Aggiehawg

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Maybe not the most popular thought here, but our going to the SEC in the early 90's would have been too soon. We would have been in Arkansas' position vis-a-vis facilities, among other things.

We needed the intervening years to build A&M in student population, facilities, prestige (AAU and the George Bush Library among other grants, awards and standings in the Director's Cup, etc.) and alumni in the political hierarchy.

Indeed, it was the perfect storm and the stars aligned for the "one hundred year decision."

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Good stuff here. Word LHH55.

My Loftin bobblehead just winked.

Well, then it bobbed its head (less impressive).

Sips aren't mad because we left. They're mad because we left to a better place and they know it in their little hearts.

I agree, Jaxson. From the mid-70s until we went SEC, Longhorns told me that we were their #2 rival behind OU. Then, when we left, suddenly it became, "No, you're not our rival, at all, never 'felt it' with you guys, bye-bye, run along now, and don't let the door hit you on the ass on the way out." Schizos.

Whatever. They got what they wanted. Everybody in the Big 12 has pointed their fingers at t.u. for causing the conference's instability, and many sips have claimed that it was because they were king in football, so were a common hated target, but hell, OU's had more success in Big 12 football than t.u. Screw 'em.

t.u. and the little 10 can have each other. You know they are jealous of the Aggies and spend alot of their time justifying how good their conference is and SEC isn't. It's called jealousy. Good riddance to them.

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Maybe not the most popular thought here, but our going to the SEC in the early 90's would have been too soon. We would have been in Arkansas' position vis-a-vis facilities, among other things.

We needed the intervening years to build A&M in student population, facilities, prestige (AAU and the George Bush Library among other grants, awards and standings in the Director's Cup, etc.) and alumni in the political hierarchy.

Indeed, it was the perfect storm and the stars aligned for the "one hundred year decision."

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This is an interesting thought. I have always felt that is was a mistake to not follow Arkansas in '89. It certainly was a mistake in '94. However, what would the political ramifications have looked like had we done that? One must remember what the Higher Ed. Board looked like at that time. We would have never had Reed Arena or the Rec. Center built, we would still be running track around Kyle, and many buildings on West Campus would not exist. The politics would have been unbearable. We wouldn't be like Arkansas, we would have been like Mississippi State.

I also always thought that Arkansas would have stayed and joined the XII had they known that was the end result of the break up of the SWC. In fact, had it happened in '89, I suspect that Arkansas would have been a part of it. What killed Arkansas was their being cut off from Texas recruiting. They banked on either us or tu coming with them. It took us 20 years and now all their Texas recruiting inroads are severed.

Things work out for a reason. I'm glad we are in the SEC. This is where we belong, even if it did take us 25 years for the stars to align to make it happen. And I'm glad tu isn't with us.

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I agree, Jaxson. From the mid-70s until we went SEC, Longhorns told me that we were their #2 rival behind OU. Then, when we left, suddenly it became, "No, you're not our rival, at all, never 'felt it' with you guys, bye-bye, run along now, and don't let the door hit you on the ass on the way out." Schizos.

Whatever. They got what they wanted. Everybody in the Big 12 has pointed their fingers at t.u. for causing the conference's instability, and many sips have claimed that it was because they were king in football, so were a common hated target, but hell, OU's had more success in Big 12 football than t.u. Screw 'em.

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tu must have sent out this script in their Texas Exes rag! Every 'sip I know has said this exact same thing.

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I also always thought that Arkansas would have stayed and joined the XII had they known that was the end result of the break up of the SWC. In fact, had it happened in '89, I suspect that Arkansas would have been a part of it.

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Maybe, but I doubt it. The SEC was the bigger prize even back then. Broyles was smarter than that.

He might have worried abit about losing recruiting in Texas, but being in the same conference (and division) with tu and a bunch of Texas schools again wouldn't have been that attractive. If tu had tagged along to the SEC with them, tu would have been the odd man out. He could live with that.

Broyles and Royal were close friends off the field as coaches. Broyles and Dodds, as ADs, were not friends inside or outside of the SWC board room. Why Arkansas left in the first place.

And yet who do they spend all their time obsessing over these days....OU right?

Wow

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Texas' nightmare scenario is having A&M join the SEC.

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The Chicken Ranch said:

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Maybe not the most popular thought here, but our going to the SEC in the early 90's would have been too soon. We would have been in Arkansas' position vis-a-vis facilities, among other things.

We needed the intervening years to build A&M in student population, facilities, prestige (AAU and the George Bush Library among other grants, awards and standings in the Director's Cup, etc.) and alumni in the political hierarchy.

Indeed, it was the perfect storm and the stars aligned for the "one hundred year decision."

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This is an interesting thought. I have always felt that is was a mistake to not follow Arkansas in '89. It certainly was a mistake in '94. However, what would the political ramifications have looked like had we done that? One must remember what the Higher Ed. Board looked like at that time. We would have never had Reed Arena or the Rec. Center built, we would still be running track around Kyle, and many buildings on West Campus would not exist. The politics would have been unbearable. We wouldn't be like Arkansas, we would have been like Mississippi State.

I also always thought that Arkansas would have stayed and joined the XII had they known that was the end result of the break up of the SWC. In fact, had it happened in '89, I suspect that Arkansas would have been a part of it. What killed Arkansas was their being cut off from Texas recruiting. They banked on either us or tu coming with them. It took us 20 years and now all their Texas recruiting inroads are severed.

Things work out for a reason. I'm glad we are in the SEC. This is where we belong, even if it did take us 25 years for the stars to align to make it happen. And I'm glad tu isn't with us.

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Arkansas' issues weren't about losing Texas kids they lost the best coach they've ever had when Broyles retired from coaching. They haven't found the right coach to fill his shoes but Holtz & Petrino did good jobs. The same goes for Nebraska with Osborne Pelini did a pretty good job but didn't have the success the fanbase was accustomed to.

It was and never has been about Texas kids.

Side note,

I looked over the original comment and their was a piece left out of the OP which I found interesting, a belief myself and some others share when it comes to diagnosing our difficulty with making it to the next level: regional competition for top tier talent.

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Texas' nightmare scenario is having A&M join the SEC. It is no coincidence that during the ten years out of its history when A&M was good at football, Texas was terrible. There are only so many top-tier recruits in Texas, and there are just not enough to feed Texas, Oklahoma, and A&M. Somebody's got to get left out. If A&M were to join the SEC, it would give A&M a real recruiting advantage that it doesn't presently have. Worse, it would open the Texas recruiting pool to teams like LSU and Alabama and reopen it to Arkansas.

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My thoughts were

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We are surrounded by Oklahoma, Texas, and LSU. Three premier programs, that even in down years, will always draw top talent. That is in addition to the upstart programs (e.g., when I was in school it was Tech with Mike Leach, when Briles was at Baylor, and TCU with Patterson) that will draw some top tier talent away.

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Which makes this

https://instagr.am/p/B8MUXe0BDOH

so damn significant.