Clint Lamb
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The process of Texas and Oklahoma making their way over to the SEC, at least up to this point, hasn’t seen many bumps. Sure, Bob Bowlsby and the Big 12 are throwing verbal haymakers at anyone and everyone they can, and yes, Texas A&M also took issue with the move in the beginning. But overall, the transition has gone smoothly.
Well, at least that was the case until Monday when Texas lawmakers met to discuss the issue.
First, we saw appearances at the Texas state capital from Bowlsby and representatives from other in-state schools such as Baylor, TCU and Texas State. After hearing from those who would like to see Texas remain in the Big 12, we heard from Longhorns school president Jay Hartzell.
Unfortunately for Hartzell, those senators grilling him, Charles Perry and Lois Kolkhorst, are Texas Tech and TCU grads, respectively. So, of course this went about as well as you would expect for Hartzell. Check out some of the highlights:
Texas state senator Charles Perry to UT president Jay Hartzell: "If you're as big and great as you think you are, you should have made the Big 12 equal or better than the SEC. You didn't do it."
— Sam Khan Jr. (@skhanjr) August 2, 2021
We even got a Christmas Vacation reference about good ole Cousin Eddie.
Texas state senator Charles Perry, from Lubbock and Texas Tech, invokes Christmas Vacation to UT’s president:
“I feel bad for the SEC. Cousin Eddie's coming home and he don't leave until he’s wrecked the whole house."
— Chris Vannini (@ChrisVannini) August 2, 2021
And then here’s the dagger from Kolkhorst, who was all about making this as close to a Comedy Central Roast as possible: “3-7 versus the Horned Frogs. Maybe your fan base would rather lose to Alabama than TCU.”
Texas State Senator Lois Kolkhorst with savage comments for Texas President Jay Hartzell after he said the school’s “been winning but not like we like to win.”
“3-7 versus the Horned Frogs. Maybe your fan base would rather lose to Alabama than TCU.”
— SEC Mike (@MichaelWBratton) August 3, 2021
There was some valuable information to come from the hearings though. We now have a better understanding of when and how things transpired with Texas and Oklahoma attempting to get into the SEC.
— ESPN/Fox rebuffed negotiating Big 12 TV deal early.
— Texas prez reached out to SEC’s Greg Sankey in the spring.— Bryan Fischer (@BryanDFischer) August 3, 2021
The state of Texas isn’t going to let the University of Texas go without a fight, apparently. Will this ultimately prevent the Longhorns from making the move? It’s doubtful, but anything can happen, I suppose. That especially holds true when it comes to the government.
Stay tuned for more updates, which are sure to come.
Follow Clint Lamb on Twitter @ClintRLamb.
Politicians grandstanding…. then do nothing. What else is new?
Politicians showing their ignorance about “sports” is as revealing as athletes showing their ignorance about “politics”.
.
Don’t think that the Texas politicians are as ignorant of sports as athletes are of politics.
The fact is that the University of Texas is a public institution and has elected to make a major decision that impacts other state institutions (TT) without giving any sort of heads up. That often doesn’t go over well, particularly with political types that have strong egos.
“ The state of Texas isn’t going to let the University of Texas go without a fight…”
Uh Texas is still, you know, in Texas.
They do. know there is an invasion on their southern border right I’m sure they do know right they are aware right smfh
These Big 12 schools are like the girls in MTV’s “My Super Sweet 16”. So spoiled. When they are finally asked to get a job to help pay for the lambo they want, they call CPS. FREE RIDE’S OVER LOSERS.
If Texas is bad. If you don’t need to suckle on the everlasting teat that is Texas. Then why would a fledgling conference on brink of collapse be angry with getting $140+ million and wishing them well on their travels?
HOOK EM