Oklahoma, Texas ADs Describe Decision to Leave Big 12 for SEC

Joe Castiglione and Chris Del Conte peered into the future and realized that soon, very soon, the bills would come due.

This was back in 2020 and early 2021 — during the COVID pandemic, when nothing seemed certain.

Now, the respective athletic directors at Oklahoma and Texas are in a conference with the wherewithal to pay those bills.

OU and UT officially join the Southeastern Conference on July 1, but their representatives — athletic directors, football coaches, men’s and women’s basketball coaches and others — are in Destin, FL, this week for the SEC’s annual spring business meetings.

Castiglione and Del Conte even took a few minutes Wednesday to visit with SEC media influencer Paul Finebaum, and described the process by which they arrived at the decision to leave the Big 12 for the SEC. The story broke in the summer of 2021, but the machinations were in place well before that.

The Finebaum Show | Screenshot via Paul Finebaum on Twitter/X

“So many things out of COVID were bad,” Del Conte said on “The Paul Finebaum Show.” “One of the greatest things that happened out of it was just the time to look at the landscape of our industry — and look where we are going: Name, Image and Likeness, the (NCAA v.) Alston case, the cost of attendance — and we knew there was a moment in time that we had to do what is right for Texas and OU.

“And when we galvanized on those thoughts, that year was really just, ‘Hey, where do you see it going?’ Joe’s seen everything under the sun, and I’m like, ‘Hey, why don’t we do this, this and this?’ He’s like, ‘Timeout. I’ve seen that. I’ve seen this.’ And we argued back and forth and we ended it (agreeing), ‘I think it’s time we’re gonna have to leave because of all these outstanding factors.’ And once we galvanized on that thought, it was quick. It was really quick. Commissioner (Greg) Sankey, we lob a call, he picks it up, and then — I think the best (part) was when he says, ‘There might be an interest!’ That was pretty cool.”

“The tectonic plates, as they say, were heating up well before then,” Castiglione added. “You watch what was going on the rest of the country — and our jobs are to look beyond the horizon, to an extent. And watching not only what things were happening, Paul, but what wasn’t. And we knew what had to be dealt with. And it was up to us in leading our institutions to watch out for what was best for our universities. And by the way, there were a lot of other conversations that were taking place with a lot of other people that they’ll never admit — not so much by any one particular conference. But these two universities weren’t the only ones thinking about conference realignment.”

One need look no further than the latest conference revenue data published by USA Today for hard clarity on leaving the Big 12 for the SEC.

According to tax documents, the Big 12 reported total revenue of $510.7 million for fiscal year 2022-23, while the SEC reported $852.6 million.

Just a few days after those figures were made public (the SEC’s came out earlier in the spring but the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and Pac-12 all reported theirs last week), the conferences and the NCAA settled on an antitrust suit — a settlement that will pay past student-athletes $2.8 billion over the next 10 years, and is widely expected to kick down the door to a far larger revenue-sharing model with athletes in the future.

OU and Texas leaving for the SEC certainly enhances their ability to stay ahead of that financial curve.

Regardless, Castiglione said leaving the Big 12 was not an easy decision.

“For me it was a little bit more of an emotional piece to it,” he said, “because I was at the table when the Big 12 was first constituted — with a lot of other ADs that are no longer in the business — so we had great respect for the Big 12. We also had to see where the world was going and what was best for our two universities. So there was no animosity. But you still have to lead, and this was something that was between us and our presidents that we had to do for the best interests of our universities in the long run.”

The Red River Rivalry is an SEC game now, and Texas AD @_delconte is comin' in hot! pic.twitter.com/Tn50PVIWpo
— Paul Finebaum (@finebaum) May 29, 2024

Del Conte also pitched to Finebaum the majesty and passion of the annual OU-Texas football game at the Cotton Bowl near downtown Dallas.

“Have you been to the Red River Rivalry? It’s ridiculous,” Del Conte said. “It’s the greatest thing ever. They talk about the Cocktail Party (Georgia versus Florida) and the Iron Bowl (Auburn versus Alabama), there’s nothing like this game at the state fair. Because you have 300,000 people. Three hundred thousand people outside! Iron Bowl’s awesome. Don’t get me wrong. At night? It’s great. Same with the Cocktail Party. But this game? It’s nuts, too.”

Castiglione and Del Conte described their deep friendship and collegiality in working together. Del Conte said they communicate 3-4 days a week and their wives are great friends as well.

“The beautiful thing of this industry,” Del Conte said, “is after it’s said and done, I’ll have a life friend. That’s pretty cool about it.”