Should New Commish Let OU, Texas Attend Big 12 Meetings? Mike Gundy says ‘I Wouldn’t’

The Sooners and Longhorns are on their way to the SEC, but both schools have had the expected representation at the league's spring and summer meetings.

John E. Hoover | Jul 13, 2022

ARLINGTON, TX — Calling it “an unusual situation,” Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy doesn’t really embrace the idea of SEC-bound Oklahoma and Texas attending Big 12 Media Days.

“It's interesting,” Gundy told a small group of reporters Wednesday after speaking to the room at AT&T Stadium. “We go to conference meetings and OU and Texas are in there. They're still in the conference. But I'm guessing when they leave, they're scratching down things that can help them when they're in the SEC. So it is an unusual situation.”

The oddity of such a scenario would put Brent Venables, Steve Sarkisian and the Sooners and Longhorns players in Atlanta for SEC Media Days, despite their not being members of that conference for another three years.

It would also put BYU, Central Florida, Cincinnati and Houston in Arlington, even thought latter three still have membership in the American Athletic Conference until next year.

Big 12 football and basketball coaches attended meetings in Scottsdale, AZ, in May. Those meetings included OU and Texas coaches. In early June, presidents, athletic directors and other university and athletic department administrators — including OU and Texas — attended the Big 12’s annual spring business meetings in Irving, TX. And of course, representatives of both OU and Texas will take their turn in front of the microphones on Thursday at AT&T Stadium for the two-day media day events.

Gundy explained he “jokingly” suggests the change.

“I think there's a business side of it that nowadays, people say, ‘It is what it is,’ ” Gundy said. “Which, 10 years ago, they might not even let them in meetings.

“The new commissioner (Brett Yormark), I mean, honestly, if I was him, I wouldn't let OU and Texas in any meetings.”

Published Jul 13, 2022

JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.