A&M BOR voices support for UT and OU’s move to the SEC

Texas A&M officials have spent the better part of the past week sending mixed messages about the school’s stance on Texas and Oklahoma’s request to join the SEC. But after two Board of Regents meetings this week, it seems they’ve finally accepted the inevitable come to a rational decision completely on their own that the Texas A&M System supports the Longhorns’ and Sooners’ entrance into the conference. The Board has directed University President Katherine Banks to vote in favor of the move.

With A&M voicing their support, UT and OU getting the necessary votes is now a foregone conclusion (it probably already was). Now the only thing left to figure out is when the move will happen. Every public statement has mentioned 2025, but there’s strong sentiment that it will happen sooner than that, be it via the Big 12 folding as other schools find new conference homes, or Texas and Oklahoma paying the approximately $160 million in fees to terminate their Grant of Rights agreement early.

Certainly at this point it is in the Longhorns’ and Sooners’ favor to have the move happen as quickly as possible. While their recruiting could see an uptick once they enter the conference, several lame duck years languishing in the Big 12 could actually hurt recruiting efforts in the short term. They just have to weight how much that early move means to them, and what they’re willing to pay to achieve it.