Amanda Knapp
The University of Texas' basketball team, the Texas Longhorns, joined the Southeastern Conference (SEC) in 2024, alongside the University of Oklahoma. The Longhorns are entering their second season in the SEC, following a disappointing 2024-25 campaign where they finished 13th in the conference's regular-season standings. The team earned a play-in spot in the 2025 NCAA Tournament off the back of two SEC Tournament wins. The Texas Longhorns will play each SEC team at least once and will play a home-and-home with rivals Texas A&M, Oklahoma, and Georgia.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Texas Basketball Team | Texas Longhorns |
| Joining Date | July 1, 2024 |
| Current Season | 2025-26 |
| Previous Conference | Big 12 |
| Current Conference | SEC |
| Number of Teams in SEC | 16 |
| Texas' Opponents | Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Georgia, Florida, Ole Miss, Auburn, Tennessee, Alabama, Kentucky, Arkansas |
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What You'll Learn
Texas and Oklahoma join the SEC
The University of Texas and the University of Oklahoma are set to join the Southeastern Conference (SEC) in 2024. The two universities, known for their athletic excellence, were initially scheduled to join the SEC in 2025 but will now be transitioning a year earlier. The move will see the Longhorns and Sooners leave the Big 12 Conference, where they were two of its most prominent programs.
The decision to join the SEC was made in 2021 when the boards of regents in Texas and Oklahoma unanimously voted to accept the invitations extended by the SEC. The move is expected to bring several benefits to both universities, including increased media exposure and revenue. Texas and Oklahoma have a combined total of 11 national titles, with Texas excelling in swimming and diving, women's volleyball, and baseball, and Oklahoma in softball.
The addition of Texas and Oklahoma will expand the SEC to 16 members, making it the first 16-team superconference. This expansion will result in the elimination of divisions and a transition to a nine-game league schedule. Each school will have three permanent rivals and will face the remaining schools on an alternating yearly basis. The increased number of teams will also put pressure on coaches, as they will need to adapt to a new scheduling format and compete against established SEC programs.
The early transition of Texas and Oklahoma to the SEC coincides with the start of ESPN's 10-year, $300 billion football TV contract and the expansion of the College Football Playoff from four to 12 teams. These changes will provide increased opportunities for the universities to showcase their athletic programs and compete at the highest level. The SEC is also expected to benefit financially from the increased media exposure and revenue generated by the new TV contract.
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Texas Longhorns' 2025-26 opponents
The Texas Longhorns' 2025-26 opponents in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) include Duke, Lafayette, Farleigh Dickinson, and other teams in the Maui Invitational. The Longhorns' participation in the SEC indicates that the University of Texas is now a member of the conference, which was established in 1932 and currently has 16 member institutions primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States.
The SEC eliminated its baseball and football divisions when Oklahoma and Texas joined in 2024. The conference is now unified across all sports, except for men's basketball, which dropped its divisional format after the 2011-2012 season. Before the divisions were eliminated, the conference schedule included 16 games, with teams facing each divisional opponent twice and each out-of-division opponent once.
The Texas Longhorns men's basketball team has been actively reshaping its roster for the 2025-26 season through the transfer portal and key recruiting targets. The team has added St. John's transfer guard Simeon Wilcher, Xavier transfer forward Lassina Traore, and 7'1" center Lewis Obiorah, among others. First-year head coach Sean Miller, one of the top 15 highest-paid coaches in the nation, is overseeing a rebuild of the Texas frontcourt and addressing roster holes.
The Longhorns' 2025-26 schedule in the SEC presents both opportunities and challenges for the team, which looks to improve on its performance from the previous season.
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Texas' disappointing 2024-25 season
The University of Texas' men's basketball team had a disappointing 2024-25 season. It was their first season in the Southeastern Conference (SEC), which they joined in July 2024, along with the University of Oklahoma. Texas finished the season 6-12 in conference play and 13th in the conference's regular-season standings.
Texas opened their 18-game league slate with a road contest at Texas A&M on January 4. They earned a play-in spot in the 2025 NCAA Tournament off the back of a pair of SEC Tournament wins over Vanderbilt and Texas A&M. However, their tournament run was short-lived as they fell to Xavier in the First Four.
Head Coach Rodney Terry was fired and replaced by new Head Coach Sean Miller, who previously coached the Xavier team that topped the Longhorns. Miller will be the team's third head coach in the last five seasons.
Looking ahead to the 2025-26 season, Texas will play each SEC team at least once and will play home-and-homes with rivals Texas A&M and Oklahoma, as well as Georgia. They will also welcome reigning national champions Florida to the Moody Center. The Longhorns will also face a tough out-of-conference schedule, opening the season against powerhouse Duke in the Dick Vitale Invitational.
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Texas' head coach changes
Texas A&M University joined the SEC in 2012, and the University of Texas joined the conference in 2024. The University of Texas's head basketball coach is not mentioned in any of the sources. However, Texas has a history of head coach changes in Central Texas and Brazos Valley. Here are some examples:
Chad President was hired as the new head football coach on 31 January. President played quarterback at the University of Tulsa from 2015 to 2018. After college, he began his coaching career as an offensive coordinator.
Linden Heldt resigned as the Waco Lions' head football coach after four years and a 5-35 record. Esrom Martinez was announced as the new athletic coordinator and head football coach on 13 February.
Kevin Brown was approved on 28 March as the next head football coach. Brown has served as an offensive coordinator at Boerne Champion High School for the last two years.
Jerry Bomar retired after over 40 years as a head coach at various schools, including Killeen and Groesbeck High School. Nelson Kortis was announced in January as the new head coach of the Groesbeck Goats. Kortis has spent the last three seasons as head coach at Johnson City.
Texas Head Coach Steve Sarkisian also made headlines when he publicly admitted to altering his strategy for redshirt sophomore running back CJ Baxter, who holds a $282,000 NIL valuation. Sarkisian initially planned to be cautious with Baxter, who was recovering from a torn ACL, but changed his mind after witnessing his performance during a preseason scrimmage.
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Texas' early exit from Big 12
The University of Texas and the University of Oklahoma reached an early exit agreement with the Big 12 that will see the powers depart for the SEC following the 2023-24 athletic season. The two universities will pay a combined $100 million in early withdrawal fees to join the SEC in 2024, a full season earlier than originally planned.
The Big 12's two most prominent programs set off the latest round of conference realignment when they accepted invitations to join the SEC in July 2021. At the time, Texas and Oklahoma planned to move to the SEC in 2025, once the Big 12's active grant of rights agreement expired.
The early exit agreement includes a negotiated $100 million early exit fee that the Big 12 will receive from Texas and Oklahoma for not being part of the league's media package in 2025. In a separate deal, Texas and Oklahoma agreed to pay cash to Fox in exchange for their games leaving the network a year early. A key part of the deal to let the two schools out early was a game flip of a nonconference matchup—the Wolverines will now host the Longhorns in 2024, allowing the game to air on Fox, with UT hosting UM in 2027 on ESPN.
The Big 12 has further expansion plans, which will now ramp up. The departures are a hit to the league's brand, but losing them early is not entirely devastating as the Big 12 has already agreed to a $2.3 billion extension of its media rights deal.
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Frequently asked questions
Yes, Texas basketball is going to the SEC. The University of Texas and Oklahoma University joined the SEC in 2024.
Texas and Oklahoma were founding members of the Big 12, which played its first football game in 1996. However, in the summer of 2021, they announced their intention to join the SEC.
Texas Longhorns had a disappointing 2024-25 campaign, going 6-12 in conference play and finishing 13th in the conference's regular-season standings. They earned a play-in spot in the 2025 NCAA Tournament off the backs of a pair of SEC Tournament wins over Vanderbilt and Texas A&M.
