Big 12 To 'Celebrate' Texas In Final Season Before SEC Move

The Texas Longhorns are looking to win their fourth Big 12 Championship in their final year in the league before heading to the Southeastern Conference.

The Texas Longhorns are trying to do something special in their final year in the Big 12 in winning the first conference title since 2009.

Texas and the Oklahoma Sooners are departing for the Southeastern Conference in the 2024 season, and, in the two programs' final year in the Big 12, commissioner Brett Yormark said at media days in Arlington, Texas, that the next football season will be "a year of celebration."

"We're going to celebrate our continuing eight (teams)," Yormark said. "We're going to celebrate our new four. And, in fact, we're going to celebrate Texas and Oklahoma and all the contributions they've made to this conference since day one, because they will always be a big part of this conference."

The Longhorns and Sooners' move to the SEC is coming a year earlier than it was supposed to. Yormark said he has "a great partnership" with the administrators at both programs and that made negotiations for the two to go to the SEC in 2024 easier.

"When there's mutual respect and when you're looking for a win-win scenario, those negotiations don't really take that long," Yormark said. "We all wanted the same thing, and we got there and I'm happy for them. I'm happy for us. We brought closure to an issue that was highly discussed this time last year."

Texas has been a Big 12 member since 1996 after the disbanding of the Southwest Conference. The Longhorns have won three conference championships in their 27-year membership and have only one league title game appearance since 2017.

Yormark credited both programs as "national brands" with "great identity."

"They're a big part of the history of this conference," Yormark said. "But like I said last year, this conference is bigger than any two schools. So we're in a great place. There's never been a better time than right now to be involved with this conference."

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You can follow Casey Smith on Twitter @casey_smith2419

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