'Embrace the Hate': Longhorns AD Chris Del Conte Explains Mantra
When the Texas Longhorns and their Red River Rival, Oklahoma, announced their intentions to leave the Big-12 for the SEC, it became a domino effect for the next 12 months. With the two most recognized brands from the Big 12 departing for the SEC, it started a proverbial arms race between all the other conferences to try and keep up.
Soon after, the Big-10 would announce the additions of USC and UCLA, two of the biggest brands from the Pac-12, while the Big-12 would rebound by adding a host of former Group-of-Five teams, BYU, Cincinnati, UCF, and Houston.
Yet, the most recent shift from the Pac-12 saw four more teams, Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah, leave for the Big-12 and essentially doom the westernmost Power-Five conference as just four schools remain, with an uncertain future due to not having a media rights deal signed.
These corresponding moves to the Texas and Oklahoma domino have seen the Longhorns gain a lot of criticism and "hate" in the leadup to their final season in the Big-12, as many blame them for the arms race that has been "conference realignment."
"We know we have to embrace the hate this year," Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte recently said in an interview with Anwar Richardson. "Everyone in the Big 12 is mad at us. They think we broke up the Big 12; they think we broke up the Pac 12 because we left.
We left for what's right for the University of Texas. And that's my job. That's our job as leadership to protect the brand and put ourselves in the best position to be successful."
It is hard to argue that the move by Del Conte and co. to leave the Big-12 for arguably the best conference in college athletics, the SEC, was best for the future of Longhorns athletics. This is especially true from a football perspective, as a common negative recruiting strategy against Texas has been them playing in the Big 12 rather than the SEC.
Although the move won't only benefit the Horns athletically, it will also see the school benefit greatly financially as the SEC signed a 10-year media rights deal with ESPN starting in 2024, which will net them roughly $300 million annually.
Yet, while the Longhorns are well positioned for the future athletically, Del Conte did reinforce that their goal this year is to win all 20 Big-12 titles as they "embrace the hate" in their final season before joining the SEC.
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