First barbs lobbed amid renewal of UT, A&M’s rivalry

DESTIN, Fla. — Texas declined to sit idly by at the Longhorns’ first Southeastern Conference spring meetings, as UT athletic director Chris Del Conte drew a line in the sand — a plentiful substance along Florida’s Emerald Coast — on a touchy subject.

“We are at the beach,” Del Conte said of his lower-half fashion choice during the spring meetings, a daily decision prompting derision from Texas A&M athletic director Ross Bjork. “There’s no need to wear pants at the beach — that doesn’t make any sense.”

Early in the SEC spring meetings, which Texas and Oklahoma participated in for the first time at the beginning of this month, Bjork happily pointed out Del Conte wore shorts while every other athletic director opted for the more formal option of … pants while attending meetings.

In doing so, Bjork managed to lob one of the first formal volleys in the renewing of the football rivalry between the Aggies and Longhorns. Instead of adjusting to the perceived norm the rest of the week, Del Conte dug in, prompting a shake of the head from Bjork on Del Conte’s perceived inability to read the room.

“Considering he’s (still) the only one wearing shorts in the room,” Bjork said after the final meeting wrapped up, “that will tell you something.”

It mainly tells us the UT and A&M athletic directors (and friends of 25 years) are also enjoying the renewing of the state’s most revered college rivalry: Longhorns vs. Aggies in football. The last time UT and A&M played football in November 2011, Del Conte was athletic director at TCU and Bjork was in the same role at Western Kentucky, but both happily grasp the gravitas of this state’s grandest college football game (their respective fan bases consistently remind them).

The SEC will announce on Wednesday on the SEC Network the one-year football schedule for 2024 involving all 16 members, with UT and OU set to officially join the powerful league after exiting the Big 12 in a little more than a year. The SEC will play eight league and four nonconference games in 2024 as the conference continues working toward a long-term scheduling model, one likely involving nine league games (with three annual rivals and six rotating opponents) starting in 2025.

The Aggies and Longhorns are expected to play each other in football for the first time in 13 years in the fall of 2024, and Bjork has insisted the first game back will be in College Station (although the last meeting in 2011 also was at Kyle Field, a 27-25 UT victory). Del Conte has countered that he has not been told where the first reunion will play out (wherever the revival, “Short Shorts” by the Royal Teens needs to find its way on to the stadium playlist).

“I have a nice poncho, professional shirt,” Del Conte said while glancing down at his burnt orange offering for the SEC spring meetings, adding that’s where he draws the line while a short sprint from one of the nation’s most beautiful beaches.

All playful barbs aside, Bjork added that the SEC enjoyed having UT and OU in the fold for the first time at the SEC spring meetings.

“I’ve known Joe (Castiglione) since 1997, when he hired me at Missouri,” Bjork said of the longtime Sooners athletic director, “and I’ve known Chris Del Conte since 1998. Just having their perspectives — they can look at it from, ‘Hey, this is what we talked about in the Big 12’ — they can bring those perspectives, and it’s a good, healthy dialogue.

“Their perspectives are valued and they’re going to have a vote starting next year, so we just keep moving forward.”

SEC school presidents met over the last couple of days of the spring meetings, as well, and UT president Jay Hartzell said there will be a time for rivalry chatter when the grass blades are stirring in Austin or College Station.

“At a presidential level, we have a lot of shared interests and a lot of aligned interests,” Hartzell said of what he considered productive interactions with A&M president Kathy Banks at the SEC spring meetings. “We saw that in the (state) legislative session, for example, things we both want to have happen for higher education. There will be plenty of time for the hand signals back and forth to resume when we get back on the field.”

Hartzell added of the duo’s Destin dialogue, “President Banks and I didn’t exchange ‘Gig ’em’ and ‘Hook ’em.’ We get along well and look forward to working together.”

Hartzell also managed the near impossible following the few days with his new SEC colleagues along the Gulf Coast: getting revved up for the future from … administrative meetings (shorts or no shorts, as he opted for presidential pants).

“This is going to be a blast,” Hartzell said of UT finally joining the SEC on July 1, 2024, three years to the month after news broke of the Longhorns’ and Sooners’ long-term league intentions. “It’s fun, too, because you see all this (at the SEC meetings) and you say, ‘It’s a year away.’ But it’s only a year.

“It’s going to be great — and it’s overdue.”