Texas Football: Former AD thinks Longhorns almost left for the ACC

So much was happening at one time for the Texas football program, and the Big 12 as a whole, back with all of the conference realignments in the late 2000s and early 2010s. The Big 12 as we knew it broke apart, and sent a handful of teams to either the Big Ten or the SEC. Meanwhile, the likes of Texas and the Oklahoma Sooners stuck around in the Big 12. And the conference added the West Virginia Mountaineers and TCU Horned Frogs to the mix.

Former Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds opened up on his memories of the conference realignment when he was running the ship for the athletic program back in the late 2000s and early 2010s in an episode of the “On Second Thought” podcast this week. He spoke on a rather surprising part of the conference realignment that involved the Longhorns, though.

Dodds noted that while the Longhorns were trying to remain committed to the Big 12, and try to work something out, they were still considering other options at hand. The most commonly discussed landing spot at the time for big-time blue bloods like Texas and Oklahoma if they left the Big 12 was the PAC-12.

DeLoss Dodds feels that Texas football was close to playing in the ACC

But Dodds actually tabbed the ACC as the next potential landing spot for Texas in the midst of conference realignment had they left the Big 12. While of course, nothing came to fruition in this respect in the early 2010s in terms of the Longhorns leaving this conference, it is interesting to hear that they could’ve landed in a conference like the ACC.

It surely sounds like Dodds and the Longhorns favored going to the ACC over the PAC-12 had they left the Big 12. That would’ve placed them with foes like the Clemson Tigers, Florida State Seminoles, Miami Hurricanes, etc. had that actually happened.

One question that would’ve surely emerged had Texas left for the ACC is what would’ve happened to their top rivalry games. Of course, it would be nice to see Texas and Oklahoma go to the same conference had the Big 12 disbanded altogether, but this is all speculation anyway.

Dodds was the Texas athletic director from 1981 until his retirement in 2013. Texas won 19 National Championships as an athletic program during that time. He in this role two before current athletic director Chris del Conte, who took over for Texas in 2017.

CDC had a busy offseason thus far, including the hiring of head coaches Chris Beard and Steve Sarkisian, for the men’s basketball and football programs respectively.