Updated: 7:20 PM CDT Jul 25, 2021
KOCO Staff
Members of the Big 12 Conference Executive Committee met with University of Oklahoma President Joseph Harroz and University of Texas President Jay Hartzell via videoconference Sunday afternoon, conference officials announced.The meeting with OU's and Texas's presidents comes amid reports that the two universities would move from the Big 12 to the SEC, creating the nation's biggest super-conference with 16 teams. "The meeting was cordial, and the executive committee expressed a willingness to discuss proposals that would strengthen the Conference and be mutually beneficial to OU and UT, as well as the other member institutions of the Conference," Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby said in a news release. "I expect that we will continue our conversations in the days ahead and we look forward to discussing thoughts, ideas and concepts that may be of shared interest and impact."The executive committee consists of Bowlsby, Big 12 Board of Directors chairman and Texas Tech University President Lawrence Schovanec and Baylor University President Linda Livingstone.Earlier this week, KOCO 5 confirmed reports that the SEC has discussed expansion with its member institutions; however, we do not know if those talks were specifically about OU and Texas.Although the move might appear to have come out of the blue, it has been in the works for a long time. OU and Texas also have declined to renew the Big 12 a grant-of-rights TV contract, which might be a clue as to what could happen.