Big 12 Commissioner Responds To Texas and Oklahoma's SEC Admittance

Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby issued a statement in the wake of Texas and Oklahoma's move to the SEC

Matt Galatzan | Jul 29, 2021

The Texas Longhorns and Oklahoma Sooners are on their way out of the Big 12 conference after the SEC unanimously voted in the two programs on Thursday afternoon.

As a result, the remaining members of the Big 12 -- Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, TCU, Baylor, West Virginia, Kansas, Kansas State, and Iowa State -- have been thrown into an uncertain future.

In response to that, Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby released a statement on Monday afternoon, detailing the league's disappointment in their SEC move.

"Today’s SEC announcement reaffirms that these plans have been in the works with ongoing discussions between the parties and television partner for some time," Bowlsby said in the statement. "We are disappointing these discussions went as far as they did without notice to, or inclusion of, other big 12 members. Despite our concerns for the process and for the overall health of college athletics, we will do everything possible to make sure that the student-athletes at both universities enjoy an excellent experience throughout the remaining four years of their participation and competition in the big 12 conference."

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The conference will now attempt to secure the futures of its eight remaining programs -- Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, Baylor, TCU, West Virginia, Kansas, Kansas State, and Iowa State -- as the rest of the Power 5 will likely move to poach those remains.

And those moves have already begun.

Kansas has already reportedly been in discussions with the Big 10 as recently as this week, while West Virginia seems a more natural fit for the ACC.

The Pac 12 could also easily assimilate the four remaining Texas schools into their conference, while Kansas State could end up being the odd-man-out in this scenario.

Whatever the case, the Big 12 is on life support, and Bowlsby knows it.

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Published Jul 29, 2021

MATT GALATZAN

Matt Galatzan is the Managing Editor and Publisher of Texas Longhorns On SI and Texas A&M Aggies On SI and a long-time member of the Football Writer’s Association of America. He graduated from the University of Mississippi, where he studied integrated marketing communications, with minors in journalism and business administration. Galatzan started in the sports journalism industry in 2014 covering the Dallas Mavericks and SMU Mustangs with 247Sports. He then moved to Sports Illustrated's Fan Nation network in 2020, eventually being taking over as the Managing Editor and Publisher of the Longhorns and Aggies sites a year later. You can find Galatzan on all major social media channels, including Twitter on @MattGalatzan.