Getty Image / Scott Winters
There’s not a lot of warm and fuzzy feelings from the remaining Big 12 members in 2024 towards Texas and Oklahoma. And, Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark hinted as much, more or less saying he was rooting for the teams staying to beat Texas this season.
Texas and rival Oklahoma announced in 2021 that they would be joining the SEC in 2025. That has been moved up to 2024, and the move financially weakens the conference.
Texas and Oklahoma were by far the two biggest brands for the Big 12, and when they announced their departure, that put the conference into a pile of uncertainty. Through Brett Yormark’s leadership, the conference seems to have survived it.
After signing a modest, but stable, television deal in June, the conference went on offense in conference realignment, adding Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, and Utah. The Big 12 has positioned itself to be in a strong position going forward with a stable group of schools that want to be part of the conference. That’s more than the ACC can play.
Still, there have always been strong feelings towards Oklahoma and Texas from the other members. A lot of it was due to Texas’s Longhorn Network, their ESPN-affiliated network that gave the school a huge leg up on media income. The teams leaving has only exacerbated that feeling.
Check out these comments by Brett Yormark, where he all-but admits that he’s rooting against the Longhorns this year when they host Coach Joey McGuire’s Texas Tech Longhorns.
The video (via Texas Tech RaiderVision): pic.twitter.com/g1NYTCqmXp
— Cole Banker (@colebankertv) August 23, 2023
That seems way over the line, given that Texas is still a part of the league this year. But, I’m sure all the other schools other than Oklahoma loved it.
Texas and Texas Tech play during the final week of the regular season for most teams, November 24th.