WATCH: Greg Sankey officially welcomes Texas Longhorns to SEC with his ceremonial speech & warm induction party
Southeastern Conference commissioner Greg Sankey officially welcomed the Texas Longhorns to the conference on Sunday in front of the UT Tower. The team will play its first game in the SEC next year after 28 years in the Big 12 conference.
During the celebration of the Longhorns entering the SEC, Sankey had a special welcome for Texas. He got onto the stage and channeled his inner Matthew McConaughey, Texas' Minister of Culture.
"All right, all right, all right," Sankey said. "They told me I was gonna follow the board chair when I spoke. I've followed board chairs before. But I've never followed a board chair who spoke like that!"
"I realize I am the one thing standing between you and Pitbull, and I'm smart enough to know that you are done listening to me except for one more thing: I want to say welcome to the University of Texas and the Texas Longhorns to the Southeastern Conference! I'm gonna go make some noise!" Sankey said concluding his ceremonial speech.
The Longhorns were initially set to join the SEC after the 2025 college baseball season. However, their introduction to the conference was done a year early after negotiating a deal with the Big 12.
Along with Texas, Oklahoma will also join the SEC, expanding the number of teams in the conference to 16.
Jim Schlossnagle will lead Texas Longhorns into historic SEC run
Jim Schlossnagle was appointed as the new head coach of the Texas Longhorns last week. He will guide the program into the new SEC era starting next year.
Notably, Schlossnagle took up the coaching job at Texas only days after leading in-state rival Texas A&M to the College World Series finals. The Aggies eventually finished as runners-up behind Tennessee.
Schlossnagle arrives in Texas with over two decades of head coaching experience. He got his first head coaching job at UNLV in 2002 and also worked at TCU from 2004 to 2021.
Throughout his career, Schlossnagle has compiled a 946–452 record, including an 80–46 record in the NCAA tournament.