Texas A&M University to Join Southeastern Conference
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (September 25, 2011) – The Southeastern Conference Presidents and Chancellors, acting unanimously, announced today that Texas A&M University will join the Southeastern Conference effective July 1, 2012, with competition to begin in all sports for the 2012-13 academic year.
The addition of Texas A&M will increase the SEC membership to 13 institutions. It is the first expansion for the SEC since September of 1991 when the University of South Carolina joined the league. The University of Arkansas joined the SEC in August of 1991. With the addition of Arkansas and South Carolina, the SEC was the first conference to split into divisions and add a conference championship game in 1992.
“The Southeastern Conference Presidents and Chancellors are pleased to welcome Texas A&M University to the SEC family,” said Dr. Bernie Machen, chair of the SEC Presidents and Chancellors and president of the University of Florida. “The addition of Texas A&M University as the SEC’s 13th member gives our league a prestigious academic institution with a strong athletic tradition and a culture similar to our current institutions.”
“The Southeastern Conference provides Texas A&M the national visibility that our great university and our student-athletes deserve,” said Texas A&M University President R. Bowen Loftin. “We are excited to begin competition in the nation’s premier athletic conference. This is a 100-year decision that we have addressed carefully and methodically, and I believe the Southeastern Conference gives the Aggies the best situation of any conference in the country.”
Texas A&M, located in College Station, will also be the third institution in the Southeastern Conference to hold membership in the prestigious Association of American Universities, joining University of Florida and Vanderbilt University. Texas A&M has an enrollment of 50,000 students, ranking as the sixth-largest university in the country, with 360,000 former students worldwide.
Texas A&M also adds to the athletic excellence of the SEC. Last season, the Aggies won three NCAA team titles (men’s and women’s outdoor track and field, women’s basketball) and finished eighth in the prestigious Learfield Sports Director’s Cup all-sport rankings.
“On behalf of our presidents, chancellors, athletics directors, students and fans, I welcome Texas A&M University to the SEC family,” said SEC Commissioner Mike Slive. “Texas A&M is a nationally-prominent institution on and off the field and a great fit for the SEC tradition of excellence-athletically, academically and culturally.”
The Aggies sponsor 20 varsity sports. Men’s sports include baseball, basketball, football, golf, swimming and diving, tennis, indoor and outdoor track and field and cross country. Women’s sports include basketball, equestrian, golf, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis, indoor and outdoor track and field and cross country and volleyball. Texas A&M participates in every sport sponsored by the SEC except gymnastics and the SEC sponsors every sport the Aggies participate in except equestrian.
“All Nine”
Those are my favorite words from all the events that occurred today,”all nine.”
In case you haven’t heard, the big twelve announced this evening that Dan Beebe would be stepping down as Big 12-2-1 commissioner. Former Big Eight commissioner Chuck Neinas will be filling in on an interim basis.
The league also announced the remaining nine teams pledged their tier 1 and tier 2 rights to the conference for the next 6 years. Everyone on that ride is on for a while it appears. The league on the verge of completely dissolving within the last week apparently has persuaded the 9 remaining members that this is in the best of all involved and this move is the beginning of rebuilding the stability that everyone is seeking.
As an Aggie, I can’t help but sit back and smile. As everyone of these teams was fretting and looking for a place to stay only to find themselves back together with all the reasons and schools they were looking to get away from, A&M sat on the sideline watching and waiting with the most stabil new home just waiting to be moved into.
Like I said, “all nine” were my favorite words of the day. Every time there was an interview, or a release, or a statement made, that reference was used. “All nine” schools decided this, or “all nine” schools are going to do that. Texas A&M is essentially as we’ve known, no longer in the Big 12-2-1. It’s just a matter of time till “all nine” schools say goodbye with a look of jealousy as we settle into our sweet new home in the SEC.
For another look at what happened and what was said today-
David Boren: Presidents agree to deal