Mike Gundy puts Texas football, OU on blast for leaving Big 12

Earlier this week, we heard the longtime head coach of the Oklahoma State Cowboys Mike Gundy give his thoughts on the departures of Texas football and the Oklahoma Sooners from the Big 12 for the SEC by 2025. In a piece published by ESPN this week, we got to hear some of the takes from Gundy on the matter of how he feels about Texas and Oklahoma leaving the Big 12.

There were a multitude of aspects of conference realignment and the future of the Big 12 that Gundy talked about here. Gundy thinks that the Big 12 is going to stick around for the long haul, even if that conference doesn’t have the same caliber of football brands (and athletic brands as a whole) as the likes of the SEC and Big Ten.

He also talked about how he thinks Texas and Oklahoma are just moving to the SEC to secure an elevated financial future for both athletic programs. And it’s hard to see he’s wrong about that.

But there is more in play than just securing a more lucrative financial future. Along with that will come more resources and better competition in most athletics. Texas will get to go head-to-head with the likes of the Alabama Crimson Tide, LSU Tigers, Georgia Bulldogs, Florida Gators, Auburn Tigers, etc., which will force the Longhorns to be more competitive on the playing field and on the recruiting trail in all sports.

Mike Gundy takes more shots at Texas football, OU for leaving the Big 12

Gundy really tried to hammer home his point, though, that he doesn’t believe the Longhorns and Sooners cared about any of the collateral damage left in the wake of them leaving for the SEC. He doesn’t think that Texas and Oklahoma care about the history they are uprooting in the Big 12 or what it could do for the future of college football as a whole.

Moreover, here’s more on what Gundy had to say on the matter of Texas and Oklahoma leaving the Big 12 and what the future of the conference could hold.

"Gundy is confident that the Big 12 isn’t going anywhere and is unfazed about all the talk of the league’s teams losing their brand names.“That’s never going to change. They’re always going to talk about brands, and there are always going to be teams that get ranked in the preseason polls just because people think they’re surely going to be a Top 25 team,” Gundy said."

Gundy also tried to drive the point home of how the Big 12 could establish a niche for the conference by letting success in the win column and overall production on the field speak for itself.

"“We don’t have the kind of logo that Texas does or Notre Dame does, but we’re making strides where it counts.”"

It is clear that Gundy believes in the future of the Big 12. And that’s largely because he has to. Oklahoma State is about to be one of the bigger brands and most relevant football programs in the Big 12 once Texas and Oklahoma leave for the SEC in the next few years.

To sum this up, Gundy is continually one of the more outspoken critics of the move of Texas and Oklahoma leaving the Big 12 for the SEC. But this is nothing new for Gundy to be this outspoken on any matters, as most Big 12 fans well know by now.

Texas and Oklahoma could be leaving the Big 12 for the SEC as soon as next year, or as late as 2025. The exact timeline for the move for both schools to their new conference is yet to be official.