-11 (I'm not giving the year, but some of you old-timers will know. And for you OU fans, Texas had beaten Oklahoma 34-14, so we Razorback fans were expecting a serious beat-down.) That was undoubtably my favorite game during my college years.

Dodds was an arrogant idiot. But just in reading the landscape. TV networks correctly decided the value was in the big10/sec. Dodds thought he could make that money with Texas playing Baylor, ISU and Kansas. Nope. Also got totally played by ND.

But none of that broke up conferences. Nothing was going to stop us from getting basically where we are, with pretty much every blue blood in the sport in 2 conferences.

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But none of that broke up conferences. Nothing was going to stop us from getting basically where we are, with pretty much every blue blood in the sport in 2 conferences.

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Oh I agree. I'm just saying that a lot of the shade thrown our way for the arrogance displayed by the AD at time was justified.
I still laugh when people whine because texas had unequal revenue sharing when their own schools voted for it. That will never stop being funny.
also I had forgot about Dodds being played by ND. They clowned a clown. Not surprising.

Simple answer. We left the SWC for the money. Not having to deal with being the only non-Texas school was just a bonus.

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gay

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You former frat boys sure are infatuated with that word.

You guys seem to have your talking points down, but are leaving out a few key points in your narrative.

Around 2010, Texas actively and unilaterally began exploring a move to the then-Pac-10. The pac-10 reportedly wanted Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, A&M and Colorado to join with Texas creating a new Pac-16. Texas A&M was reluctant to follow and started conversations with the SEC. The death blow to the deal, however, was that Texas wanted Baylor over Colorado to form a voting block of Texas and Oklahoma schools. Baylor—though politically connected in Texas and having wormed into the Big XII over TCU and SMU—was never going to be acceptable as a replacement school due to their athletic/academic brand and their status as a private Baptist university. The Pac-10, unwilling to make major concessions or accept politically mandated tagalongs, like Baylor, ultimately passed and the deal fell through.

During that period, DeLoss Dodds talked openly about the Big Ten and Pac-10 as options for the UT. Texas and Dodds ultimately overplayed their hand, believing they could dictate terms to conferences that had different priorities beyond what Texas offered.

In the aftermath of the first failed realignment gambit, Texas returned to a deeply fractured Big XII. Colorado gave them the finger and ran to the Pac 10 before Baylor could worm them out of any new conference. Mostly to appease the Longhorns, the rest of the conference essentially bent over backward for the big schools and introduced an even more heavily skewed rev-sharing model. This agreement also allowed teams to maintain third-tier rights.

Texas’ decision to monetize the third tier rights with ESPN—rather than exploring a Big XII-wide network similar to the Big Ten Network or SEC Network—was a blatant act of self-interest. Eventually, the LHN became both a financial asset and an albatross. Texas initially planned to show Texas high school sports on the LHN. This was shot down by the NCAA when multiple schools, prominently A&M, voiced concern. A&M announced their move to the SEC and Nebraska to the Big 10 shortly afterwards. In retrospect, the LHN drove away FAR more than it attracted, weakening the Big XII's brand and cohesion at a critical time.

Texas was given a lifeboat by the SEC. They were becoming irrelevant in a watered down Big XII. NIL/pay-for-play coincided almost perfectly with the move to the SEC and they've been able to compete when they would have struggled mightily only a few years ago.

When Arkansas left the SWC in 1991, they were driven away by similar dynamics as the teams that left the Big XII: a desire for stability, television revenue, and clearer/cleaner conference governance. The SWC had become toxic, with a culture of intra-conference betrayal around cheating scandals. Throughout the '70s and '80s, SWC schools regularly reported one another to the NCAA. Ironically, the head of the NCAA infractions committee during much of this time was a professor from Texas Law School. Ultimately, the SWC’s failure to unite spelled its demise, ironically the same problems the Big XII faced with Texas leading it, too.

The common argument above that “any school would’ve taken the same deal” does hold water. Texas did what was best for itself, not necessarily what was best for the Big XII to keep it together long term. The problem lies in Texas’ historic inability to lead collaboratively. Time and again, it has opted for control over coalition, and in doing so, helped destabilize every conference it has been part of—first the SWC, then the Big XII.

ESPN got them and OU into the SEC but it remains to be seen if it will ultimately be profitable for the other 14 members. We've seen a dramatic shift in the landscape of college sports in a very short time. I am skeptical that the rest of the conference really has gained anything by this addition. It will be doubly true if Texas starts trying to lead and call the shots.

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When Arkansas left the SWC in 1991, they were driven away by similar dynamics as the teams that left the Big XII: a desire for stability, television revenue, and clearer/cleaner conference governance.

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Stability and security were the main factors. It wasn’t hatred of texas but concern about texas and aggie jumping ship and leaving us to wander in the wilderness. Broyles said he was concerned we’d wind up in the southland conference or something similar.